Born in November 1963, Lisa Maxwell was raised on an East London housing estate by working-class parents. As a child, she was encouraged by her mother to pursue her obvious talent for entertaining, which led to her enrollment at the local drama school for weekend classes.
Lisa's first big break came in the early 1980s when she fought off 3,000 contenders to become the co-presenter of No Limits, a pioneering youth programme that featured in the BBC's early evening schedule. She built on this success by becoming the children's presenter on Thames TV's popular show, Splash.
In the years that followed, Lisa continued to thrive in her career, acting as a foil to popular comedians Russ Abbot and Les Dennis. By the early 1990s, she had been rewarded with her own weekly entertainment series, The Lisa Maxwell Show.
In 1993, Lisa tried her luck as an actress in America, but her audition for the role of Daphne in Frasier proved unsuccessful, partly due to a misunderstanding. Despite this setback, she did secure roles in numerous popular series, including Acapulco H.E.A.T. and the crime drama Murder, She Wrote.
Returning to Britain, Lisa appeared in the London stage version of Grease and starred alongside Shane Richie in the popular musical, Boogie Nights. She continued to act in various roles, including her appearance in the BBC series, In Deep.
In 2002, Lisa joined the cast of British television's longest-running police drama, The Bill, portraying Acting DI Samantha Nixon, a character that remains a central figure in the show's plotlines. In her private life, Lisa is happily settled and a mother to a daughter born in 1999.
