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Claudia Sermbezis is an English actress, best known for playing Lema Eelyak in Star Wars: The Force Awakens . She is also a comedy writer and broadcast journalist specialising in wildlife.
Claudia Asimina Sermbezis was born in Kent, to a Greek father and an English mother.
Claudia Sermbezis plays Lema Eelyak in Star Wars: The Force Awakens . When she says, "General, the shields are down!" it is an echo of the line said by Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, "The shield is down! Commence attack on the Death Star's main reactor!"
Sermbezis has also worked with a number of high-profile British comedians and writers, including Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in the Extras Christmas Special. Sermbezis played David Tennant's assistant in the Doctor Who spoof.
Sermbezis was Rob Brydon's agent in Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive for the BBC and Dr Judith MacIntosh in Channel 5's A-Z of Sexual Fetishes - a mockumentary produced by Rob Brydon's production company, Jones the Film. She also wrote and performed in the Jones the Film comedy Being Beautiful.
In 2002, Sermbezis made her debut in London's West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket as a member of the Sir Peter Hall Company, acting alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Jack Davenport and Googie Withers. In 2006, she spent four months as a guest artist at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, in a new play about Sven-Göran Eriksson.
Sermbezis began her journalism career at the age of 17 when she work shadowed Anna Ford on the BBC's Six O'Clock News. She went on to become the nation's youngest national newsreader when she began reading Saturday morning bulletins for GMTV at 25. From 2006 to 2008, she was GMTV's weekend news presenter on The Sunday Programme .
Sermbezis also freelances as a journalist writing, reporting and presenting for the BBC. She specialises in wildlife journalism and broke the international story about the end of the dancing bear trade in India. Sermbezis subsequently wrote, produced and presented Saving India's Dancing Bears, her half-hour documentary which the BBC broadcast nationwide on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve 2009. In 2010, Sermbezis produced and presented a series of reports about loggerhead sea turtles in Zakynthos. She is a reporter and newsreader for BBC South East Today .
Ben Affleck thanks her in the credits of his 2007 directorial debut Gone Baby Gone.
In January 2009, Sermbezis was nominated for a Royal Television Society award.
Sermbezis became the UK's youngest ever national news presenter when she began reading Saturday morning bulletins for GMTV at 25.
In February 2006, Press Gazette named Sermbezis as one of the country's most eligible journalists.
Robert Brydon Jones is a Welsh actor, comedian, impressionist, presenter, singer and writer. Brydon gained prominence for his roles in film, television and radio. Brydon was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honours in 2013 for services to comedy and broadcasting, and for charitable services.
Kathryn Mary Draper Garraway is an English broadcaster and journalist. In the 1990s, Garraway was a journalist for ITV News Central and later a co-presenter of ITV News Meridian. From 2000 to 2010, she co-presented GMTV. Currently, Garraway is the presenter of Mid Mornings with Kate Garraway on Smooth Radio and newsreader and co-anchor of the ITV Breakfast programme Good Morning Britain.
GMTV, now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.
Lorraine Smith is a Scottish television presenter, theatrical artist, journalist and singer. She has presented various television shows for ITV, including Good Morning Britain (1988–1992), GMTV (1993–2010), This Morning, Daybreak (2012–2014), The Sun Military Awards (2016–present), STV Children's Appeal (2016–present), and her eponymous programme Lorraine (2010–present).
Fiona Armstrong, Lady MacGregor, is a British television journalist and is Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries. She is also the author of several books and has written for newspapers and made television programmes on Scottish topics including fishing and Scottish clans.
Penelope Jane Smith is an English author, television presenter, newsreader and radio presenter. She has presented for Sky News, GMTV, Classic FM, BBC Radio London, TalkRadio and is a regular contributor to TalkTV launched in April 2022. Smith is a current presenter of the weekday mid-morning show on Scala Radio and credits her favourite classical composer as Giacomo Puccini.
Nina Hossain is a British journalist and presenter employed by ITN as the lead presenter of the ITV Lunchtime News.
Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien is an English television presenter and actress. She is perhaps best known for her work presenting for the BBC, including the popular CBBC art programme SMart from 1999 to 2009, and CBeebies pre-school art spin-off programme SMarteenies in 2002.
Anne Christina Davies DL is a British television presenter and newsreader, currently solo presenting BBC East Midlands Today'.
Saima Mohsin is a British Pakistani journalist and presenter born and raised in South London. She has been a Sky News presenter since 2022.
Amanda Sergeant is a British newsreader. Before breaking into the world of journalism, she was a part of Radio City 1386AM, a Swansea based hospital radio station.
Helen Fospero is an English television presenter and journalist, best known for her presenting roles on shows such as GMTV, Daybreak, and Lorraine.
Emma Catherine Crosby is a British television newsreader and journalist.
Priya Kaur-Jones is a British newsreader.
Michael Duncan Buerk is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama 999 from 1992 to 2003. From 2017, Buerk also presented the TV programme Royal Recipes which ran for two series.
Polly Evans is a journalist, broadcaster and producer and former anchor of the BBC regional news programme South East Today.
Sonia Denise Humphrey was an Australian television presenter, newsreader and journalist. Humphrey was a talented ballerina as a child and studied television production before working as an archaeologist for five years; during this period she also converted to Judaism. In the mid 1970s Humphrey worked as a television reporter and newsreader in Australia before presenting opera and ballet simulcasts for the Australian national broadcaster ABC. The management of ABC tried to remove Humphrey as a presenter of opera broadcasts due to her pregnancy, citing "aesthetic reasons". Humphrey pursued legal action against ABC, and the decision was reversed.
Fatima Manji is a British television journalist and newsreader, working for Channel 4 News. Manji became Britain's first hijab-wearing TV newsreader in March 2016.