Siobhan Patricia Dillon (born 1 September 1984) is an English actress and singer, who rose to fame when she performed in the British talent show-themed television series How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? on BBC One in 2006. Since then, Dillon has performed in the West End, playing the roles of Sandy in Grease at the Piccadilly Theatre, Vivienne Kensington in Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Molly in Ghost the Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre, Ellen in Miss Saigon, and Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard with the English National Opera. Siobhan reprised this role at the Palace Theatre in New York City.
In week one of the live shows Dillon sang the Shania Twain hit, "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!". In week two she sang the Tina Arena song, "Chains". In the lead up to the third week's show, David Ian talked to the girls about fitness and stamina and sent them on a fitness test mission with Olympic track and field athlete Iwan Thomas, requiring the Marias to complete an assault course. Dillon completed the course in the fastest time of under two minutes. On the show she sang the Pointer Sisters hit, "Jump!". Zoe Tyler then asked her to sing the final lines from her audition piece, "I Could Have Danced All Night".
In week four she sang "Songbird" by Christine McVie, which resulted in her being named the unofficial "Maria of the night". Andrew Lloyd Webber chose her to perform "Truly Scrumptious" with the children from the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In the fifth week, when there were two live shows, she sang "All That Jazz" from the musical Chicago accompanied by six male dancers. Dillon successfully got through to the second live show of the evening but faced the second sing off with Aoife Mulholland. They sang "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from the musical Evita. Lloyd Webber saved Dillon because he believed she "had the strongest voice which could carry eight shows a week".
In the run-up to the final in week six, the three finalists and Lloyd Webber went to Salzburg in Austria and visited some of the locations made famous by The Sound of Music, including Leopoldskron Palace and Nonnberg Abbey, to give the finalists a chance to understand the real Maria von Trapp. On the final night she performed two songs, "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. She was eliminated during the night's first public vote, which meant she came third overall.
Dillon was also the understudy for the characters of Sandy and Marty and played both roles several times during her run in the show. She finished the role on 14 June 2008.
Dillon returned to the production on 25 January 2010 this time taking over the lead role of Sandy from Emma Stevens. GREASE celebrates its 1000th performance and announces a new cast of Rydell High 2010 with SIOBHAN DILLON as Sandy She played her final performance on 24 July 2010 and was succeeded by Over the Rainbow contestant Lauren Samuels. "Over the Rainbow" Finalist Lauren Samuels to Play Sandy in West End's Grease
On Christmas Eve 2007 she performed along with Lee Mead the winner of Any Dream Will Do and Connie Fisher together with other 'Maria' and 'Joseph' finalists in the BBC special festive reunion show "When Joseph Met Maria" celebrating both the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber BBC shows.
From late 2009 Dillon took over the role of Sally Bowles in the UK tour of Cabaret from former I'd Do Anything contestant Samantha Barks.
Dillon took over the part of Vivienne Kensington from Caroline Keiff in the West End production of Legally Blonde on 25 October 2010. Denise Van Outen, Siobhan Dillon and Carley Stenson to Join West End's Legally Blonde She therefore became the second How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? finalist to star in the musical, as fellow ex-contestant Aoife Mulholland was playing Brooke Wyndham at the time she took the role.
Beginning performance 13 January 2012, Dillon replaced Caissie Levy in the lead role of Molly Jensen in Ghost the Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End. She commented about her new role in a London theatre interview. The official press night for the new cast took place 28 February. Dillon and co-star Mark Evans (who plays Sam Wheat) appeared on Live With Gabby on 7 March 2012. In June 2012, it was announced that Ghost was to give its final curtain on 6 October 2012. It shuttered that day, with Dillon closing out the show as Molly.
In 2013, she reprised her role as Sally Bowles in the revised UK tour of Cabaret, starring alongside Matt Rawle and Will Young. Cabaret thestage.co.uk
On 11 May 2015, Dillon took over the role of Ellen in the West End revival of Miss Saigon.
Dillon played the role of Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum, which opened on 4 April 2016. "Glenn Close Comes to ENO for 'Sunset Boulevard'" eno.org, retrieved 10 January 2017 She made her Broadway debut in the musical's Broadway revival on 9 February 2017 at the Palace Theatre.
Dillon's debut solo album, One Voice, was released in April 2020. One of the tracks on the album, She Used To Be Mine, was released on her website several years prior following her breast cancer in 2015.
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