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A girly girl whose perfect evening is a night in with a box set of 24.

Hayley trained at Italia Conti, even though her parents, who were both performers themselves, were keen for her to pursue a more stable career. It was only when she persuaded them to let her audition for the West End production of the Goodbye Girl and got the job that she was allowed to attend Italia Conti and began to train properly.

Since then, her work has included being assistant choreographer for Take That's stadium tour, appearing in Chicago, Moving Out, Contact, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, five Royal Variety Performances and playing Tally in Granada's youth drama 24 Seven.

She is excited about being on So You Think You Can Dance because it will be the biggest challenge of her career so far.

Favourite song to dance to?

"My favourite song is Angel by Sarah McLachlan, but not to dance to."

Greatest dancing fear?

"Falling over! I've tripped but never actually gone splat."

Best physical feature?

"My bum. I inherited it. I'm very grateful."

Worst habit in dance?

"Wiggling my hips too much and flicking my hair."

Most embarrassing moment on stage?

"When I was singing once and went off stage, they left my microphone on and I immediately said 'That was so awful'. The whole auditorium could hear it. That was at the Albery Theatre in the West End. I was 13."

How did you get into dance?

"Not easily! My parents were both dancers and they didn't want me to do it, but I pushed them, and here I am."

Where did you train?

"Italia Conti."

What's your favourite type of dance?

"Anything soft and feminine. I'm a bit scared of hip-hop – I need to feel my inner groove."

What is it like working on a TV show?

"Great. I've worked in TV before and it's very different to theatre. I love the fact, when you're not live, that you can do it again if you mess up."

Have you bonded with other contestants?

"Yeah. Probably with Chloe and Lizzie most."

Are the judges as scary as they seem?

"Yes! Obviously they're judges and need to be – they can be very strong sometimes. This is a TV show, so things are said to make an impact."

What are your future plans?

"I just want to be happy and successful."

Why did you enter the competition?

"For a challenge. I've never done anything like this before, never performing as myself on TV before, I have always been a character actress. It's very scary – I might be rejected!"