Dawn Acton played the first ever version of the legendary character (Picture: Getty Images)
Coronation Street’s famous character Tracy Barlow has seen more than one celebrated actor step into her shoes but the moniker’s first star opened up about why she decided to leave the show behind after years of playing dress-up.
Dawn Acton was the face behind Tracy for 10 years – from 1988 to 1999 – before she decided to quit acting in search of a different life.
Now 49, the former actress initially joined the soap aged 11 when she first took on the part of the cobbles’ resident moody teenager.
She exited the much-loved show after she turned 22 and became a mother to her little boy and is said to be working part-time as a DJ as well as putting in the hours in the charity sector.
Despite turning her back on the acting industry, it seemed she had carved out a space for herself on the Manchester music scene while admitting she loved her new life away from the soaps cameras.
She said of her life after Corrie: ‘Obviously I do miss working in Corrie but I do find the work I do now very rewarding. The fact is I believe everyone should have the chance to learn to read.’
The former star joined the show age 11 (Picture: Getty Images)
The storylines followed the star and her mother (Picture: REX)
The ex-soaps star continued revealing to The Sun in 2016: ‘I still do DJing but I like volunteering for Beanstalk as I supported children to read about things they were interested in and for them to be able to get enjoyment from it.
‘When my son was young, and I wasn’t working as much through the day I had some time on my hands, and I love reading and it’s all about trying to help children understand that reading isn’t necessarily a chore.’
She left when she was 22 years old (Picture: Getty Images)
Dawn also chatted about her budding music career in the past and told Lorraine’s Christine Lampard in 2019: ‘Oh I love my music, I’ve been DJing for over 15 years now. I love my live gigs.’
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While taking up residency on the Northern show, Dawn’s storylines followed her character as she navigated her relationship with her on-screen mother, Deirdre – played by Anne Kirkbride.
They documented their ups and downs once Deirdre became entangled with her partner Ken Barlow in 1995.
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She first joined the soap aged 11.