Melanie Hill

English actress Melanie Hill was born January 11, 1962 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. She studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she won the Vanburgh Award. She is popularly known as Aveline on the long-running British sitcom, Bread. She was married to actor Sean Bean from 1990 to 1997 and they have two daughters, Lorna and Molly.

Melanie Hill has been seen on numerous other television productions. In 1984, she began her professional career by playing the recurring character Jean Simpson in the series Juliet Bravo. She followed this up with roles in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and the TV movie A Night on the Tyne. She later played Susan on an episode of Boon, before playing Aveline on Bread. In 1993, she was cast in the feature film The Hawk, a thriller by David Hayman. She was next seen on the series Casualty, before she accepted the role of Sister Pamela Lockley for numerous episodes of Cardiac Arrest. After taking on a part in 1994’s action film Shopping, she was seen in the series Crocodile Shoes. Her next project was six episodes of Finney, and two made-for-TV movies. These were titled Cruel Train and Circles of Deceit: Dark Secret, with both being aired in 1995. The next year she was cast in the sport drama When Saturday Comes, starring Sean Bean. Hill reprised her role of Emma Shepherd in Crocodile Shoes II, before making appearances in The Broker’s Man and Silent Witness. She soon got a recurring role in Close & True, and later appeared on NCS Manhunt. Hill also worked with Johnny Depp and Heather Graham on the thriller From Hell, where she played a mother. She was also in Playing the Field, a series she has been part of from 1998 to 2002. Some of her other performances were in The Bill, The Afternoon Play, The Fugitives and The Brief. She was later given the role of the nosey and neurotic Brenda Ogilvie on the series Meadowlands. In 2007, Hill was cast in the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, before she landed roles in The Street, and the TV productions White Girl, and Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me, both in 2008.

She is a big football fan and grew up supporting Sunderland AFC. She occasionally accompanied Bean to Sheffield United matches during their marriage.