EastEnders star Elijah Holloway once tried to venture down a very different career path – and you may have seen him.
The actor, 26, is best known to BBC soap fans as troubled Harry Mitchell.
First arriving in Albert Square last year, he’s been embroiled in a number of huge stories, including discovering that his mother Nicola (Laura Doddington) murdered his girlfriend.
We’ve also seen him kidnap Zack Hudson (James Farrar) after discovering he had fathered his brother Barney (Lewis Bridgeman), and more recently, become entwined in drug dealing.
After his best mate Kojo Asare (Dayo Koleosho) flushed Ravi Gulati’s (Aaron Thiara) stash of narcotics down the loo, Harry has been forced to supply to his customers to pay off the debt.
EastEnders is Elijah’s first major acting role, having appeared in a number of short films, a McDonalds advert and in a 2023 production of A View from the Bridge at the Chichester Festival.
However, in 2017, you may have seen him in BBC talent contest Let It Shine.
The series saw judges Gary Barlow, Dannii Minogue and Martin Kemp search for a new boyband to take part in Take That jukebox musical Greatest Days.
Elijah, then 18 and working as a shop assistant, auditioned in episode three with a rendition of Greased Lightnin’, originally performed by John Travolta in Grease.
Unfortunately, he received the lowest of the ‘stars’ – votes awarded by the judges – 11, and was eliminated from the competition.
Other notable faces in the series who would go onto receive mainstream recognition were It’s A Sin star Callum Howells, and Emmerdale’s Bradley Johnson, who plays Vinny Dingle.
Elijah isn’t the only future soapstar to seek fame on a glitzy musical theatre Saturday night contest.
In 2008, Coronation Street’s Jodie Prenger won I’d Do Anything, which was looking for an unknown actress to portray Nancy in the West End Revival of Oliver!