Former Hollyoaks star Rachel Shenton lands Oscar nomination for The Silent Child

David Hollingsworth

Former Hollyoaks star Rachel Shenton and Chris Overton off to Hollywood

Former Hollyoaks stars Rachel Shenton and Chris Overton have landed an Oscar nomination for their critically acclaimed movie.

The pair will be off to LA for the biggest date in the move calendar after their film, The Silent Child, was nominated in the best live action short film category – here’s the full list of Oscar nominations.

Rachel lined up on Monday beside some of the biggest Hollywood stars in the world, including Meryl Streep and Margot Robbie, for the official Oscar class photo as the build up for the ceremony in March continues.

And eagle eyed fans spotted Rachel in the third row from the front and fourth from the right.

Rachel described it as a “bonkers day” and shared a number of pictures, including one of herself with arguably the greatest film director of all time, Steven Spielberg!

The Silent Child tells the story of a profoundly deaf four-year-old girl Libby who is living a silent life until she is taught to communicate using sign language by a caring social worker played by Rachel. Profoundly deaf six-year-old actor Maisie Sly, who got the part after a nationwide search, plays Libby.

Rachel, who wrote the film because of her own personal experiences, had previously played glamorous schemer Mitzeee Minniver in Hollyoaks for three years, while Chris was cage fighter Liam McAllister in the C4 soap. Chris directed the movie.

The 30-year-old actress has previously described the subject “as very close to my heart” as when she was a teenager her father went deaf after receiving treatment for chemotherapy. Rachel learned British Sign Language aged 16 and has campaigned to increase awareness of deafness.

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Earlier this year, she told Good Morning Britain: “My dad was profoundly deaf. He lived the last two years of his life profoundly deaf. He lost his hearing very suddenly. I saw then the first-hand effects that hearing loss can have.

“That gave me the impetus to then learn sign language, I quickly fell in love with the language and I have been heavily involved in the deaf community ever since.”

Rachel Shenton, who was born in Stoke, has also appeared in Holby City, Doctors and Waterloo Road.

The Oscars take place on 4th March at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood.

Main pic: S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock