EXPECTATIONS on meeting Jorge Porter aren’t great in the sense the lady’s body of work suggests lots of body on show and a little less substance. The actress played Theresa McQueen on Hollyoaks, over an eight-year period, leaving then returning for a brief spell, a TV soap with a reputation for hiring gorgeous young things, most of whom won’t ever have to worry about wrists buckling as they are handed a heavy Olivier.

Porter’s extra famousness – she was voted 50th Sexiest Woman in the World – came about working with the so-called lads mags, taking the time honoured path of dressing up (down), in the sort of outfits designed to send the nation’s young men direct to their bedrooms.

Then there have been the reality shows, such as Dancing On Ice in 2012 which she followed up with I’m A Celebrity. All of which begs the question; is she a flibbertigibbet fame-seeker or a serious acting contender?

The perfectly made up face and the false eyelashes are a little concerning when she arrives for Friday afternoon tea and cake, but the Manchester-born performer reveals she’s doing a TV appearance straight after, hence the industrial slap.

She looks around 18. “I’m 30,” she says, smiling. We talk about her reason for being in Scotland, her upcoming tour with Fame: The Musical. How apposite is the storyline to Porter; would she, like the kids of the American high school, do anything for fame?

“Well, I’m really looking forward to appearing in the show,” she says of her role as dancer Iris Kelly. “But as for fame? Well, I’ve never really felt that was what it was about. You see, I’ve been dancing since I was three. The life for me then was all about acting, singing and dancing.”

Porter reflects for a moment. “In fact, I never planned to go into Hollyoaks at all. Aged 20, I went along for the audition never thinking I would get it, and I’d soon go back to dancing. If I had a plan it was to work on a cruise ship.”

She adds: “I used to apply and say I was five feet six. It was a total lie. I’m five two. And I’d turn up and all the girls would have long legs and look like models. I never did make it onto a cruise ship.”

The petite Porter didn’t have to think about cruising after the Hollyoaks addition. “I was offered a three-month contract, playing a 15 year-old who has underage sex and sees a man go to prison,” she says. But Porter proved a massive hit with the fans and before she knew it eight years had gone. Is there a sense she grew up on the programme?

“Yes, I had gone through the awkward puberty stage but then, at 20, my life was about filming and playing a teenager, which is a sort of weird place to be. I’d be walking around town and kids would playfully hit me in the arm and I’d be saying ‘Hey, I’m a 23-year-old woman. You can’t do that!’ I’d grown out of Chinese burns by that time.

“Meantime, you’re going out dating, yet you’re in the spotlight. That was a little strange.” She learned that fame can bite. “I can’t find a guy,” she says, with a wry smile, noting the look of incredulity coming right back at her. “You have in the back of your mind ‘Do they like me – or do they need me.’ At my age I thought I’d be married. But no. You find yourself dating a guy for a while and they suddenly announce they’re going to apply for Love Island. You think ‘What?’”

The realisation arrives that they are piggy-backing. “I went on First Dates once and I had one date with a guy and suddenly he was telling people I was his girlfriend.

“And there’s the men’s sense of expectation that’s hard to match up to. Guys have seen me on Hollyoaks as the teen temptress and seen pics of me in the lingerie shots – and then they see what I look like when I wake up with no make-up on and look like a goof ball.” She laughs. “You know what I mean?”

Yes, Jorgie, although it’s hard to imagine this Barbie Doll in human form looking anything other than picture perfect. But the fact she certainly doesn’t see herself as such is endearing. “I can’t even wear tights,” she proclaims in her Coronation Street accent. “They keep on falling down.”

Porter was born in Stretford, Manchester. “In a not very nice bit.”

Times were tough but Porter’s mother managed to pay for her daughter to attend dance classes. “I was an only child and my imagination was off the scale. I loved to create little worlds. It’s amazing what you can do with teddy bears.”

Her father was never part of the family. “I’ve never known anything different,” she says with a shrug. “My grandma grew up with us, and my uncle was the only father-figure.” Has she never got in touch with her father? “My mum has always said I could if I want to.”

Has he tried to get in touch? Does he know who she is? “Yes, he definitely knows, but I guess he doesn’t want to know me.”

That’s sad. “Yes, and it’s sad for him. But you know, it would be very awkward. How can you meet someone and expect to connect with them, just because they’re your dad?” She offers a masking smile: “Oh, it could be so weird. And you know, being on my own has made me what I am.”

Porter speaks affectionately about school days, in spite of the fact she reveals she was a stranger to most of her teachers. “I loved going to school, but I did PE for every lesson. I’d say to the likes of my Maths teacher, ‘I’ll stay in school. But I’m only going to do PE.’ Then no matter what class or year was doing PE I would join in. I wasn’t academic at all.”

Does she regret that now? “A little bit. I’m 30 years old and I can’t do my times tables. I did a quiz show on TV and I regret it because it suggested I’m stupid.”

She’s certainly not stupid. She clearly has a mind that wants to be challenged. After the Dancing On Ice stint, Porter took off to LA not to do the round of castings, but to train. “What I liked about LA was no one knew me. They didn’t know I’d been on television and I’d go to acting classes, to really try and improve.” She grins: “One day one of the other girls Googled me and found out the truth.”

Porter didn’t put myself under pressure to crack Hollywood. “I knew it took Russell Crowe years before he made it. I was prepared to go gradually.”

Then disaster struck. “I had to come back and forward because my uncle was dying. At times, he looked as though he was recovering, but that didn’t last. The whole episode was really traumatic. And expensive.”

It highlighted Porter placed family first. Not fame.

Another insight or ordinariness arrives when talks about how she’s approached in public. “A woman would come up to me and say ‘You probably won’t remember but my daughter was at school with you’. And I’d smile and think, ‘Why do you assume that when someone goes into television they suffer terrible memory loss?’ Of course I remember her’.”

There are more encouragers; she works tirelessly for cancer charities. And she reveals why she left Hollyoaks – fame was getting in the way. “The family’ you worked with move on but the new people coming in seemed to be caught up in the idea of fame,” she says, in reflective voice. “It all felt so different.”

Now, she’s appearing in her dream job. She gets to play a ballerina. Porter says: “I really want to do more theatre. I want to come out of the box I’ve been in. Perhaps I could do a serious play.”

Regrets on her career so far? “Yes, eating cockroaches in the jungle, and shouting ‘I love the penis!’ on live television. (Referring to kangaroo penis). She laughs; “My mum said, ‘Why did you have to say that?’”

Does she have any regrets about doing the lads mags? “No, not at all,” she says in tougher voice. “You see, when I did the pics I became another character. That female you see with all that make-up on and stockings is not me.

“But the best bit about those pics was I managed to buy my mum a new car with the money I got.” She grins: “That’s empowerment.”

• Fame: The King’s Theatre, Glasgow, July 30-August 4.