Claire-Marie Hall

Claire-Marie Hall is a Welsh-Filipina^[1] actress known for her roles on the West End and Broadway. She is best known for her performance as "Jean Leslie & Others" in the Olivier award-winning musical Operation Mincemeat, where she originated the role in both the original West End production and the original Broadway production.

Claire-Marie Hall
Hall at the Broadway Opening Night of "Operation Mincemeat" in 2025
Born	Newport, Wales
Occupation	Stage actress
Notable work	Operation Mincemeat
Website	https://www.clairemariehall.com/

Early life

Hall was born and raised in Rogerstone near Newport, Wales, where she attended St Davids Catholic School. Her mother, Florinda, is Filipina.^[2] In 1997, aged 11, she won the Argus Junior Talent Contest with a song-and-dance performance of songs from The Little Mermaid. As a prize, she received a year's scholarship to the Stagecoach Drama School in Newport and a day in a recording studio.^[3][4] That same year, Hall was cast as Ngana in an 11-day production of South Pacific at the New Theatre in Cardiff.^[2] She was declared the 1997 Champion Child for Music, a national children's award for music.^[5]

At age 14, Hall won a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.^[6] She became the first student to be trained by Sylvia Young on a weekend-only basis, as she still attended Bassaleg Comprehensive School in Newport, Wales on weekdays.^[7]

At 15, she was cast in Aladdin at the Congress Theatre,^[8] and at 17, she played a lead role in Jack and the Beanstalk at Blackwood Miners Institute.^[9]

She was a 2003 top-four finalist in the BBC talent show Just Up Your Street, where she was the youngest contestant on the show.^[10][11] At the age of 18, she moved to London to attend the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. ^[12]

Career

Three weeks after graduating from Mountview, Hall was cast as Cosette in the Sondheim Theatre (then named Queen's Theatre) production of Les Misérables, marking her West End debut.^[13] She later was cast as Gabriella Montez in the 2008 High School Musical Live on Stage at Hammersmith Apollo, and as Tuptim in The King and I, before taking a hiatus from the West End.^[12] In March 2020, Hall was cast as The Inkeeper's Wife in the premiere of The Wicker Husband at the Watermill Theatre, which closed after five performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[14]

Operation Mincemeat

Hall joined the cast of Operation Mincemeat in 2020, taking over the role of "Jean Leslie & Others" from Rory Furey-King, who originated the role in the original off-West End production.^[15] She remained in the role when the production transferred to the West End in 2023, and again when the production transferred to Broadway in 2025.^[16]

Personal life

Hall is married to theatre set designer Bob Sterrett.^[17]