Gillian Louise Kearney (born 9 May 1972, Liverpool, Merseyside) is an English actress best known for playing Jessica Harrison in the long-running BBC television medical drama series Casualty, her early role as Debbie McGrath in Channel 4's Liverpool-based soap opera Brookside and the spin-off mini-series Damon and Debbie as well as Emma Barton in the ITV Yorkshire-based soap opera Emmerdale.

Biography

After graduation, Kearney lived in Crouch End, North London, from July 2000, and then rented a property in Clifton, Bristol, during her time appearing in Casualty. She returned to live in Liverpool after the birth of her son, has a rented home in Yorkshire where she films Emmerdale, and a holiday home on the Atlantic coast of County Clare, Ireland.

In April 2009 she mentioned, in a This Morning television interview, that she was seeing a final-year medical student called Eddie Foo, whom she had met whilst in Bristol. Early in 2010, Kearney revealed their engagement and intention to marry in Ireland later that year, but the plans were soon put on hold when she discovered that she was expecting their first child. On 26 August 2010 she gave birth to John Gerard, an 8 lb 3 oz/3.7 kg baby boy.