Lisa Faulkner survives being thrown from a cliff tonight in the latest Madame Blanc Mysteries, but her real life is even more exciting than that.
The actress, who has successfully transitioned to TV chef and cooking expert, has led a fascinating life with a varied portfolio of work and romances. Even the way her current TV chef partner John Torode suggested they begin dating is somewhat unconventional!
Here’s everything we know about Lisa Faulkner, her career, and her relationship with her TV chef husband.
Who is Lisa Faulkner?
Lisa Faulkner is an English actress and chef. Her first acting gig came in 1992, while her food career came from a hugely successful stint on Celebrity MasterChef in 2010.
She was born in London, but grew up in Surrey. She attended Tiffin Girls’ School.
When she was 16 years old, her mother died from throat cancer. Lisa credits her love of food to her mother.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Lisa said: “My mum was a whirlwind, a proper force. She was a brilliant cook and was always filling the house with people and music and food.”
“I remember watching in awe as she made profiteroles, chicken tarragon, beef wellington… and what’s stayed with me more than anything is the taste of that food.”
How old is Lisa Faulkner?
Lisa Faulkner was born on February 19, 1972. At the time of writing, she is 51 years old.
She has spoken about how reaching her 40s was a huge milestone for her, after her mother died just 44 years old.
“It’s a real dread, being 40. Most people who’ve lost parents young can’t see past the age they were when they died. You’re fearful until you’ve passed it.”
What is Lisa Faulkner famous for? Lisa’s TV shows and films
Lisa’s acting career began with 1992 romance The Lover, where she portrayed Helene Lagonelle. The film was nominated for the 1992 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, while in France it received seven César Award nominations.
From there, she portrayed Alison Dangerfield in the first two seasons of BBC One drama Dangerfield (1995). Alison was the teenage daughter of the titular police surgeon.
Roles in two major soaps followed. Lisa portrayed Louise Hope in Brookside (1997-1998), before taking the role of Victoria Merrick in Holby City (1999-2001). Victoria Merrick was a struggling surgeon on the medical series, who died in a gruesome death at Lisa’s request. Her patient’s grieving father stabbed Victoria to death!
Lisa next starred alongside then-partner Chris Coghill in Burn It, a Salford-set drama about three twenty-something-year-old men.
From there, Lisa starred in Murder in Suburbia (2004-2005) and New Street Law (2006-2007). She portrayed DS Emma “Scribbs” Scribbins and Laura Scammel in the two series.
In 2010, Lisa went on Celebrity MasterChef, which turned out to be a decisive move for her. She won the series, found a whole new career in food, and even the love of her life!
Since then, Lisa has appeared on EastEnders as antagonist Fi Browning in 2017, who arrived on the square to help Max Branning (Jake Wood) carry out a revenge plan on its residents.
Last year, she also played small roles in Unforgotten and Waterloo Road.
Lisa Faulkner the TV chef!
After her Celebrity MasterChef win in 2010, Lisa embarked on a whole new career – that of a chef!
Alongside Ben Shephard, she began presenting Channel 4 and Sainsbury’s daytime TV collaboration Whats Cooking? From the Sainsbury’s Kitchen in 2013. The show followed on from the channel’s successful partnership with Sainsburys for the Paralympics and ran for 65 episodes.
She released her first cookbook that same year, titled ‘Recipes from my Mother for my Daughter’. The cookbook was a Sunday Times bestseller.
Further cookbooks followed, including ‘The Way I Cook…’ (2013), Tea and Cake with Lisa Faulkner (2015) and From Mother to Mother: Recipes from a family kitchen (2017).
Lisa also started making regular appearance as a chef on talkshows, including This Morning and Lorraine.
She’s also gone right back to where she started, and from 2016 has appeared regularly on Celebrity MasterChef as a guest judge.
In 2019, she started hosting John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen with her partner John Torode. At the time of writing, the pair are currently starring in John & Lisa’s Food Trip Down Under.
Is Lisa Faulkner married?
Yes, Lisa Faulkner is married to Australian MasterChef judge John Torode.
The pair first met in 1996 on This Morning, where both were special guests. It was far from love at first sight, however, as Lisa’s initial impression of the chef was that he was “arrogant”.
They met again in 2010 while Lisa was a contestant on Celebrity MasterChef and John a judge. After Lisa won the series, John asked her out in a somewhat unconventional way.
In fact, John wrote a letter to Lisa, asking if she would like to go out for dinner!
John told the Daily Mail: “I was reluctant to approach Lisa face to face as I didn’t fancy the prospect of her saying no, so I wrote her a letter. If I’d got no response, it wouldn’t matter. Cowardly? S***, yeah. I’m as cowardly as they get.”
A hugely successful relationship began, which saw John pop the question on Christmas Day 2018. The couple married on October 24, 2019 at Aynhoe Park, Oxfordshire.
The pair also present cooking series John and Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen together.
Lisa was previously married to actor Chris Coghill between 2005 to 2011. The actor is best known for his role as child abuser Tony King on EastEnders. Tony was Bianca Jackson‘s partner, who it emerged had been grooming Bianca’s stepdaughter Whitney Dean for years.
She was also previously engaged to actor Jonny Lee Miller, even going so far as to confirm a wedding date, before the pair broke it off in 2002.
Does Lisa Faulkner have children?
Lisa has one adopted daughter with ex-husband Chris, Billie, who was born in 2006.
She has previously spoken about her struggles to get pregnant, having three failed IVF attempts and a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
On International Women’s Day in 2023, Lisa shared a picture of Billie with a caption that read: “Happy International Women’s Day my daughter. You, my ‘beautiful in every single way’ girl inspire me and teach me every day. Am so very proud of the brave strong kind vivacious fun clever and beautiful woman you have grown into .. may the sun always shine on your face, may you always look for the chinks of light because they are always there my sunbeam.”
Lisa is also the stepmother to husband John Torode’s four children, Casper, Marselle, Jonah and Lulu. The family describe themselves as “blended“.
Apparently, she has a few unflattering nicknames from John’s kids, including ‘the feeder’ and ‘pushover Lisa’.
How does Lisa Faulkner stay slim?
Given that she’s a foodie with a TV husband, we can’t help but be envious of Lisa’s slim frame.
Part of that, she told the Irish Times, is genetics. Lisa said: “I’ve always had a very fast metabolism, so I’ve always been very lucky in the fact that I’m quite thin.”
That said, she does maintain a healthy diet and practices exercise routines she knows she can keep up with. These mainly include walking and yoga.
She said: “I am not a gym person. I need to do stuff I can keep up for the rest of my life. I’ve done yoga for the past nearly 20 years and I absolutely love it.”
“I walk my dog wherever I can. I try and walk every day, even if it’s just 25 minutes or half an hour of walking.”
If she can’t go outside to walk, she has a treadmill that she only uses for walking. “I’ve got a running machine in my shed that I don’t use for running, I literally walk up hills on it and hold hand weights.”
Lisa Faulkner appears on Madame Blanc Mysteries tonight (January 25) on Channel 5 at 9pm.
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