Danielle Jane Harmer is an English television
actress, presenter and singer.
Harmer is best known for her portrayal as
Tracy Beaker in the CBBC programmes The Story
of Tracy Beaker, Tracy Beaker Returns and
Tracy Beaker Survival Files.
Harmer confirmed on Twitter that she will
not appear in its spin-off series, The Dumping
Ground.
Apart from Tracy Beaker, Harmer played Molly
Venables in the BBC sitcom, After You've Gone.
Dani also starred in her own sitcom, Dani's
House from 2008 to 2012.
A spin-off series to Dani's House was confirmed
to be Dani's Castle, which began airing on
CBBC in January 2013.
Harmer has also occasionally presented continuity
clips on the CBBC Channel.
She also became a presenter on Friday Download
in the first series, where she guest presented
the 'Style Download' segment.
In 2008, Harmer branched into the music business
and signed a £3m record deal.
She recorded her debut album Superheroes in
September 2009, and released the single and
theme from Dani's House, "Free", but the album
was never released and it was later confirmed
she had given up her music career.
In March 2012, she also appeared in Let's
Dance for Sport Relief, alongside Outnumbered
star, Tyger Drew-Honey.
They both reached the final, and became joint
runners-up.
Harmer competed in the tenth series of the
BBC ballroom dancing show, Strictly Come Dancing,
in that year.
She was paired up with Vincent Simone, and
the couple were eliminated on the final night,
finishing in fourth place.
In August 2014, Harmer appeared on Big Brother's
Bit on the Side.
Career
She made her stage debut at the age of 6 in
the musical The Who's Tommy in the West End.
She has appeared in a number of pantomimes:
Dolly Mixture in Snow White, the title character
in Peter Pan, Dick Whittington and the title
role in Cinderella alongside Joe Tracini.
Other stage credits include a 2005 production
of The Wizard of Oz at the Sunderland Empire
Theatre.
Harmer appeared as an extra in Harry Potter
and the Philosopher's Stone; she was sitting
in the Great Hall when the new students to
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
took turns to visit the Sorting Hat.
Her big break was when she landed the title
role in CBBC's dramedy series The Story of
Tracy Beaker, which she starred in for five
series and also the feature length film, Tracy
Beaker's Movie of Me.
She also went to Redroof Theatre school as
a child.
Dani has been beloved by a lot of children
by starring in The Story of Tracy Beaker,
Tracy Beaker Returns, Dani's House and Dani's
Castle.
Her other TV credits include the ITV drama
series Trial & Retribution, Casualty, My Family,
Pie in the Sky, The 10th Kingdom, Beast, Touch
Me, I'm Karen Taylor, "Beep Beep" in the British
television series The Beeps, and the pilot
for Coming of Age.
She was one of the presenters: known as "packers"
in the 2006 series of the Saturday morning
show, Mighty Truck of Stuff.
In November 2008 Media Guardian reported that
After You've Gone was to be cancelled by the
BBC, due to ITV moving Coronation Street to
the same slot on ITV1.
The BBC had announced a fourth series of the
show in January of that year to be aired in
2009; however, the series ended with a Christmas
special in 2008.
In March 2010, Harmer starred in The Wizard
of Oz at The Journal Tyne Theatre in Newcastle,
and again in 2012 at The Regent & Corn Exchange
Theater in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Dani Harmer returned to the role of Tracy
Beaker in early 2010 in the 13-episode BBC
series Tracy Beaker Returns, in which her
character had developed into a care worker
and had written an autobiography about what
life is like for children in care.
Three series aired of Tracy Beaker Returns.
It concluded on 23 March 2012.
A spin-off was created called The Dumping
Ground but did not feature Harmer.
Dani starred in another TV show called Dani's
Castle.
This is a spin-off from the previous series
called Dani's House.
This aired at the start of 2013.
A second series aired in 2014 and a third
series has been commissioned for 2015.
Dani appeared on the celebrity version of
the gameshow Pointless in a team with Joe
Pasquale, playing for the charity Make A Wish
Foundation.
The two reached the final, but failed to win
the jackpot.
Dani did manage to score one 'Pointless' answer
during the course of the show.
Dani was due to star as 'Jane' in Disco Inferno,
which was planned tour across the UK in autumn
2012.
However it was announced on 5 September 2012
that the musical was cancelled after an investor
pulled out.
Dani confirmed via her Twitter account on
the same day that she would be a contestant
on the upcoming tenth series of Strictly Come
Dancing.
Her partner was Vincent Simone.
Dani and Vincent reached the final and finished
the series in fourth place.
Harmer is currently playing Janet in the UK
tour of the stage production The Rocky Horror
Show.
Music
Harmer signed a record deal with record label
Universal/Decca worth £3 million, under the
management of Daniel Glatman, some time before
beginning work on her debut album.
The album was recorded and written in 2008
with the help of producer and songwriter Tom
Nichols, and entitled Superheroes.
The album's lead and only single, Free, was
released on 25 May 2009, after becoming the
theme song of the TV show Dani's House, in
which Harmer plays the lead role.
Despite extensive promotion, the song was
a commercial failure, entering iTunes at No.
117 and then taking the same position on the
official chart.
"Free" was also featured on the compilation
album Pop Princesses 2009.
The scheduled release date of Superheroes
was October 2009, which was later pushed back
to early 2010.
Rumours circulated that the album had been
cancelled by Harmer's record company due to
poor sales of the lead single, she responded
that "they are just waiting for the right
time to release it".
No further comment was made until mid-2012,
when Harmer stated via Twitter that she had
given up music because she wanted to focus
on her acting career.
The album artwork and 30-second previews of
each track were released in early 2010, along
with the tracklist:
Awards
Winner of the 2010 Children's BAFTA for Best
Drama, Dani was also nominated for her performance
as Tracy Beaker in its various incarnations,
with the programme attracting another nomination
in the Children's Drama Category at the 2011
RTS Awards.
Dani was also nominated for a BAFTA Cymru
for Best Actress for her performance in Tracy
Beaker's Movie of Me.
Dani's House, her own hit CBBC show also received
a 2009 Children's BAFTA nomination.
In 2009, Dani received a Gold Blue Peter Badge
for her role in Tracy Beaker.
Strictly Come Dancing
Harmer competed in the tenth series of the
BBC ballroom dancing show, Strictly Come Dancing,
in 2012.
She was paired up with Vincent Simone and
the couple were eliminated on the final night.
Filmography
Television
Discography
Singles
Music videos
"Free"
References
External links
Dani Harmer at the Internet Movie Database
Dani Harmer on Twitter
