GEM ALLEN
Gem Allen is a multi creative talent cutting across TV and live presenting, and as an established artist. Credits include a UK arena tour, worldwide performances and live TV appearances on BBC, ITV and Sky among others.
Gem trained at the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School in London and is a former member of UK girl band Stonefoxx. The group picked up a BT Award for best new talent, launched a console game for Nintendo Wii and performed to over 100,000 people on a tour of arenas across the UK and Ireland. Gem has since gone on to perform as a solo artist, released her debut single You Don’t Know Me in 2014.
Gem’s stage credits include the title roles in Annie, Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty.
TV credits include Channel 4’s Pure, The 999 Awards, and comedy sketches on Celebrity Juice and Russell Howard’s Good news.
Gem has ten years live broadcasting experience presenting shows including Live Casino, Psychic Today, and Gems TV on Sky. She has also hosted a lot of big events including festivals, award ceremonies for charities and interviewed lots of celebrity guests at red carpet events.
Gem was also an official body model for mega star Katy Perry, and the guest vocalist for 90’s pop group AQUA touring the UK & Ireland.
‘You Don’t Know Me’ is available on iTunes and amazon.
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/you-dont-know-me/id780394764?i=780394828
JUNADE (Jay) KHAN
Junade Khan (better known to the students as Jay), trained at East 15 drama school and is best known for his role as series regular Ash Roy in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, Saj in Coronation Street, and as a Dothraki Bloodrider in Game of Thrones, Season 6.
Jay trained at East 15 Acting School, where he studied many acting techniques including method, grotowski, Michael Checkov & laban efforts. He is an extremely creative and engaging teacher who loves to inspire his students, and has been heavily involved in PopGems Academy since the very start in 2011.
Jay’s other credits include; BBC One’s Moving On, Waking the Dead, Jaypen Code:20 & C-Bomb.
LUKE
Jack
NANCY
Nancy graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2020 with a BA (Hons) in Musical Theatre. Previously she trained at the BRIT School of Performing Arts and graduated in 2017. In her 19 years of training in Musical Theatre she has developed a skill set of many different styles of dance and specialises in Tap, Technical Jazz, Modern, Commercial and Musical Theatre Dance.
Nancy is also a professionally trained Musical Theatre singer and Pop/Rock singer. She is experienced in Acting through Song, Acting Technique, Vocal Technique, Commedia dell’Arte, Script Work and Audition Prep/Technique.
Nancy Mae’s credits include Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Dr Mandril in City of Angels, Alice in Bye Bye Birdie and Melman the Giraffe in a Touring Theatre in Education production of Madagascar the Musical Adventure. She performed in the Original West End Proms (2019) and the Dover Arts Club Golden Age Musical Theatre Concert in 2020.
Nancy Mae is thrilled to be part of the team at PopGems Academy and is excited to share her passion for dance and Musical Theatre with the students.
LAURA
Laura has been part of our PopGems Academy team for over 7 years! Laura trained at Doreen Bird College and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Dance and Music, where she gained a degree in Acting and a degree in Musical Theatre.
Laura has a lot of experience and skill in acting technique, improvisation, physical theatre, voice technique, script work and audition technique/ preparation. Laura has trained for many years in numerous styles of dance, and specialises in Tap, Technical Jazz/ Modern, Musical Theatre and Gymnastics. Laura is also a trained Musical Theatre and Pop/ Rock singer.
Laura’s credits include Footloose, Maid Marion in Robin Hood, Aladdin and Cinderella. She also appeared on Blue Peter dancing with Gareth Gates, and performed her own solo cabaret in the West End.
Laura has been teaching for over twelve years across the Midlands and South East London, and has been a valued part of the PopGems Academy team for over 7 years. She has a great passion to teach, and has choreographed many PopGems Academy numbers for the Pop Factor Tour as well as numbers for all of our own productions.
HAYLEY
RACHAEL
Rachael is our newest team member, and very excited to work with our PopGems Academy students to share her wealth of knowledge and experience!
Rachael trained at Rose Bruford College graduating with a BA(Hons) in Actor Musicianship. Credits include Gloria in Brassed Off (Oldham Coliseum), School Teacher and Crow Puppeteer in The Snow Queen (New Vic- UK Theatre Award winner), Poppy Craig in I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire! (New Vic), Tybalt/Paris in Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour), Ella in Cinderella (The Dukes Theatre), Stella in Brilliance (UK Tour), Bo Peep in Little Red Riding Hood The Rock n Roll panto, and Jill in Jack and The Beanstalk The Rock n Roll panto (Leeds City Varieties Music Hall).
Rachael plays trombone and trumpet as well as acting, singing and dancing, and loves to explore musicality in all areas of performance. She has been teaching for almost 10 years, and is passionate about building confidence, and helping young people to pursue their creativity on and off stage.