Myriam Francois-Cerrah

Myriam Francois-Cerrah
Born Emilie François
1983 (age 31–32)
Alma mater Cambridge University (BA)
Georgetown University (MA)
Oxford University (PhD, exp.)
Occupation Actress, writer, journalist
Religion Islam

Myriam Francois-Cerrah (born Emilie François; 1983) is a British writer[1] and journalist.[2] Former assistant editor and features writer at Emel magazine (2008–2009), she interviewed feminist publisher Carmen Callil, Special Representative for the US Department of State Farah Pandith, academic Noam Chomsky, and artist Hassan Massoudy, among others.

Career

Francois-Cerrah currently works as a freelance journalist, with her articles featured in The Guardian,[3] The Huffington Post,[4] New Statesman,[5] Your Middle East, The London Paper, Index on Censorship,[6] the F-Word[7] and the magazine Emel.[8]

A former actress, her screen career began at age 12 in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995) in which she played Margaret Dashwood alongside Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.[9][10] She went on to star in Paws (1997) alongside Nathan Cavaleri and Heath Ledger, and New Year's Day (2000), in which she played Heather. In 2003, following extensive research into the faith, she became a Muslim.[11] She describes herself as both a feminist and a Muslim. She is a regular guest on BBC Big Questions (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)[12] alongside Dame Ann Leslie, Beverly Knight, Rev. Peter Owen-Jones, et al. and Sunday Morning Live.

She has appeared on Newsnight (2009), 4thought.tv (2011),[13] BBC News (2010),[14] Crosstalk (2010), BBC Radio (2012), Sky News[15] and documentaries including Divine Women, presented by Bettany Hughes.[16] In 2012, she commented the French presidential elections for Sky News, as well as the French presidential inauguration and 2012 local elections and regularly comments on current affairs, in particular related to France or the Middle East. She has been a frequent guest on Tariq Ramadan's television show Islam & Life broadcast by Iran's PressTV.

Education

Francois-Cerrah was due to complete her PhD at Oxford University in Oriental Studies in 2013.[17]

She has an MA with honours in Middle East politics from Georgetown University, and a BA from Cambridge University in Social and Political science.

Conversion to Islam

In 2003, at 21 years old, Francois-Cerrah embraced Islam after graduating from Cambridge. At the time, she was a skeptical Roman Catholic.

She said,

"The Qur'an was pivotal for me. I first tried to approach it in anger, as part of an attempt to prove my Muslim friend wrong. Later I began reading it with a more open mind. The opening of Al-Fatiha, with its address to the whole of mankind, psychologically stopped me in my tracks. It spoke of previous scriptures in a way which I both recognised, but also differed. It clarified many of the doubts I had about Christianity. It made me an adult as I suddenly realised that my destiny and my actions had consequences for which I alone would now be held responsible. In a world governed by relativism, it outlined objective moral truths and the foundation of morality. As someone who'd always had a keen interest in philosophy, the Qur'an felt like the culmination of all of this philosophical cogitation. It combined Kant, Hume, Sartre and Aristotle. It somehow managed to address and answer the deep philosophical questions posed over centuries of human existence and answer its most fundamental one, 'why are we here?'"[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Myriam Francois-Cerrah". journalisted.com. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "myriamfrancoiscerrah". Myriam Francois-Cerrah. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  3. ↑ Myriam Francois-Cerrah profile from The Guardian
  4. ↑ Francois-Cerrah, Myriam (26 January 2012). "Why a War With Iran is the Real Threat". Huffington post. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Francois-Cerrah, Myriam (14 December 2011). "When does it not pay to be Muslim?". the New Statesman. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  6. ↑ Francois-Cerrah, Myriam (15 January 2011). "Tunisia: France’s faux pas". Index on Censorship. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "Articles by Myriam Francois-Cerrah". The F-Word. 20 July 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  8. ↑ "Sailing Towards The Divine | Feature Interviews | Features | June 2011 &#124". Emel. 27 June 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  9. ↑ Thompson, Emma (1995). "The Diaries". In Doran, Lindsay; Thompson, Emma. Sense and Sensibility: The Screenplay and Diaries. Bloomsbury. pp. 246–247. ISBN 1-55704-782-0.
  10. ↑ Howe, Desson (15 December 1995). "Uncommonly Good 'Sense'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 16 October 2013. (subscription required)
  11. ↑ Kellogg, Amy (24 September 2010). "Actress Among Growing Number of Women Converting to Islam in Britain". Fox News. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "One Programmes – The Big Questions, Series 3, Episode 5". BBC. 31 January 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  13. ↑ "0258 Myriam Francois Cerrah Should Muslims adapt to Britain or should Britain adapt to Muslims?". 4thought.tv. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  14. ↑ "Impact Asia – A veiled threat or an attack on faith?". BBC News. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  15. ↑ "Myriam Francois-Cerrah, French elections April 2012, Sky news" video on YouTube
  16. ↑ Divine Women on BBC
  17. ↑ "Student Research – Faculty of Oriental Studies". University of Oxford. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
  18. ↑ "British Actress Myriam Francois-Cerrah Embraces Islam". Muslims of Calgary. Retrieved 11 January 2015.

External links