With one successful album under her belt and another in the pipeline, her move from small screen to recording studio confounded the critics who might have feared she was just another soap star turned pop star wannabe.
And now she is returning to her stage roots and pulling off a delightful performance in the role of Eliza Doolittle in the Cameron Mackintosh and National Theatre's award-winning West End production of My Fair Lady.
Currently touring the UK in celebration of its 50th anniversary and due in Bradford for a month-long run starting next week, the production has earned rave reviews – and Amy's contribution is no exception.
Due to her ongoing recording commitments for her new album – due out in September – Amy shares the vocally-demanding role with Lisa O'Hare, but the boundless energy a touring musical requires is in evidence from the moment we meet.
Dashing back to the theatre from a pre-show pasta meal with friends, she takes the stairs two at a time to show me up to her dressing room, apologising profusely for her lateness.
Chatting away about the show, her career and her aspirations, it is not long before the conversation turns to her friends, family and baby nephew, whose face grins out from a couple of photos pinned up beside her mirror.
The Lancashire lass says she is enjoying performing "up North", giving her a chance to return home on her days off and catch up with friends and family. She might be flying high in her career, but at just 23, it's clear her feet remain firmly on the ground.
"Touring with My Fair Lady is not an easy ride. It's hard work and very demanding, but I'm loving every minute of it," she says.
"It's a dream come true, a dream role for me because I've always loved acting and singing equally and this allows me to combine the two.
"It's a classic show and a great story and a lot of people know it. I think its appeal comes because there is something in it for everyone."
The production is the same show which received critical acclaim in the West End (with Martine McCutcheon initially cast in the part Amy now
plays) and Amy says audiences have continued to receive it well.
"The way the show goes down can often depend on the theatre itself – more intimate venues tend to create a better dynamic between the audience and the stage – but we have had lots of good feedback everywhere we've been."
Mastering Eliza's trademark accent was a new challenge, a far cry from her own Lancashire lilt and the northern accents she was surrounded with in Emmerdale.
Mackintosh brought in vocal coaches for all the cast, helping Amy get to grips equally with Eliza's East End vowels and her RP transformation.
As a youngster, Amy began her training at the Arts Educational School in Tring and with the National Youth Music Theatre. She is no stranger to the stage, having started her career at just 16 playing the lead role of Christine in Mackintosh's UK touring production of The Phantom of the Opera.
Almost two years later, she joined the Emmerdale cast, leaving last year when she signed to EMI Classics to record her début album. Although a trained and experienced singer, Amy accepts she was very new to the recording studio.
"I was a complete virgin to that side of the business, I had never set foot in a recording studio, so I was a little bit nervous about the whole experience and the public response I would get.
"But I was never going to go down the pop route, so I hoped to avoid comparisons with other soap stars who had taken that path."
She needn't have worried – the album was a huge success, leading EMI to sign her up for a second. Although she clearly has a passion for performing, she finds it hard to name her first love – acting or singing?
"I really do enjoy them both as much," she says. "I'm just so aware that it could all end tomorrow and in this business you only get one shot at it, so I'm just enjoying it all.
"It's good to know that if it doesn't happen for me in one area, I've got another to fall back on, but for as long as I can do both, I will."
Happily for her, for now, it's a choice she doesn't have to make.
My Fair Lady, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford: Tues, Apr 4 - Sat, Apr 29. Tickets £10-£38 from the box office on 01274 432000.

My Fair Lady
l Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, the musical premiered in 1956 in New York with words by Alan Jay Lerner and music composed by Frederick Loewe.
l It ran for 2,717 performances, a Broadway record at the time.
l Two years later, it opened in London at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and ran for 2,281 performances. It was revived on Broadway in 1980 with Rex Harrison reprising his role as Henry Higgins.
l The role of Eliza Doolittle was originally played on Broadway
by Julie Andrews. However, she was denied the movie role because the film's producers didn't think she was "known" enough as a film actress.
l In the 1964 film, despite extensive singing lessons, Audrey Hepburn was dubbed by Marni Nixon and because she hadn't sung a note she was denied a Best Actress Oscar nomination.