Brian Conley was once the highest paid male television performers in the United Kingdom. He’s famous for playing PT Barnum in Barnum Circus’ The Greatest Show on Earth, and has been on the West End stage more recently in Hairspray, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Oliver!
Conley struggled in school from day one. Reading and writing baffled him, so he turned attention away from his difficulties by becoming the class clown. And it turned out he was very, very good at it! He now credits his dyslexia for making him the successful performer he is today.
In an interview, he has said, “It was only in my twenties that I was diagnosed with dyslexia. My reading is pretty good but my writing isn’t. I couldn’t spell my wife’s name when I met her. She asked me for an autograph and when she said her name was Anne-Marie, I just thought, ‘Oh no, that’s a long one’!”
His career went from strength to strength as he climbed from one leading role to another on television and the stage.
He now has two daughters, one of whom has been diagnosed with dyslexia. He is proud of what she has achieved, and also amazed at how much support she has been getting compared to his school days!
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Sarah Forrest is a Literacy Specialist for the Easyread System, an online program for struggling readers and dyslexics. Find out more at www.easyreadsystem.com
