SHE’S gone from Brookside babe to character actress – and Jennifer Ellison couldn’t be more pleased. Once she graced the covers and pages of men’s magazines in glamour poses, now she is singing and dancing on stage in the touring production of Legally Blonde, which opens at York Grand Opera House tonight.

She has joined the tour as divorced manicurist Paulette, who befriends blonde heroine Elle Woods when she pursues the boyfriend who dumped her to Harvard Law School in an effort to win him back.

Paulette’s her only friend in a hostile-toblondes environment. “Paulette’s got a heart of gold. She’s everyone’s best friend,” says Ellison, who’s married to boxer Robbie Tickler and mother of twoyear- old son Bobby.

“I love the part and the music. I saw the show in the West End and was approached about appearing in it, but the timing didn’t work out. Then I went to see the touring production in Liverpool, loved it and was approached again,” she says.

“It’s the first time I’ve played a character who’s so loveable. I used to be cast as bitchy, glamorous characters. Paulette has a journey – she’s the underdog and you want her to succeed. It’s lovely because of the reception from the audience.”

Now 29, Ellison feels she’s emerging from “the limbo stage” of her career when she was too old to play the daughter and too young to play the mother. Now she can forget the glamour and be a mum.

She’s best known for her five years in C4’s now-axed soap Brookside, playing Emily Shadwick. But it was dancing that was her first choice career, having trained since she was three. When she couldn’t progress any further in ballet and dance, she turned to acting, with Brookside providing her entry. With it came the glamour modelling for men’s magazines.

She’s under no illusion how elusive that big break into showbiz can be. “It’s difficult.

That’s why you see so many shows like X Factor and Pop Idol. Not everyone can afford to put their children in drama school or pay for performing arts courses.

Those shows give people who’ve got talent a chance they wouldn’t otherwise have had,” she says.

SINCE leaving the Scouse soap in 2003, she’s made her film debut in the screen adaptation of The Phantom Of The Opera and starred in the British horror movie The Cottage.

She played the leading role of Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago, in London’s West End, where she also appeared in the comedies Boeing Boeing and Calendar Girls. As well as drama roles on TV, she has competed in two reality shows – Hell’s Kitchen (which she won) and Dancing On Ice (reaching the semi-finals).

She’s not one for having ambitions, although an exception was always wanting to play Roxie in Chicago. “I don’t think what I want to do, I look back and think of all the things I’ve achieved,” she says.

She’s touring in Legally Blonde for another six weeks. After that, there are one or two things in the pipeline. “It’s not easy because my boy starts school in January, so a lot of my life is based in Liverpool. It’s difficult for me to go and do things. It takes more thought and planning than before.”

She’s joined another new cast member, Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates, in the UK tour of Legally Blonde. “We’ve not worked together before, but met at different events. Our paths have crossed and it’s been lovely,” she adds.

Legally Blonde is at York Grand Opera House until Saturday. Box office 0844-8713024 and online atgtickets.com