Courtney Bowman

Courtney Bowman (born 1 February 1995) is an English stage actress and singer. She is known for originating the role of Fatimah in Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Crucible Theatre and the Apollo Theatre, portraying Anne Boleyn in Six at the Arts Theatre, Lyric Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre and starring as Little Cook Small in the 2022 revival of television series Big Cook, Little Cook on CBeebies. Bowman is currently portraying leading role Elle Woods in Legally Blonde at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre until July 2022.

Early life
Bowman was born and raised in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. She is dual-heritage and describes herself as Afro-European. Bowman attended Boston High School from the age of 11 until she was 18, then started training at the Guildford School of Acting for three years until she graduated in 2016. Bowman also performed at the 10th annual Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition held at the Novello Theatre on 15 May 2016, she won the award and £1000 after performing “Me and My Town” from Anyone Can Whistle and “The Driving Lesson” from Heart of Winter by Tim Connor.

Career
Bowman performed at both Josh Groban on Stage in 2015 as a chorister and at Sam Bailey's 2016 concert Sam Bailey: In Concert as a soloist and chorister. She has so far performed two solo concerts one at Pizza Express, Holborn on 15 March 2020, and a socially distanced recorded concert at the Arts Theatre on 7 September 2020. She is currently a client of Belfield & Ward Talent Agency. From 2019 to 2021, Bowman appeared in the West End production of Six alongside principal cast members: Jarnéia Richard-Noel, Natalie Paris, Alexia McIntosh, Sophie Isaacs and Danielle Steers. Bowman performed in several socially distanced concerts in 2020, in addition to her solo concert, she performed at two drive-in concerts, a collaborative concert at the Turbine Theatre within Battersea Power Station, and a charity concert at the Actor's Church, Covent Garden. In mid-February 2022, it was announced by the BBC that Bowman would star in a 50 episode revival series of the pre-school cookery show Big Cook, Little Cook as Little Cook Small on CBeebies, airing daily from 28 February 2022. She is due to star in a revival concert version of Kinky Boots at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in August 2022, portraying the role of Lauren.

Theatre
Bowman has performed in a total of four professional theatrical productions so far in her career. Whilst performing the role of Fatimah in Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre, a professionally filmed version of the musical, featuring Bowman, was broadcast into more than 600 cinemas worldwide. It was initially administered by entertainment event cinema distributor More 2 Screen on 5 July 2018, while encore screenings took place on 29 January and 13 June 2019. Bowman performed as part of the principal cast of Six at the Lyric Theatre, as one of the first musicals to return to the West End after the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2021, the character of Princess Badroulbadour in the musical comedy Disenchanted! was portrayed by Bowman in an online production of the show, produced by stream.theatre, a digital stage production platform. From late September 2021, Bowman moved to the nearby Vaudeville Theatre to complete her run in Six until her final performance as Anne Boleyn on 14 November 2021. In March 2022, it was announced exclusively via WhatsOnStage that Bowman would portray the leading role of Elle Woods in the revival of Legally Blonde at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. In an interview with The Independent she recounts how the production is distinct from other iterations of the musical, citing subtle differences to the script and lyrics in order for the production to align itself with the present day.