The much-anticipated season 5 of The Bay arrives on tonight (March 2), with Marsha Thomason returning in the leading role of DS Jenn Townsend.

Set in Morecambe, the newest season of the crime drama will see family liaison officer Jenn try to deal with the fall-out of a death in her own family, while also taking on a murder case with a complex history behind it.

But what do we know about Marsha Thomason's real life away from the screen, and what else has she been in?

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Marsha started her career on British TV in 1997 playing a waitress called Sally in police comedy drama Pie in the Sky. She had TV roles including Playing the Field and Where the Heart Is, before appearing in the Three drama series Burn It.

She then made the move to the USA and into movies, with a breakthrough role in Disney's The Haunted Mansion in 2003, with Eddie Murphy starring as her husband. After some small movie roles, she was cast as the head pit boss in comedy drama Las Vegas, staying in the show for two seasons.

The Bay isn't Marsha's first police-themed show. She was a regular in White Collar, a an American police procedural television series, where she played FBI agent Diana Berrigan from 2009 to 2014.

Marsha also joined the cast in the third season of Lost, and was a regular throughout the season. She then returned in season five of the show. Speaking to Digital Spy, she revealed: "I loved Lost! I’ve known Dominic Monaghan for years and so I watched the show because he was on it, and I became a huge fan immediately, so I was really excited when I got the part.”

She also said the cast weren't given spoilers about what would happen on the show, saying: “We’re as in the dark as the audience, really – maybe half a step ahead. We spend our whole time waxing about: ‘What’s that about? What does that mean?’ We don’t have a clue; we only know from episode to episode.”

In 2022, Marsha was given the lead role in The Bay, joining the show in its third season. The show was previously headed up by Morven Christie. It's rumoured that Morven chose to leave The Bay, which gave producers the opportunity to explore a fresh perspective with Marsha as the star.

Marsha was born in Moston, Manchester, and studied English at Manchester Metropolitan University. She even picked up her acting skills locally, taking part in youth theatre productions at Oldham Theatre Workshop.

She's been married to lighting technician Craig Sykes since 2009 and the pair tied the knot in Malibu, California. In an interview with the BBC she revealed she was spending time between the UK and USA, saying: "I have a house in London and a place in LA and I'm bouncing between the two."

In 2012, she announced on that she'd officially become an American citizen. And in June 2013, she announced the arrival of her baby daughter.

Season 5 of The Bay starts tonight at 9pm on ITV1 or catch-up on ITVX.