Denise was born in 1980 to a father who was an electrician - later a fisheries expert - and a mother who "was pregnant for nine and a half years" since Denise is the seventh of twelve children, her younger sister Kelly, born in 1987, also being an actress. At school she had no theatrical aspirations, leaving at age fifteen and moving to London a year later "to follow a boy." After several years in menial jobs she took a Saturday acting class and won a place at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in Wandsworth - having borrowed the audition fee - and graduated in 2003. In 2004 she made her television debut in 'Casualty' and has since appeared in many populist series from 'New Tricks' to 'Stella'. However she has attracted more notice as a stage actress, being nominated in 2012 by the Evening Standard Awards for her roles in 'Our New Girl' and 'Desire Under the Elms' and in 2015 winning universal plaudits as the recovering drug addict in 'People, Places and Things' at the National Theatre.

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Trivia

Graduated from ALRA in 2003.
She won the 2015 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "People, Places and Things" at the National Theatre in London.
She's an active feminist and supporter of the ERA (Equal Representation for Actresses) campaign, which aims for a 50:50 gender split in casting.
She won the 2016 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in "People, Places and Things" at the National Theatre.
Last name is pronounced 'Goth'.
She doesn't smoke nor drink alcohol.
Sister of Kelly Gough.
She won the 2018 Laurence Olivier Award for "Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Play" for her performance in "Angels in America" at the National Theatre.

[on being nominated opposite Nicole Kidman at the 2016 Laurence Olivier awards] Well, if I win and Nicole Kidman is there, I'm going to say, there's no way I thought I would win because Nicole is here and see how that goes down. The thing is, you've got 40 seconds, so it all becomes a performance in itself. Maybe I'll steal some forks.
[on the success of People, Places and Things] I cannot tell you how grateful I am. But that doesn't mean I don't feel worthy of it either. People mistake gratitude for a false modesty. That's not what I'm about. But how lucky am I? What a life! This is my f**king life and I was trying to be a cleaner. Isn't it funny?
[on playing the role of drug addict Emma in "People, Places and Things"] I felt it was my responsibility to tell the truth. I've seen actresses play actresses who are addicts, and they could not have been more self-indulgent. The most valuable feedback came not from the press, though that was great, but from the addicts themselves. Before we opened at the National, one of the people from the local treatment center shouted out from the audience, "Good girl!" and I thought, that's who I'm representing; that's the story we're telling.
[on the possibility of winning the Olivier award for "People, Places and Things, 16 March 2016 interview] I'd be wanting to talk about gender parity and racial equality, because I'd want to talk about all the amazing black women this past year who haven't been nominated, like Noma Dumezweni in Linda: I'm sorry but if she were a white actress, she'd have been up for an Olivier. So I've got a lot to fit in.