Samantha Spiro

Samantha Spiro (born 20 June 1968 in London, England) is an Olivier Award-winning English actress. She is known for portraying Barbara Windsor in the stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and the television film Cor, Blimey!, and DI Vivien Friend in M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team.

Born in Mill Hill, North London, Spiro grew up in Radlett. She is Jewish. Spiro decided to be an actress at the age of ten, after seeing a production of Androcles and the Lion at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. She joined the National Youth Theatre, and later trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Spiro married the actor Mark Leadbetter, who she met at drama school, in February 2002. They have two daughters and currently live in Queen's Park, London.

In 2001, Spiro was awarded the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the 2000 season Donmar Warehouse production of Merrily We Roll Along. She won a Whatsonstage.com award for Best Actress in a Musical for the same production.

Spiro also won a 2004 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical, for the production of A Little Night Music at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, Illinois.