Who is Donna Derby? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Bradley Walsh (m. 1997)

children: Barney Walsh, Hayley Walsh

Actresses British Female

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Career

Donna Derby’s first notable appearance was in the 1985 video short on the popular rock group, Willie and the Poor Boys. The short musical comedy was directed by Eddie Arno and Markus Innocenti. In 1987, she portrayed a dancer in the season two episode, ‘The Russ Abbot Christmas Show’, of ‘The Russ Abbot Show’. Starring Russ Abbot, the sketch comedy show originally aired on BBC1 from 1980 to 1985. It was brought back in 1986 and had its second run until 1991. The show returned for the third time in 1994 and was cancelled for the final time in 1996.

In 1988, she played one of the several red-lipped seductresses in the music video for the English rock singer Robert Palmer’s song ‘Simply Irresistible’. This was Palmer’s first single from his 1988 studio album ‘Heavy Nova’. The music video was directed by the renowned English photographer and film director Terence Donovan. The song and the video have been parodied and emulated several times in the following years. In 2017, Derby and Holly Willoughby, co-host of ITV’s ‘This Morning’, matched steps to ‘Simply Irresistible’. Willoughby later posted a photograph of their impromptu performance on her Instagram page.

From 1987 to 1988, she appeared in multiple episodes of ‘The Kenny Everett Television Show’. In 2003, she served as a choreographer and stage director on Miss World for the first time. She has subsequently been associated with the beauty pageant in 2004, 2011, 2012, and 2013. She also served as a judge in the last two years.

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Family & Personal Life

Donna Derby is from England. Little is known about her personal life and upbringing. She married actor, comedian, and TV presenter Bradley Walsh in 1997. A native of the town of Watford, Walsh was a professional football player before he joined the world of entertainment. Some of his most prominent roles are of Danny Baldwin in ‘Coronation Street’, DS Ronnie Brooks in ‘Law & Order: UK’, and Graham O'Brien in ‘Doctor Who’. He is also the host of ‘The Chase’ and ‘Cash Trapped’.

Derby and Walsh’s son, Barney, was born in 1997. He is also pursuing a career as an actor and has appeared in the TV show ‘Doctors’ (2015) and the action adventure ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’ (2017). In 2019, he began sharing screen space with his father on the adventure reality show, ‘Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad’. Derby is the stepmother to Walsh’s daughter from a previous relationship, Hayley (born 1982).

Donna Derby Biography