Eileen Daly is a busy lady these days.  Not only is she the star of many British (and indeed international) indie horror films, but she is also the lead singer of the gypsy-glam band The Courtesans and a contributing writer for DVD & BLU-RAY world magazine as well as the soon to be re-launched DARKSIDE magazine.

Her fame didn’t come overnight, but over several decades, growing gradually.  Her life story is a lot more interesting than a lot of the biographies currently cluttering up WH Smiths and Waterstones.

Born in Surrey to the daughter of the champion lightweight boxer ‘nipper’ Daly and a gangster father she soon became fond of singing, acting and performing.  Her parents split up when she was three and her father was killed in a gangland slaying not long after.  Perhaps it was for the best as she and her brother were to enjoy a happy childhood in Hampton Hill.  Certainly she has a strong fighting spirit inherited, no doubt, from her pugilist grandfather.

Naturally for a budding actress, she was deemed a little bit precocious and hit the modelling scene early in life.  Her obvious good looks were in demand, but not always required, and she hated having to turn up at a modelling gig make-up and hair in place only to have it all wiped off and be covered in fake tan and baby pink lipstick meaning she would have to do the shoot, or video, and then re-do her make up as her look was not  what the director or director of photography really wanted – this bred in her a strong desire to stamp her own image on projects in which she would later be involved.   She then attended the Richmond drama school for a few short years before moving on to become a runner for a film company that produced music videos, then still in their infancy.  It was here that she met Tim Pope who would have a large influence in her life.