Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha (/səˈwɒlə/; born 9 September 1968)[1] is an English actress and voice artist known mainly for her role as Saffron Monsoon in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. She is also known for portraying Lynda Day, editor of the Junior Gazette, in Press Gang, Lydia Bennet in the 1995 television miniseries of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and voicing Ginger in Chicken Run. Additionally, she played Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume drama Lark Rise to Candleford, Carla Borrego in Jonathan Creek, and Jan Ward in the 2014 BBC One mystery Remember Me.
Julia Sawalha | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 September 1968 Wandsworth, London, England |
| Education | Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts |
| Occupation | Actress, voice artist |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Television | Press Gang Second Thoughts Jonathan Creek Martin Chuzzlewit Pride and Prejudice Ain't Misbehavin Faith in the Future Absolutely Fabulous Cranford Lark Rise to Candleford Remember Me |
| Parent(s) | Nadim Sawalha Roberta Lane |
| Relatives | Nadia Sawalha (sister) Nabil Sawalha (paternal uncle) |
Early life and education
Sawalha was born in Wandsworth, London, and is the daughter of Roberta Lane and actor Nadim Sawalha. Her father was born in Madaba, Jordan. She was named after her paternal grandmother, a businesswoman who had received an award from Queen Noor for enterprise. She is of Jordanian, English, and French Huguenot ancestry.[2]
Sawalha was educated at the Theatre Arts School, a fee-paying independent school which is part of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts,[3] based at the time in Clapham in south London, which she left at the age of fifteen.[3]
She is part of an acting family; Sawalha's father Nadim appeared in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and The Living Daylights, while her sister Nadia starred in the soap EastEnders and is now a television presenter and chat show host with whom she has appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.[4]
Career
Sawalha made her debut in the 1982 BBC miniseries Fame Is the Spur[5] and in 1988, played a small role in Inspector Morse on the episode "Last Seen Wearing". She first gained attention for her starring role in the Bafta award-winning ITV teenage comedy-drama Press Gang, which ran from 1989 to 1993.
In 1992 she starred in episode "Parade" (S2 E4) of Bottom as Veronica Head, a beautiful young barmaid at the Lamb and Flag, whom Richie tries to woo by boasting of his false adventures in the Falklands.
From 1991 to 1994, she 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). In 1994, she played Mercy (Merry) Pecksniff in the BBC production of Martin Chuzzlewit.
From 1992 to 2012, Sawalha played strait-laced daughter Saffron Monsoon in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous alongside Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. She appeared in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as Lydia Bennet, with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. She voiced Ginger in DreamWorks/Aardman's Chicken Run. She also played "Dawn the Wise Man" in The Flint Street Nativity on Christmas Eve.
In 2000 she 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.[6] She has also joined actor Ioan Gruffudd in the internationally successful TV adaptations of C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels, as the captain's wife Maria. The following year, she became Alan Davies's co-star in Jonathan Creek after Caroline Quentin left, appearing in a Christmas Special ("Satan's Chimney"). She returned for a series between 2003–2004.
In 2006, she participated in the third series of the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?[7] 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.[8] After a two-year break, she was back on screen in May 2007, competing in the BBC dog training celebrity reality show The Underdog Show.[9] She then returned to acting in two successive BBC costume dramas: as Jessie Brown in 2007 series Cranford, followed by Lark Rise to Candleford in 2008. She provided the voice acting for Sister Hannah (a.k.a. "Hammer"), a main character in the 2008 Xbox 360 video game Fable II.[10] In autumn 2014, Julia played the part of Jan Ward in BBC One's thriller miniseries Remember Me, featuring Michael Palin. On 9 May 2015 she read the account of a member of the Women's Land Army at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London, that was broadcast live on BBC1.
Personal life
She had a relationship with Keith Allen, whom she met on the set of Martin Chuzzlewit[11], and also later with comedian Richard Herring.
On 1 January 2004, it was alleged in the tabloid newspapers that she had married 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.[12] She later met Rich Annetts at the Glastonbury Festival in 2005. Sawalha started growing her own vegetables, attending yoga lessons and studying for an Open University English degree.[9][13] Sawalha and Annetts have since separated.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Keep It in the Family | Walk-On Role | uncredited |
| 1982 | The Pirates of Penzance | Daughter | uncredited |
| 1991 | Buddy's Song | Kelly | |
| 1995 | In The Bleak Midwinter | Nina Raymond (Ophelia) | |
| 1996 | The Wind in the Willows | The Jailer's Daughter | |
| 2000 | Chicken Run | Ginger (voice) | Animated film |
| 2002 | Venus and Mars | Marie | |
| The Final Curtain | Karen Willet | ||
| 2016 | Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | Saffron 'Saffy' Monsoon |
Television
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Fame Is the Spur | Amy | TV series (1 episode: "Episode 1.2") |
| Educating Marmalade | Good Girl | TV series (4 episodes) | |
| 1988 | Inspector Morse | Rachel | TV series (1 episode: "Last Seen Wearing") |
| 1989 | Press Gang | Lynda Day/Young Katherine Hill | TV series (43 episodes: 1989–1993) RTS Television Award – Best Actor |
| 1990 | Spatz | Chloe Fairbanks | TV series (1 episode: "The Sound of Muzak") |
| 1991 | El C.I.D. | Trudy | TV series (1 episode: "Thursday's Child") |
| Casualty | Nikki Watson | TV series (1 episode: "Living In Hope") | |
| Second Thoughts | Hannah Greyshott | TV series (47 episodes: 1991–1994) | |
| 1992 | Bottom | Veronica Head | TV series (1 episode: "Parade") |
| Absolutely Fabulous | Saffron 'Saffy' Monsoon | TV series (40 episodes: 1992–2012) | |
| The Word | TV series (1 episode: "Episode 3.2") | ||
| 1993 | Parallel 9 | TV series (1 episode: "Episode 2.5") | |
| 1994 | Lovejoy | Joanna Whymark | TV series (1 episode: "Double-Edged Sword") |
| Keeper | Alison | tv short | |
| Martin Chuzzlewit | Mercy Pecksniff | TV series (6 episodes) | |
| 1995 | Pride and Prejudice | Lydia Bennet | TV mini-series (6 episodes) |
| Faith in the Future | Hannah Greyshott | TV series (22 episodes: 1995–1998) | |
| 1996 | French and Saunders | TV series (1 episode: "Baywatch") | |
| Tales from the Crypt | Teresa | TV series (1 episode: "The Kidnapper") | |
| 1997 | McLibel! | Helen Steel | TV mini-series (1 episode: "Episode 1.1") |
| Ain't Misbehavin' | Dolly Nightingale | TV mini-series (3 episodes) | |
| An Audience with the Spice Girls | TV special | ||
| 1998 | Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Not! | Saffron 'Saffy' Monsoon | video |
| Light Lunch | TV series (1 episode: "The Future's Bright, the Future's Funny") | ||
| 1999 | Doctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death | Emma | Charity spoof TV movie by Comic Relief |
| The Flint Street Nativity | Wise Man | TV movie | |
| The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything | Catherine Parr | TV movie | |
| Late Lunch | TV series (1 episode: "#2.14") | ||
| 1999–2000 | Kipper | Mouse (voice) | Animated TV series (4 episodes) |
| 2000 | Mirrorball | Freda Keill | TV short |
| Time Gentlemen Please | Janet Wilson | TV series (21 episodes: 2000–2001) | |
| Sheeep | Georgina (voice) | Animated TV series (26 episodes: 2000) | |
| The Hatching of 'Chicken Run' | TV special | ||
| Loose Women | TV series (1 episode: "#2.13") | ||
| Bob Martin | TV series (1 episode: "Through the Keyhole") | ||
| Masterchef | TV series (1 episode: "#10.14") | ||
| Poultry in Motion: The Making of Chicken Run | Herself | TV special | |
| HBO First Look | Herself | TV series (1 episode: "The Hatching of Chicken Run") | |
| Stars in Their Eyes | TV series (1 episode: "Cerys Matthews") | ||
| 2001 | Jonathan Creek | Carla Borrego | TV series (7 episodes: 2002–2004) |
| 2003 | Hornblower | Maria Mason/Hornblower | TV series (2 films: 2003) |
| 2004 | Comedy Connections | Narrator (voice) | TV series (14 episodes: 2003–2004) |
| The Story of Absolutely Fabulous | TV special | ||
| Hell's Kitchen | TV series (1 episode: "#1.4") | ||
| 2006 | A Taste of My Life | TV special | |
| Who Do You Think You Are? | TV series (1 episode: "Julia Sawalha") | ||
| 2007 | Cranford | Jessie Brown | TV series (5 episodes) |
| The Underdog Show | TV series (unknown episodes) | ||
| The Graham Norton Show | TV series (1 episode: "#1.7") | ||
| 2008 | Lark Rise to Candleford | Dorcas Lane | TV series (40 episodes: 2008–2011) |
| 2009 | The Alan Titchmarsh Show | TV series (1 episode: "9 March 2009") | |
| 2013 | Agatha Christie's Marple | Mrs. Cresswell | TV series (1 episode: "Greenshaw's Folly") |
| 2014 | Remember Me | Jan Ward | TV series (3 episodes) |
| 2016 | Midsomer Murders | Penny Henderson | TV series (1 episode: "Saints and Sinners") |
| 2020 | It's Pony | Jill Sneekly (voice) | TV series |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Fable II | Hannah/Hammer | Xbox 360 game |
References
- "Julia Sawalha's Net Worth 2019 – How Much is Julia Worth Now?". networthstats.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
- Julia's profile at BBC History
- Sarah Gristwood (26 November 1995). "Absolutely fab". The Independent. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- Lily Savage's Blankety Blank. 4 March 2001. ITV.
- Chicken Run DVD Cast Bio
- "Withnail star takes Argos upmarket". The Guardian. 26 July 2002. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- "BBC ONE Autumn 2006". BBC. 18 July 2006.
- BBC Food – A Taste of my Life Pilot episode description
- 'Settled' Julia seeks new role Daily Express, 21 March 2007
- "Fable II game review". The Telegraph. 3 November 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- "I can't stand actors" 21 August 2005, The Observer
- "TV stars act over marriage report". BBC News. 6 January 2004.
- "Relative Values: Nadia and Julia Sawalha". The Sunday Times. London. 1 April 2007.
External links
- Julia Sawalha on IMDb
- Julia Sawalha on Who Do You Think You Are?
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