Helen Anker (born 1972) is an English actress, singer, and dancer who trained at the Royal Ballet School and Bird College. She has appeared in numerous London West End and Broadway musicals and plays, perhaps best known for originating the role of Zelda Fitzgerald in Beautiful and Damned. Early life Anker's first professional role was in 1981, when she was only nine years old, playing Louisa in The Sound of Music with Petula Clark at London's Apollo Victoria Theatre. Following this debut, she trained for five years at the Royal Ballet School before transferring to Bird College to pursue her passion for musical theatre. Career Anker's theatrical career resumed after finishing three years at Bird College, beginning in London's West End. She performed in Radio Times at Queen's Theatre in London, as Vera and cover Patsy in Crazy For You at the Prince Edward Theatre, as Victoria the White Cat, Jemima and Demeter in Cats at the New London Theatre, as Thelma Furness in Always at the Victoria Palace Theatre, as Louisa Gradgrind in Hard Times at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, and as Aggie and cover Laurey in Oklahoma! at the National Theatre, which was also filmed for Sky television. Anker was cast in the leading role of Zelda Fitzgerald in Beautiful and Damned, a musical named after F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, where she portrayed the turbulent and tragic life of a wife, lover, and literary muse during the Roaring Twenties. She originally played Zelda at The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, and again when the production moved to London's Lyric Theatre. Additional West End roles for Anker include Iris in Fame at The Cambridge Theatre, Mrs Phagan and Sally Slaton in Parade at Donmar Warehouse, Girl on the Swing in Contact at Queen's Theatre, Ivy Smith in On the Town at the Coliseum, English National Opera. She also appeared in Candide at the Coliseum. Anker also performed in many regional productions and UK tours, including Judy Turner in A Chorus Line at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, Mary Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life at The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich, Meggie Cleary in the first UK Tour of The Thorn Birds, Ruby in Dames at Sea at Eastbourne and on tour, Masterpieces – A Noel Coward Revue, and Let's Face the Music and Dance in Salisbury. Crossing the Atlantic in 2010, Anker performed on Broadway in her