A YARM woman has joined the cast of Emmerdale.

Jessie Elland who is a former pupil from Yarm School plays 'Chloe' and first appeared on screens on Friday, August 20.

Chloe is the sister of Sarah Sugden's heart donor.  

Jessie said: "I couldn’t be happier to be a part of Emmerdale. My wonderful agent who I’ve been with for just over a year rang me back in May to tell me I had an audition for Emmerdale. 

"The initial audition was a self-tape that I filmed at home with my Mum - who insists it's down to her acting prowess in that tape that I got the part. Then a week later I was asked to come into the studios for a screen test.

"It was my first ever in-person audition - which I tried not to think about at the time but I had the best day. I was lucky enough to be doing a scene with Karen Blick who is a fantastic actress to work with and so lovely!

"Then a few weeks later I got the phone call from my agent to say I had been given the part! 

"The first time I set foot in the Emmerdale studios all I could think of was how it reminded me of a very complex and detailed IKEA! All the sets are next to each other in a huge maze of rooms and I was in awe at the attention to detail in each set.

"My costume fitting was something I was looking forward to from the off and it did not disappoint! Jodie and the rest of the team at Emmerdale are so talented and I’m so jealous of all of Chloe’s outfits!"

On Facebook Yarm School said: "Congratulations to former pupil and Sixth Form scholar, Jessie, who has joined the cast of Emmerdale. Jessie was a principal in our production of Guys and Dolls - her first musical - and always had a keen interest in acting. We are delighted to see her doing something she loves!"

Jessie added: "Chloe is very sweet and genuine, eager to please and make connections with people, but underneath it all she is struggling with a lot of sadness, anger, and frustration. Her experiences in life have made her old beyond her years, but I think this has given her a sense of determination to go out and get what she wants. 

"When I was 16 I won a scholarship to study at the local private school where I did my first musical. I’ve known for a while that I wanted to pursue acting as a career and doing that musical definitely sealed the deal for me!

"Drama school wasn’t really an option so I went to the University of Manchester to study Anthropology and audit their Drama course, though after a week I decided to switch to Drama full time. It was a very theory based course which I enjoyed, but I made sure to get involved in as much extracurricular drama/acting as possible.

"I took a few classes at MSA and met the fabulous Karen Henthorn who is a fantastic teacher and friend and who helped me put together a showreel with Manchester Actors Platform and get my agent!"

Emmerdale airs at 7pm on ITV.