Julia Sawalha

Julia Sawalha
Born	September 9 1968 (age 40) London, England, United Kingdom

Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress who is best known for her roles of Lynda Day, editor of The Junior Gazette in the children's drama series Press Gang, Saffron Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous and Lydia Bennet in the 1995 miniseries of Pride and Prejudice.

Biography

Early life

Sawalha was born in London to Roberta and Nadim Sawalha. She was named after her grandmother, a Jordanian businesswoman who had received an award from Queen Noor for enterprise. Julia is of Jordanian and French Huguenot ancestry^[1].

She was born into an acting family: her father Nadim is also an actor who appeared in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me while her sister Nadia starred in the soap EastEnders and is now a chat show host.

Career

Julia first gained public attention for her starring role in the ITV teenage comedy/drama Press Gang, which ran from 1989 to 1993. The on-screen chemistry between the two leads was reflected off-screen as she and co-star Dexter Fletcher became an item for several years. From 1991-94, Julia starred in the ITV family comedy Second Thoughts and continued with her character, Hannah, (Lynda Bellingham's daughter) in the British Comedy Award winning Faith in the Future (1995-98)

She starred in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as Lydia Bennett, co-staring with Colin Firth. Sawalha also voiced "Ginger" in the claymation movie Chicken Run.

In 2000 Julia Sawalha appeared as Janet, the Australian Barmaid ("Built for bar work; it's instinct... instinct!!") in the first series of the British sitcom Time Gentlemen Please. She also played the much put-upon PA to "Zak" in Argos TV adverts during 2002-2004, along with Richard E. Grant. She has also joined acclaimed actor Ioan Gruffudd in the internationally successful TV/DVD adaptations of CS Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels as the captain's first wife Maria.

In 2006, Julia Sawalha participated in the third series of the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?^[2] tracing her family's roots, which are Jordanian Bedouin on her father's side, and French Huguenot on her mother's. She also appeared in the pilot of BBC 1's "A Taste of my Life" presented by Nigel Slater. ^[3]

Personal life

She dated "Press Gang" co-star Dexter Fletcher for a while, and the couple lived together.

She has also dated the comedian Richard Herring. According to the Telegraph:[1]

"So taken was he that the Oxford-educated stand-up comedian even set up a shrine to her on Fist of Fun, the television programme he wrote and acted in with Stewart Lee. "My ideal woman has the head of Julia Sawalha attached to the body of Julia Sawalha," went the running gag."

On 1 January 2004 it was alleged in the tabloid newspapers that she had married boyfriend Alan Davies, her co-star in the television series Jonathan Creek. Both she and Davies, who avoided discussing their private lives in public, denied this, and took legal action against the reports.^[4] The couple broke up after Davies reportedly refused to commit - and was branded "a miserable git" by her sister Nadia^[5].

Filmography

TV

• Absolutely Fabulous
• Bottom: in the Episode, "Parade"
• Casualty: in the Episode, "Living in Hope"
• Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death
• El CID
• Faith in the Future
• The Flint Street Nativity
• French and Saunders
• Hornblower
• Inspector Morse: in the Episode, "Last Seen Wearing"
• Jonathan Creek
• Lovejoy: in the Episode, "Double Edged Sword"
• Martin Chuzzlewit
• Press Gang
• Pride and Prejudice
• Second Thoughts
• Tales from the Crypt: in the 7th Season Episode, "The Kidnapper"
• Time Gentlemen Please
• Who Do You Think You Are?
• A Taste of my Life

Films

• Buddy's Song
• Chicken Run (2000)
• In the Bleak Midwinter (aka A Midwinter's Tale)
• The Wind in the Willows

References

Wikipedia information about Julia Sawalha This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Julia Sawalha". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.