23-year-old Tara Lee says she's really "happy" to be making her debut on Eastenders this week.
Tara, who is also a singer-songwriter, says she grew up watching the popular TV soap. “I used to watch it with my mum. And my dad watches it, I’ve friends who watch it," she told the Irish Daily Mirror.
“You think, is it going to be as good as people say, meeting these actors and it is. They’re so lovely and they’ve perfected their craft. I don’t know how the do it, the amount of scenes they have to learn everyday.”
Speaking about the audition itself, Tara said: "EastEnders auditions are notoriously testing because you have to get there and they give you your scenes on the day - they have to be top secret with the script.
“I got there, did a load of scenes and I can’t give anything really away about the character but I got really passionate about who she [Jessica] was and and I had some really good discussions with them.
“I got a call about five days later that I got the part, I was really happy.”
The up-and-coming Dublin actress has also appeared in Raw and The Fall. Tara started filming Eastenders immediately after her audition.
“There was maybe two weeks between getting the role and beginning to shoot - it was all very fast because they have such a quick turn around,” she she told the Irish Daily Mirror.
“Even the filming parts, it’s the quickest I’ve ever done anything. They do up to 15 scenes a day which I’ve never experienced.”