Lisa Riley has been appointed an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity, and she says the award is the best 50th birthday present she could have hoped for. The Emmerdale actor said she was humbled by the honour and will turn 50 on 13 July.
Riley said she has been able to do her job as an actor for 36 years and that the recognition reflects both her screen work and her charity commitments. Best known for playing Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale from 1995 to 2001 and again since 2019, she said the role has been the gift that keeps on giving.
The honour also lands as Riley’s profile remains high beyond the ITV soap. She appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, took part in I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2025 and finished fifth, and has also worked on Fat Friends, Age Before Beauty, You’ve Been Framed and Loose Women.
What gives the award extra weight is the link Riley drew between her charity work and her late mother, Cath, who died from pancreatic cancer. Riley said she is an ambassador for Breast Cancer Now, Maggie’s Yorkshire, Sane and Sue Ryder, and that she made a promise to her mother before she died that she would help as many families as possible.
There is another first attached to the honour. Riley said she is the first ever cast member of Emmerdale to receive an MBE, a rare distinction for one of Britain’s longest-running soaps. ITV and Emmerdale chief Iain Macleod congratulated her on the award, calling it well-deserved and saying she is a much-loved presence on the nation’s screens.
For Riley, the timing turns a personal milestone into a public one. She will celebrate her 50th birthday on 13 July, now marked by an honour that recognises both the work that made her familiar to viewers and the charity cause she says she promised her mother she would never forget.
