Holly Valance

Holly Rachel Candy (Vukadinović; born 11 May 1983), known professionally as Holly Valance, is an Australian and British former actress, singer and model, and a right-wing political activist.

Valance became well known for her role as Felicity Scully on the Australian soap opera Neighbours (1999–2002) and later played Nika Volek in Prison Break (2005–2006). Her film roles include DOA: Dead or Alive (2006), Pledge This! (2006), Taken (2008), and Kambakkht Ishq (2009). Her first album, Footprints (2002), provided three top three singles: "Kiss Kiss", "Down Boy" and "Naughty Girl". The title song of her second and final album, State of Mind (2003), was also a UK top ten single. She has become involved in UK and US politics as a prominent supporter and fundraiser for Nigel Farage and Donald Trump.

Early life
Holly Valance was born on 11 May 1983, as Holly Rachel Vukadinović, in Fitzroy, Victoria, to a Serbian father from Montenegro, Rajko Vukadinović, and an English mother Rachel (née Stephens) from Southampton. Her father was a former pianist and model in his native Belgrade, Serbia, former Yugoslavia. Her mother, whose father was a relative of comedian Benny Hill, was a model in the United Kingdom. Valance's parents divorced in 1986. Valance has a sister, Coco. Rajko later remarried and Holly has a half-sister, Olympia, who has also acted in Neighbours as Paige Smith (2014–2018, 2020, 2022). In Melbourne Rajko ran a "trendy imported European clothes store".

Valance started modelling as a teenager, when "she posed for supermarket catalogues and ad campaigns and by 14 she was earning $200 an hour modelling children's clothes and teenage lingerie." She grew up in Melbourne and moved to the UK when she was 18; she holds both Australian and British citizenship. After two years she moved to Los Angeles, where she spent seven years before returning to the United Kingdom.

1999–2003: Neighbours and music
In 1999 at age 16, Valance was cast in the Australian TV soap opera, Neighbours, as Felicity "Flick" Scully. Soon after gaining the role she left her Catholic school, "where girls were given detention for wearing make-up or having a hem above the knee." She appeared in Human Nature's music video for "He Don't Love You" (November 2000), "in a raunchy shower scene." Valance left Neighbours in 2002 to start her music career. Her first single, released in April 2002, was "Kiss Kiss", an English language cover version of Turkish singer, Tarkan's "Şımarık". It entered both the ARIA Singles and UK Singles Charts at No. 1. It charted in the top ten in seventeen countries, and went to number one in North Macedonia. The song was nominated for four ARIA Music Awards in 2002.

Valance's second single, "Down Boy" (September), peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 3 in Australia. Her first album, Footprints, was released on 14 October 2002, which reached No. 9 in the UK and No. 15 in Australia. She co-wrote the album track "The Harder They Come" with Rob Davis, who supplied guitar for the album. The album's third and final single, "Naughty Girl", peaked at No. 3 in Australia and No. 16 in the UK. Valance's second album, State of Mind, appeared in November 2003 and its title track was the lead single. It peaked at No. 8 in the UK and at No. 14 in Australia. Valance dropped London Recordings in 2004 and said she was no longer interested in recording music.

2004–2013: Prison Break and films
In 2004, Valance returned to acting, this time in the United States, appearing in episodes of the television series CSI: Miami and Entourage. In 2005, she appeared in an episode of CSI: NY. In 2005 Valance returned to music, albeit briefly, when she appeared on Har Mar Superstar's album The Handler singing on the tracks, "DUI", "Back the Camel Up" and "Body Request". She appeared in Prison Break in 2006 as Nika Volek, a role which she continued to portray in the show's second season. Also in 2006, Valance appeared in the National Lampoon comedy Pledge This!, alongside American socialite Paris Hilton. The same year, she starred in DOA: Dead or Alive, an adaptation of the popular video game Dead or Alive, in which she played Christie. In 2007, she appeared in the TV series Shark and Moonlight. In 2008, she had a role in the film Taken alongside Liam Neeson, and appeared in an episode of The CW series Valentine.

In 2009, she appeared in Frankmusik's video for his single "Confusion Girl". She also leaked a track called "Superstar" in 2009. In 2009 Valance played Brenda Snow for the video game Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising. She also appeared in Scott Caan's film Mercy. Valance took part in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with the professional winner of series 8, Artem Chigvintsev. Valance and Chigvintsev were eliminated in the semi-final of the competition on 11 December 2011, giving them a fourth-place finish. She also starred in the Miss Marple television episode called "The Pale Horse". In 2011, Valance appeared in an advert for Foster's Gold bottled beer.

In 2013, Valance was mentor and judge of fashion competition Shopaholic Showdown.

2013–present: Hiatus and other projects
In 2013, Valance took a hiatus from her artistic career to prioritise her family, and has since been doing charity work as Ambassador of The Children's Trust, the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury and neurodisability. Since then, her only new role has been an appearance in the movie Red Herring, released in 2015 and shot in 2013. On 28 July 2022, Valance was seen in a cameo appearance as Felicity Scully, in what was intended to be the final-ever Neighbours episode. Her appearance was filmed in England alongside that of Natalie Imbruglia's character, Beth Brennan.

Personal life
From 2005 to 2009, Valance dated Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin. In 2010, she started dating billionaire British property developer Nick Candy, whom she married on 29 September 2012 in Beverly Hills, California. In November 2013, Valance gave birth in London to their first child, a daughter. In September 2017, they had a second daughter.

Political views
According to The Guardian in 2024, Valance has "rapidly risen to become radical-right royalty". In February that year, she attended the launch of the new British conservative movement Popular Conservatism, led by former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss. In a series of clips posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), Valance was interviewed by Christopher Hope of GB News, and was asked about her views on various issues. Her view on "the climate crisis or lack of" was that "cleaner, cheaper energy is what we need". Asked about her political views, she said, "I would say that everyone starts off as a leftie and then wakes up at some point after making money, working, trying to run a business, trying to buy a home then realises what crap ideas they all are, and then you go to the right." Valance said her top political priority was Britain leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and the establishment of a British bill of rights, adding that "the trickle-down effect would be a huge step in the right direction".

A close personal friend of Nigel Farage, Valance said she persuaded him to stand for Parliament in the 2024 general election. In a 2024 interview she stated she was a member of Reform UK and would be voting for them in the general election. She said, "I support anybody that sticks to what they believe in and isn't a turncoat, and doesn't do a million flip-flops and U-turns." She helped the party raise £1.5 million within days of Farage's return as leader, and has donated £50,000 herself.

Having previously stayed at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, in 2024 she became the "UK poster girl" for Trump's US presidential campaign, and co-hosted a large fundraiser in London on 11 June.

Legal issues
In January 2002, Valance dismissed her then-manager Scott Michaelson by telephone, 15 months before his contract was due to expire. In 2003, Biscayne Partners sued Valance Corp., won the case and was awarded damages by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. During the trial, Valance's mother said Michaelson had been negligent as a manager, which forced her to take over from him. The former Neighbours co-star Kym Valentine also gave evidence that Valance "said she was feeling bad, a bit stressed out, because she was leaving Scott" and that "she said the solicitors for her record company would get her out of the contract and would be faxing him the paper work (from the UK) to do so." In court, Valance denied that she had said this to Valentine, even though she had signed an affidavit stating she had no recollection of the conversation.

Justice Clifford Einstein said, "I have given close consideration to the question of whether or not the circumstances presently before the Court which do, it seems to me, show a calculated disregard of the rights of Biscayne as well as a cynical pursuit of benefit". The court subsequently ordered Valance Corp. pay $350,000 to Biscayne Partners Pty. Ltd. Of this amount, $47,264.56 was "from shares Ms Valance and Mr Michaelson had bought together on the London Stock Exchange", though the court did not award in favour of Biscayne getting a percentage of sales of her album, State of Mind.

Video game

 * Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising (2009), as Brenda Snow (voice role)

Discography

 * Footprints (2002)
 * State of Mind (2003)