Eve Myles — things you didn't know about the Welsh actress

Eve Myles has been on our screens since 2000, but it was her hit BBC Wales drama Keeping Faith that really propelled her into the limelight. The hit series is now in its third and final season. 

After leaving Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2000 Eve landed her first role as Ceri Lewis in BBC drama Belonging. 

Since then Eve has landed roles as Claire Ripley in Broadchurch, Mrs Jenkins in Victoria, Gwen Cooper in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood and Gwen Parry-Jones in A Very English Scandal. She has also starred in We Hunt Together along with many other TV shows, and has enjoyed a hugely successful stage career. 

But what else is there to learn about the actress? Here are a few things you might not know...

1. Eve Myles' husband is also her co-star

Eve met her husband, Bradley Freegard, at the National Youth Theatre in 1994 and the pair got married in Italy in May 2013. They then went on to star alongside one another in Keeping Faith where they play (now separated) husband and wife Faith and Evan Howells. But Keeping Faith isn't the first time they have worked together... in 2003 they appeared as brother and sister in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Titus Andronicus. 

2. Her husband helped to teach her Welsh

Eve went to school at Ysgol Maes Y Dderwen where she learned only basic Welsh phrases, so despite being born and bread in a small mining town in Wales, she didn't speak her native language when she landed the role of Faith in Keeping Faith. With the drama being a bilingual series where every scene is filmed twice, once in English and once in Welsh, Eve needed to learn Welsh from scratch. Thankfully she had her  husband to help! Despite saying it was one of the biggest challenges she has ever taken on, she now knows the language so well that she speaks conversational Welsh with her daughters at home. 

3. She used to live under the Hollywood sign 

Eve relocated her family to California for filming of the fourth series of Torchwood. They lived in the Hollywood Hills, literally underneath the famous Hollywood sign. Eve has since described her time in the US as the best year of her life and says she would like to spend more time there as an actress one day.

4. She was a big fan of boxing 

Eve was a huge fan of boxing when she was growing up, and enjoyed taking part in the sport herself. However, her time in the ring came to an end when she broke her knuckle by punching a wet sandbag. 

5. Her role in 'Torchwood' was written just for her

In 2005 Eve auditioned for a part in Doctor Who and she landed the role of servant girl Gwyneth Russell alongside Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper. However, Torchwood creator Russell T Davies was so impressed with Eve that he created the character of Gwen Cooper with her in mind. She played the role between 2006 and 20011 and later said that having the role written for her was like having her own personal Oscar. 

6. She almost retrained to be a midwife

Before starring in Keeping Faith, Eve admitted that she had become disillusioned with some of the roles she was getting and considered quitting acting and retraining as a midwife. She even went as far as signing up for a midwifery course after becoming fascinated by the sonographers she'd met during routine scans when she was pregnant. She told you.co.uk: "I had a wobble. I wasn't doing the parts I wanted and I was bored. Brad's very patient, he knows when I'm a bit lost, so he was completely behind me. But then as soon as I signed up for the course, I was offered the role of Faith."

Eve Myles' fact file

Answers to the most frequently asked questions about the actress....

How old is she?

Eve Myles is 42 years old. She was born on July 26 1978. 

Is she married? 

Eve Myles married her Keeping Faith co-star Bradley Freegard in 2013. 

Does she have children? 

Eve Myles and her husband have two daughters, Matilda and Siena. 

Where was she born?

Eve Myles was born in Ystradgynlais, Wales

How tall is she?

Eve Myles is 5ft 6in. 

Twitter: @TeamEveMyles

Instagram: @teamevemyles

We work hard to ensure that all information is correct. Facts that change over time, such as age, will be correct, to the best of our knowledge, at the time of the last article update.