Tamzin Outhwaite

Actress Tamzin Outhwaite cut her teeth in West End musicals, but her passion and determination led her to win roles that gave her national exposure in the likes of EastEnders, soldier drama Red Cap and Vital Signs, where she plays a mum of three working in a supermarket who decides to retrain as a doctor. She shares her thoughts on what can drive you to success.

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"I'm a great believer in the idea that if you want something enough, you can make it happen for yourself.

"I knew from an early age that I wanted to perform, and I trained hard in singing, dancing and acting at the London Studio Centre.

"I was lucky enough to get several roles in musical theatre after graduating, but my heart was always set on straightforward acting.

"Determination, and meeting the right people - in my case, playwright Alan Ayckbourn, who cast me in my first straight acting role in his play Absent Friends - helped me achieve what I wanted.

"I hope my role as Rhoda, the working mum in Vital Signs who retrains as a doctor, will inspire others to follow their hearts and strive to achieve their ambitions. I'm instinctively like that, but an awful lot of people aren't.

"They just think it's too far away from them. I don't think I've ever thought anything was really out of reach. You wouldn't expect somebody working in a supermarket to ever be able to train to be a doctor. But why not?

"If they're intelligent, why is that completely out of bounds? It's not, is it? It's just about having the confidence in yourself to go past that little wall that somebody else has built.

"My advice to anyone who wants to make their ideas happen is to be passionate about it from the start, and stay focused on your goal."