Emmerdale’s Laura Norton: “It’s payback time”

The Geordie actress says her nomination at the British Soap Awards was payback for her family’s backing.

Norton has told The Sunday Post how she’d never have realised her acting dream if her mum and dad, Lesley and Ron, hadn’t sacrificed everything.

“I was always one of those kids who loved performing and they’ve been right behind me the whole way,” confides Laura, who plays troubled Kerry in the ITV soap.

“I had dance classes and piano lessons and when I told them I wanted to study drama they backed me.

“They paid all my train fares from Newcastle to London and when I needed a new outfit for an audition it came from them.

“They made loads of sacrifices. When they’ve been completely skint I’ve taken their last penny.

“They’ve always put this first in the hope that one day I’d get a job like this or get some recognition.

“So it’s payback time for them now.”

Family backing also comes from sister Nicola and 14-year-old nephew Nathan, with Laura getting back “home” to Newcastle at every possible opportunity.

The Best Newcomer nod at the Awards screened on ITV this week was for the impact Kerry has made since arriving on screen last year.

But Laura is anything but a newcomer.

“It’s mad that people come up and say ‘have you done anything before?’” she laughs.

“They think I’ve never acted but I had my first professional job when I was 19 and I’m about to turn 30. It’s just you get noticed because seven million people watch Emmerdale.”

Laura says she jumped at the part after having her roughest spell just before ITV came calling.

“It was a no-brainer everything in my career had been leading up to that moment,” she confesses.

“The six months before I got the job was the longest I’ve been out of work since I was 19.

“I was getting better-known and was up for bigger things. I’d get down to the final two but every time it was a no I remember saying to my agent that it was the toughest I’d found it in the 10 years.

“There were five auditions over a

six-week period and when I got the call my mam shed a little tear, then we cracked open a bottle of champagne.”