   martine kimberley sherri ponting (born 14 may 1976), usually known as martine mccutcheon, is an english singer, television personality, actress and occasional radio presenter. mccutcheon had minor success as one third of the pop group milan in the early 1990s, but it was her role as tiffany mitchell in the bbc's eastenders that made her a household name in the uk. mccutcheon left the series at the end of 1998 to embark on a pop career, this time as a solo artist. she had international success, reaching no.&nbsp;1 in five countries, with her debut single perfect moment. she released three albums to varying degrees of success, but her pop career stalled due to the poor reception of her third album in 2002. she has since appeared in various television programmes, in films such as love actually as 'natalie', and on stage in my fair lady, where her portrayal of eliza doolittle won her a laurence olivier award in 2002. she released her autobiography, who does she think she is? in 2000. ==early life== mccutcheon was born as martine kimberley sherri ponting at the salvation army mothers' hospital in hackney, london, when her mother, jenny tomlin, was 19. on one occasion, her biological father, thomas hemmings, reportedly dangled her by the ankles from a balcony 30 feet up in the air and threatened to drop her unless her mother did as he wished. this incident formed one of mccutcheon's earliest memories of him. hemmings left when she was two years old, but he would return periodically to threaten her mother, so her early years were spent running and hiding in order to escape him. when mccutcheon was nine, her mother won sole custody and also obtained an injunction which prohibited hemmings from seeing mccutcheon until she was 18.{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.u
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