Editing Michelle Collins (section)

==Early life and education==
Collins was born on 28 May 1962 at Hackney Hospital, Homerton High Street in [[Metropolitan Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], [[East London]], to a Welsh mother, Mary, and a father of English and Flemish heritage.<ref name=page9thisisme/><ref>{{cite web |title=BBC One – Coming Home, Series 4, Michelle Collins |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p1ghs |publisher=BBC |access-date=22 December 2014}}</ref> Her Flemish grandfather was Belgian from [[Antwerp]] and had emigrated to the UK in 1915 when aged five.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lambert |first=Victoria |title=Michelle Collins: 'I signed up to be an actress, not a celebrity' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/michelle-collins-i-signed-up-to-be-an-actress-not-a-celebrity/ |work=The Telegraph |date=10 October 2016 |access-date=29 May 2019 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref> She, alongside her elder sister Vicki, were brought up by their mother in [[Highbury]], London.<ref name=page9thisisme>{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Michelle |title=This Is Me |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books |year=2014 |page=9 |isbn=978-1782432326}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Life after Cindy|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/television-in-wales/2009/07/17/wm-interview-life-after-cindy-91466-24176847|work=WalesOnline|access-date=22 December 2014}}</ref> When Collins was 14, her mother went back to university to obtain a law degree.<ref name="mirror">{{cite news |title=Exclusive Michelle Collins on Her Looks, The Toyboy, Pole-Dancing, Yoga.. And Why She Stopped Watching X Factor |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/exclusive-michelle-collins-on-her-looks-the-toyboy-1650768 |work=[[Daily Mirror]] |date=9 March 2008 |access-date=26 January 2015}}</ref> In the 1970s, Collins was a member of the youth organisation the [[Woodcraft Folk]], and visited Romania with the group.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lam |first=Sophie |title=My Life in Travel: Michelle Collins |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/my-life-in-travel-michelle-collins-796139.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/my-life-in-travel-michelle-collins-796139.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=15 March 2008 |access-date=17 September 2018}}</ref>

Collins trained at the Royal Court Activists and [[Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone|Cockpit Youth Theatre]] from the age of 14, and [[Kingsway Princeton College]], where she studied drama and theatre at O/A-level.<ref>{{cite news |last=Charalambous |first=Anthi |title=How We Met: Michelle Collins & Aldo Zilli |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-michelle-collins--aldo-zilli-1098597.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/how-we-met-michelle-collins--aldo-zilli-1098597.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Independent |date=6 June 1999 |access-date=26 January 2015}}</ref>