AT the tender age of 24, Billie Piper has already packed a great deal into her varied career.

Born on September 22, 1982, in Swindon, England, she first came to our attention when her single Because We Want To went straight to number one.

She then hit the headlines for her marriage to multi-millionaire radio and TV presenter Chris Evans.

She has since broken up from Evans but now enjoys a successful acting career, after earning enormous popularity as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who.

Here she tells us a few of her most memorable firsts.

AUDIENCE: My first audience was my bedroom mirror! I would spend hours acting and singing in front of it.

AMBITION: Originally I always wanted to be an actress, and when I was eight years old I enrolled at a local theatre company in my native Swindon called Sixth Sense.

WORK: The theatre company got me my first work which was in television commercials, and also an episode of EastEnders. After that I joined the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

BIG BREAK: My first big break came when I was at the Sylvia Young school. I was spotted by Hugh Goldsmith, managing director of Innocent Records. He was looking for a singer to take on the Spice Girls. He asked me if I would be interested and, although I preferred acting to singing, I said yes. So, at 14, I signed a three-album deal.

NUMBER ONE: In 1998 I became the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart with Because We Want To. My follow-up single, Girlfriend also debuted at number one, I was so thrilled.

ENDED POP CAREER: I first decided to end my pop career in 2003 and return to my original ambition, acting. I took up acting lessons and luckily I quickly earned a role in the BBC TV series The Canterbury Tales.

LEAD ROLE: That was last year in the BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby In The Smoke. I played Sally, a young girl in Victorian London, who turns sleuth to solve the mystery of her father's death.

STAGE DEBUT: I am currently in the touring production of Treats, playing Ann, a woman at the centre of a love triangle with her new lover Patrick (Laurence Fox), who is a colleague from work, and her ex-boyfriend Dave (Kris Marshall), only to find that she can't make up her mind as to what she really wants.

CAR: Officially, my first car was a Ferrari sports job given to me by Chris Evans. We had met only a few days before, and I was very surprised especially as I couldn't even drive! But I like to think that my first real car is my beloved 1989 911 Porsche. I had always wanted one ever since I was a small girl, and when I bought it I was over the moon.

BOOK: Last year my autobiography called Growing Pains went on sale. It was a frank account on my life, not only my public life but my private one about which people won't know.

AWARD NOMINATION: In 1999 I was nominated for two Brit Awards, our equivalent of the Grammys, for Best British Newcomer and Best British Female.

AWARD: In 2005 I won the National television Award for the Most Popular Actress in Doctor Who.