Lacey Amelia Turner (born 28 March 1988) is a British actress, best known for her portrayal of Stacey Slater in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2004–2010, 2014–present), for which she received over thirty awards, including four National Television Awards and six British Soap Awards. She is also known for her work on Bedlam and Switch (both 2012), as well as Our Girl (2013–2014).
Turner was born in Edgware, Barnet, Greater London to parents Bev and Les. She was raised as a Catholic with her two younger sisters, Daisy Turner (born 1990) and Lily Harvey (born 2001, known for playing Shenice Quinn in EastEnders), in Hertfordshire, near the BBC television studios in Elstree. She has commented: "From my bedroom window you could see part of the square , and you could hear them all filming at night. I used to say to my mum: "I wanna be on that!" It was whilst living there that Turner decided to become an actress. At the age of 10, she schooled at the Sylvia Young Theatre School to achieve her ambition, but left after a year stating that it "wasn't my cup of tea". She has since revealed that she was bullied while at stage school, by children who teased her for being "geeky". Instead, she attended a local girls private school (Peterborough and Saint Margaret's School) in Stanmore NW London and went to dance, singing and acting classes outside school.