Debbie Arnold was born in Sunderland into a theatrical family. Her father was the impressionist Eddie Arnold, and her mother was the theatrical agent Mary Arnold. She started her career in television as an impressionist in 1979 in Now Who Do You Do, then moved into drama and comedy. She has had the dubious honour of being a regular character in all of the major soaps: Sylvia Hicks in Coronation Street, Debbie in Emmerdale, Janice in Hollyoaks and April in Eastenders. She has appeared in hundreds of television shows as diverse as Miss Marple: The Body in the Library and Real Women. Her most recent television credits are County Court, MIT, In the City, Holby City and Footballers’ Wives.
Debbie’s theatre credits include productions of Women Behind Bars (Whitehall Theatre), Four in a Million (Royal Court Theatre), Lives of the Wives (National Theatre), Hollywood Babylon (Bridge Lane), Musical Chairs (Chichester), Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Worldwide tour and Strand Theatre, London), Bazaar and Rummage (UK Tour). Her most notable performance was staring opposite Omar Sharif in The Sleeping Prince at Chichester and the Haymarket Theatre, London, for which she received numerous accolades.
She has been a voice-over artist for twenty years and has been “the face” of Etam. She is currently launching an independent mineral make-up range and the website called Looking Gorgeous. Debbie and David Janson have two daughters together: Talia, who has just gained a scholarship to Epson College, and Ciara, who is currently staring as Nicole Owen in Hollyoaks.