Niamh Blackshaw

Niamh Kate Blackshaw (born 19 November 1998) is an English actress. She made her television debut in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2017) as Lara Cutler. She then played Juliet Nightingale in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks (2018–2023), for which she was nominated for Best Leading Performer at the 2023 British Soap Awards.

Early and personal life
Niamh Kate Blackshaw was born on 19 November 1998 in Bolton, Greater Manchester. Prior to studying acting, Blackshaw trained as a dancer, and at the age of eleven, she began attending Rossendale Dance and Drama Centre, where she completed her LAMDA and Trinity exams. She also attended Canon Slade School in Bolton, where she studied Latin for her A-Level exams, amongst other subjects. Blackshaw was interested in attending Cambridge University full-time, until she pursued acting as a career. However, she later began studying at the University of Oxford part-time, alongside acting.

Blackshaw has Lyme disease. She has been in a relationship with actor Angus Castle-Doughty since 2022.

Career
Blackshaw began her acting career appearing in television advertisements, including an advert for Mr Kipling. In 2017, she appeared in five episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street as Lara Cutler. Her character committed suicide after being groomed by Nathan Curtis (Christopher Harper) and his gang. In March 2018, she made an appearance in the short film Landline. On 4 September 2018, it was announced that she would be joining the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks as Juliet Nightingale, and she made her first appearance on 21 November 2018. Her storylines in the soap included discovering her father is Mac Nightingale (David Easter), being groomed into a county lines drug trafficking gang, coming out as a lesbian and developing a romance with Peri Lomax (Ruby O'Donnell). For her portrayal of Juliet, she has been nominated for Best Newcomer at the Inside Soap Awards and two nominations for Best Partnership alongside Lysette Anthony and O'Donnell, as well as being nominated for Best Leading Performer at the 2023 British Soap Awards. After a cancer storyline was devised for her character, it was announced that Blackshaw would be leaving her role as Juliet in 2023, after five years on Hollyoaks.