Cherylee Houston

Actor and Advocate

For the past nine years Cherylee has played Izzy Armstrong in Coronation Street. Cherylee also works to remove barriers for other disabled artists and advocates for disabled people, including speaking out about welfare cuts at the Houses of Parliament and on Channel 4 News. 

Cherylee trained at The Arden School of Theatre and has run workshops for over 20 years. In 2008 she wrote the ‘How to make your work accessible Youth Theatre Handbook’ which was sent to every youth theatre in the UK. Cherylee is also a co-founder of TripleC (the Creative Confidence Collective), which increases inclusion access to the arts for disabled performers. For 12 years the organisation has changed lives by running drama workshops in schools and communities across North West England for young disabled people. TripleC also works with TV and theatre companies on accessibility and provides practical career help for disabled artists through training, networking opportunities, auditions and acting work. Cherylee helped create TripleC’s mental health choir in Manchester.

Since 2010 Cherylee has also been a cast member on Coronation Street. Along with strong plotlines, Izzy Armstrong brings mainstream representation of disability and wheelchair use to homes across the UK six times a week. The bold, outspoken character is the longest-standing disabled regular on the soap, and earned Cherylee a nomination for Best Newcomer at the Inside Soap Awards. The character and the actor both have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and Cherylee increases awareness about the condition and is a Patron of the charity Ehlers-Danlos Support UK. Her other TV credits include Holby City, Doctors, and Little Britain.