Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon (formerly Ponting, born 14 May 1976) is an English actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children’s television drama Bluebirds in 1989. In the early 1990s, she had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan, but it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in the BBC’s soap opera EastEnders and her role in the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually that brought her stardom. For the former she won the National Television Award, while the latter earned her the Empire and MTV Movie awards. She was written out of EastEnders at the end of 1998 and then embarked on a pop career, this time as a solo artist.

McCutcheon’s debut studio album, You Me & Us (1999), peaked at number two in the UK, and spawned the UK number one single “Perfect Moment” and two UK top 10 entries, “I’ve Got You” and the double-sided “Talking in Your Sleep/”Love Me”. Its follow-up, Wishing (2000), was less commercially successful but produced two UK top 10 singles: “I’m Over You” and “On the Radio”. Her pop career stalled because of the poor reception of her 2002 third album, Musicality (2002). She returned to music in 2017 with the album Lost and Found. Outside of music, McCutcheon continued to appear in television programmes, films and stage productions; in My Fair Lady her portrayal of Eliza Doolittle won her a Laurence Olivier Award in 2002. She released her autobiography Who Does She Think She Is? in 2000.

Martine Kimberley Sherrie Ponting was born on 14 May 1976 at the Salvation Army Mothers’ Hospital in the London Borough of Hackney to Jenny Ponting and Thomas “Keith” Hemmings. While in a relationship with Keith, Jenny experienced domestic violence, which continued for many years after their split. After one of many incidents in which he attempted to kill both Jenny and Martine, he was arrested and later charged and remanded in custody for six months. Jenny then met John McCutcheon, whom she later married. When Martine was nine, Keith contacted Jenny and asked for access to her. Jenny refused, prompting him to seek sole custody of Martine through the courts. He eventually lost the case, was denied any access to Martine until she was 18 and told that he could not apply for it again due to his past behaviour. Shortly after, her surname was changed to her stepfather’s, McCutcheon. When Martine was sixteen, her mother gave birth to her half-brother, Laurence “LJ”. Jenny and John eventually divorced and she married Alan Tomlin in 2000.

McCutcheon attended a nursery school in Colchester, Essex, and later the Shacklewell Infants’ School in Hackney, where she performed in her first play Away in a Manger before progressing to the Shacklewell Juniors’ School at the age of six, where she appeared in more plays, including Noah’s Ark. At the age of five, she began attending extra dance classes and later enrolled in a dance school in Stoke Newington. Shortly before her tenth birthday, she successfully auditioned for a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

 However, because of the changing policy of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA), she was no longer eligible for the grant she was supposed to receive for coming second in the audition and, with no financial support, she was forced to withdraw. Instead, she began to attend Italia Conti’s Saturday lessons. Later, the Reeves Foundation, a Church of England charity based in Moorgate, offered McCutcheon a grant and she was able to enrol at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. She finished school with nine GCSEs.

At the age of 12, McCutcheon obtained her first acting role and was paid £350 to appear in an American television commercial for the drink Kool-Aid, which was followed by modelling assignments and bit parts in television shows. She was given the part of Mandy in the television series Bluebirds (1989) alongside Barbara Windsor and played Susan, Jane’s sister (played by Denise van Outen), in the Anthony Newley-directed production of Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, London, which was later transferred to the West End Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. This was followed by two guest appearances on the ITV police drama The Bill in 1991 and 1992. McCutcheon also appeared in the music video for the song “Caribbean Blue” by Irish singer Enya. By the time she was 15, she was part of an all-girl group, Milan, with two fellow pupils, and landed a record contract with Polydor and a gig touring as the warm-up act for the British boyband, East 17. Milan were reasonably successful. Three of their singles: “Is It Love You’re After”, “Affectionately Mine” and “Lead Me On”, charted in the top ten of the dance charts, with the latter also making it to the top 100 of the UK Singles Chart. However, they were not successful enough to make a living and disbanded.

In 1994, McCutcheon was offered the small part of Tiffany Raymond on the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders. The role of Tiffany grew as did McCutcheon’s popularity and 22 million viewers tuned in to see her final scenes in Albert Square in 1998 when her character was killed off in a special episode screened on New Year’s Eve. In reality, McCutcheon had decided to leave the soap in order to embark on a pop career and the death of her character was not viewed favourably by the actress as she had intended to return.