Michelle Ryan’s life away from EastEnders after shock soap return
17 June 2025, 16:58 | Updated: 17 June 2025, 16:59
Michelle Ryan famously played Eastenders icon Zoe Slater from 2000 to 2005 before leaving to crack America. Now she's back on the BBC – here's everything she's been up to in-between.
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Eastenders actress Michelle Ryan delighted soap fans with her dramatic return to Walford this summer following 20 years away from Albert Square.
The British star reprised her role as Zoe Slater and burst back onto the scene with a bang to confront her family two decades on.
With fans still quoting her famous line to sister-turned-mother Kat Slater – 'you ain't my mother!' – the iconic character made a serious impact on soap history.
Despite leaving to kickstart a new career in Hollywood, she's been pulled back to the East End to pick up where she left off – but where has Michelle Ryan been and what has she starred in since quitting first time around?
When did Michelle Ryan leave EastEnders?
Michelle first joined the soap in 2000 when she was just 16-years-old.
After five years of playing Kat Slater's little sister Zoe, she admitted she had grown tired of the role and decided to wave goodbye to Albert Square.
At the time in 2005, she told the Bristol Evening Post: "Doing the same thing day in, day out. It's just so boring. I like to jump from different things.
"I always saw EastEnders as an apprenticeship. I always wanted to go on and do different things.
"I just want to work with people I admire and respect, wherever that be – big budget, low budget, leading role, supporting role."
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What has Michelle Ryan been in since leaving Eastenders?
Despite her iconic last scenes, Michelle quit the BBC soap as she was desperate for a new challenge.
The actress, then 21-years-old, decided that cracking America was on the cards so moved to the States with the hope of making it in Hollywood.
She bagged the lead role in a reprisal of the popular seventies TV show Bionic Woman.
The former soap star played bartender Jaime Sommers whose body was turned into a robot during life-saving sci-fi surgery following a car accident.
The show was axed after just eight episodes, but that didn't deter Michelle from auditioning for new roles.
She returned to the UK and went on to star in a string of BBC fantasy series including Merlin, Jekyll, and Dr Who, alongside David Tennant.
Michelle also flexed her musical theatre skills and performed opposite Will Young in the West End revival of Cabaret.
Other acting credits included Cockneys vs Zombies, The Last Photograph, Dark Stories, True Horror, Death in Paradise and Mansfield Park.
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What has Michelle Ryan said about her return to Eastenders?
Michelle explained that her return to Walford came when the stars aligned.
After reconnecting with two of her old co-stars, Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo) and Kim Medcalf (Sam Mitchell), she began thinking about reprising her role.
Around the same time she rejoined Instagram and noticed there was "still a lot of love for the character" of Zoe Slater.
The British actress also learned that a new executive producer, who was a huge fan of the Slater family, had joined the Eastenders team, which sealed the deal on her decision.
She explained: "It just so happened that at the same time, EastEnders had announced a new executive producer who was keen to explore the potential of a return as he was such a massive fan of Zoe and the Slaters.
"So both of our worlds aligned at the right time, and I’m so excited to be back.
"When Ben pitched me the storylines, and when I read the scripts, I knew it was the right decision."
Speaking of her long-awaited return on 16th June 2025, she gushed: "It feels like coming home. After doing my first few scenes, it was like I’d never been away."
When probed about what kind of future was in store for Zoe, she added: "I can’t say too much as there is a lot of drama to come, but Zoe is a mess.
"She’s not the girl that left Walford twenty years ago, and she’s been really struggling on her own.
"She has her defences up, but this week you will see that she needs help, but whether she is willing to accept it is another story."
