Julia Sawalha

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Julia Sawalha
Julia Sawalha in the opening titles of Press Gang
Born	9 September 1968 London
Notable roles	Lynda Day in Press Gang; Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous; Lydia Bennett in Pride and Prejudice

Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress. Julia is best known as Saffron Monsoon in BBC TV's Absolutely Fabulous, the prim foil for the other outrageous characters, and as stern Linda Day, editor of The Junior Gazette in the children's drama series Press Gang.

1 Background
2 Television
3 Personal life
4 TV
5 Films
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Background

Sawalha was born in London to Roberta and Nadim Sawalha. She was named after her grandmother who was a successful Jordanian businesswoman, having received an award from Queen Noor for enterprise before her death. Julia is of Jordanian and 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.

[edit] Television

Julia Sawalha 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. Her co-stars included 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 recently 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.

[edit] Personal life

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

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.^[3]