Emmerdale's April star Amelia Flanagan's life from real age to famous siblings
Amelia Flanagan first appeared on Emmerdale as April Windsor at the age of five. The actress, 16, who plays the daughter of Marlon Dingle and the late Donna Windsor, has picked up plenty of gongs for her portrayal of April over the years she's been on the show.
In 2015 she was The British Soap Awards' Best Young Performance and has also been named as Best Young Actor at the Inside Soap Awards for three years in a row. Coming from an acting family, its no wonder Amelia has been such a hit with viewers. She was born in Leeds and is the eldest of three siblings.
Her younger twin siblings, Isabella and William, have been playing the roles of cousins Hope Stape and Joseph Brown in Coronation Street since 2017. Her mum, Rachel, often takes to Instagram to share snaps of the siblings who she is proud of. Her Instagram bio reads: “Mum to the Flanagan’s April in @Emmerdale and Hope and Joseph in @coronationstreet."
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Isabella previously revealed it was Amelia who inspired her to get into acting and said: "I've wanted to be on TV for a long time, my sister has been in Emmerdale since she was five and I love watching her.”
Amelia has also shared how the siblings being actors comes in handy, as she said: "I've run lines with Bella where she's played Hope and I've pretended to be a character from Coronation Street, and she's done the same with me, so it's fun!"
At Christmas, Amelia shared a sweet family snap of the family celebrating at home, with the caption: "Merry Christmas from us."
Emmerdale aired a harrowing twist in Tuesday night's episode, 4 February, surrounding the whereabouts of April Windsor after she ran away at Christmas.
April was revealed to be pregnant and after discovering this, she fled the village, overwhelmed by the thought of burdening her family with the news. In a distressing turn of events, she chose to leave home, hoping to stay with friends, but instead found herself sleeping rough and meeting other young people who had experienced the same fate.
In tragic scenes, April suffered a stillbirth alone in a gym's toilet after sneaking in behind someone. The heart-wrenching scenes left viewers reeling, with one fan commenting: "April's time on the streets was really heartbreaking to watch. Omg and those reveals were absolutely shocking, makes me wonder when that happened exactly. I think Amelia Flanagan did a fantastic job," while another shared: "I've just watched tonight's #Emmerdale! WOW! What a powerful episode. Didn't expect that twist in the middle. Poor April. Amelia Flanagan take a bow."
The young actress took to her Instagram to express gratitude for the overwhelming support, stating it "means the world". She wrote: "Thank you. Feel so lucky to have been trusted with this incredible and heartbreaking storyline. So many people helped make this episode happen, and every single person put their everything into it. Working with @missingpeople.uk has been eye opening and such a crucial part of getting this right.
"Thank you to @emmerdale for this incredible opportunity. Forever grateful for being able to pursue my dream. Watch tonights ep now on ITVX and tune in the rest of this week to see what happens next."
