Julia Sawalha

Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Saffron "Saffy" Monsoon in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012). Her other television roles include as Lynda Day in Press Gang (1989–1993), as Hannah Greyshott in Second Thoughts (1991–1994), and its sequel series, Faith in the Future (1995–1998), Lydia Bennet in the television miniseries of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1995), Georgina and Kid's vocal effects in Sheeep (2000–2001), Carla Borrego in Jonathan Creek (2001–2004), and Dorcas Lane in the BBC's costume drama Lark Rise to Candleford (2008–2011). Her film credits include Buddy's Song (1991), The Wind in the Willows (1996), Chicken Run (2000) and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016). Early life and education Sawalha was born in Wandsworth, London, on 9 September 1968, 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. Sawalha was educated at the Theatre Arts School, a fee-paying independent school which is part of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, based at the time in Clapham in south London, which she left at the age of fifteen. Career