Sarah Solemani

Last updated

Sarah Solemani
Born (1982-09-04) 4 September 1982 (age 41)
Camden, London, England
Occupation(s)Actress, writer, playwright
Years active2000–present
Spouse
Daniel E. Ingram
​
(m. 2012)​
Children2

Sarah Solemani (born 4 September 1982)[ citation needed ] is an English actress, writer and activist. She is best known for her role as Becky in the BAFTA winning sitcom Him & Her [1] and playing Renee Zellweger's best friend Miranda in Bridget Jones's Baby , for which she was nominated for an Evening Standard Best Actress Award. She also had roles in the British comedy TV series Bad Education and The Wrong Mans .

Contents

Early life

Solemani was born in the London Borough of Camden and grew up in Crouch End.[ citation needed ] Her father is a Persian Jewish mathematics lecturer (now retired).[ citation needed ] After passing her A levels at the Henrietta Barnett School, she took a gap year before reading Social and Political Sciences (now the Human, Social and Political Sciences Tripos) at New Hall, Cambridge and graduating with an MA (Cantab). [2] [3] At Cambridge, she joined the Footlights performance troupe, becoming social secretary during her first year and later vice president. [4]

Career

Theatre

Solemani was a member of the National Youth Theatre during her gap year, during which time she appeared as Elaine in the West End theatre production of The Graduate [4] and as Ayesha in the critically acclaimed National Theatre production of Sanctuary.

She was a member of the Young Writer's Group attached to the Royal Court Theatre, and a writer at the Young Vic Theatre. Two plays she wrote were produced at Soho Theatre. [2] Another of her works, The Cost of Things (2010), was presented at the Public Theater New York under the aegis of the Old Vic Theatre as part of the TS Eliot Project.[ citation needed ] In 2011, she wrote The Baron which received the Old Vic New Voices 'Ignite' award. [5]

In 2009, Solemani appeared in Simon Stephens' play Pornography at the Tricycle Theatre in London and, in 2012, as Maryam in The House of Bernarda Alba at the Almeida Theatre. [2] She wrote Up the Royal Borough, part of an evening of plays in response to Owen Jones' Chavs at the Lyric Hammersmith. It gained good reviews. [6]

Television and film

Solemani's first film role was as a tableaux girl in Mrs Henderson Presents , which she performed during her third year of college. [2] Her first major TV role was as Becky in BBC Three sitcom Him & Her , which was first broadcast in September 2010, and ran for four series, before ending in 2013. [7]

From 2012 until 2014, Solemani starred as Rosie Gulliver in the BBC Three comedy, Bad Education , [8] including its spin off movie The Bad Education Movie and a one-off special in 2022. In 2013, she featured in the BBC and Hulu's The Wrong Mans alongside James Corden. She reprised the role for the show's second series. [9] She wrote and starred in an episode of the Sky TV series Love Matters, titled "Aphrodite Fry", that aired in 2013. [10] In 2014, she wrote the television film The Secrets . It aired on BBC One to critical acclaim.

In Hollywood, Solemani was chosen by Bill Hader and Alec Berg to be part of their writing team on Hader's new HBO show Barry . While working in the United States, she has found the American television industry has a more positive attitude towards commissioning work by women and featuring female characters in their series. [11]

In 2019 it was announced she would adapt Jo Bloom's novel Ridley Road into a television drama. [12] Published in 2014, Bloom's book was the result of research into the anti-Nazi London 62 Group and events involving it in the summer of 1962, with the group's activities serving as a backdrop, the title coming from the street in the East End where fascists held meetings and around which battles took place. [13] [14] It was broadcast by BBC One in October 2021. [15] In 2022 she co-wrote and co-starred with Steve Coogan in Chivalry , a six episode comedy-drama about "sexual politics in the wake of the #MeToo movement" for Channel 4. [16] [17] [18]

Print

Solemani has contributed to the New Statesman , [19] The Guardian , The Independent and Harper's Bazaar . She writes regularly for the publications Red and Glamour .[ citation needed ]

Awards and acclaim

Solemani was awarded third place in the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust/ New Statesman Prize for New Political Writing on the subject: "Do women's rights remain the privilege of the developed world?" in 2005. [20]

In 2011, Solemani won the Royal Television Society award for best Comedy Performance for her role in Him & Her along with her co-star Russell Tovey. [21] In 2012, Solemani was named one of the year's Broadcast Hot Shots. [22]

Activism

Solemani is against the criminalisation of sex work, and has been a champion for sex workers' rights since 2002.[ citation needed ] She was nominated by the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) to represent them in Parliament in order to halt further efforts to criminalise clients. She was an active supporter of former shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour leadership contest. She has introduced Cooper at various Labour Party events and has contributed to her speeches.[ citation needed ]

Personal life

Solemani married Daniel E. Ingram, a sustainable investment expert specialising in climate change, [23] in Petah Tikva, Israel, on 3 June 2012. [24] [25] Their daughter was born in December 2013 and their son was born in May 2018. [26] Raised by an Orthodox Jewish father and a Plymouth Brethren evangelical mother, Solemani has formally converted to Judaism along with her husband. [27]

Filmography

Film and television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2003 Red Cap Gillian JenningsTV series
2005 Mrs Henderson Presents VeraFilm
2006 Undone EdnaRadio series
2006 Hyperdrive Alien 1TV series
2007Living with Two People You Like Individually... But Not as a CoupleAntoniaTV series – pilot
2007 Roman's Empire JennyTV series
2007 Suburban Shootout DonnaTV series
2010–2013 Him & Her BeckyTV series
2011 Silent Witness Mary OlivantTV series – episode 109 ("The Prodigal")
2011 Psychoville EmilyTV series
2011Coma GirlSiobhanTV series – pilot
2011Uptown Downstairs AbbeyLady MaryTV series – special for Comic Relief
2012 The Borgias MagdelenaTV series
2012 Skins Celia ChampionTV series
2012–2014, 2022 Bad Education Miss Gulliver [8] TV series
2013Love MattersAphrodite Fry [28] TV series – episode 109 ("Aphrodite Fry")
2013–14 The Wrong Mans Lizzie GreenTV series
2013 Crackanory NarratorTV series
2014 The Secrets CharlotteTV series
2015 The Bad Education Movie Miss Gulliver [8] Film
2015 Hector SaraFilm
2016 The Five Pru CarewTV series
2016 Bridget Jones's Baby MirandaFilm
2017 No Offence DCI Christine LickbergTV series
2017The PactAmyTV pilot
2018Wild Honey Pie!Rachel GriffithsFilm
2019 How to Build a Girl AngieFilm
2019 Greed MelanieFilm
2020 Inside No 9 EmilyTV series - episode "Death Be Not Proud"
2021 Ridley Road TV series - writer
2022 Chivalry BobbyTV series: also co-creator and co-writer

Stage

YearTitleRoleNotes
2000 The Graduate Elaine Gielgud Theatre [29]
2007Burning Cars Hampstead Theatre [30]
2009Pornography Tricycle Theatre [31]
2012 The House of Bernarda Alba Maryam Almeida Theatre [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Coogan</span> English comedian and actor (born 1965)

Stephen John Coogan is an English-Irish comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is most known for creating original characters such as Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which he developed while working with Armando Iannucci on On the Hour and The Day Today. Partridge has featured in several television series and the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. In 1999, he co-founded the production company Baby Cow Productions with Henry Normal. For his work he has garnered numerous accolades including four BAFTA Awards and three British Comedy Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award.

Rebecca Louise Front is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for The Thick of It (2009–2012). She is also known for her work in numerous other British comedies, including the radio show On The Hour (1992), The Day Today (1994), Knowing Me, Knowing You… with Alan Partridge (1994), Time Gentlemen Please (2000–2002), sketch show Big Train (2002), and Nighty Night (2004–2005).

The 62 Group, originally the 62 Committee, was a militant broad-based coalition of anti-fascists in London, headed by Harry Bidney. Based on the earlier 43 Group, it was formed in 1962 largely in response to the resurgence of fascism in Britain at the time, and particularly Colin Jordan's National Socialist Movement (NSM). It used violence against the remnants of Oswald Mosley's Union Movement, the original British National Party, and the emerging National Front, as well as the NSM. The group was financed in part by the Jewish Aid Committee of Britain (JACOB).

Samantha Jane Bond is an English actress. She played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, and appeared in Downton Abbey as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham. On television, she played "Auntie Angela" in the sitcom Outnumbered and the villain Mrs Wormwood in the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. She also originated the role of "Miz Liz" Probert in the Rumpole of the Bailey series. She is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

"Chav", also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. The use of the word has been described as a form of "social racism". "Chavette" is a related term referring to female chavs, and the adjectives "chavvy", "chavvish", and "chavtastic" are used to describe things associated with chavs, such as fashion, slang, etc. In other countries like Ireland, "Skanger" is used in a similar manner. In Canada, in the province of British Columbia they're known as "Surrey jacks". In Ontario, the term is "hoodman", an equivalent of the term "roadman" used in England. In Newfoundland, "skeet" is used in a similar way, while in Australia, "eshay" or "adlay" is used.

Rachael Atlanta Stirling is an English stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Laurence Olivier Award for her stage work. She played Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet, and Millie in the ITV series The Bletchley Circle. She has also guest starred in Lewis and one episode of Doctor Who, co-starring with her mother Diana Rigg.

Tamsin Morwenna Banks is a British actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She appeared in the Channel 4 comedy sketch show Absolutely, and wrote, produced, and appeared in the British ensemble film The Announcement. She voices Mummy Pig, Madame Gazelle and Dr Hamster in the children's series Peppa Pig. She adapted Nick Hornby's novel Funny Girl for Sky Max and is a writer on Slow Horses for Apple TV+.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Davis</span> English actress

Julia Charlotte L. Davis is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy Nighty Night (2004–2005) and the comedies Hunderby (2012–2015) and Camping (2016), which she also directed. Davis has been noted by critics for creating boundary-pushing black comedy that centres female anti-hero characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doon Mackichan</span> British actress, comedian and writer

Sarah Doon Mackichan is a British actress, comedian and writer. She co-created, wrote and performed in the double-Emmy-award-winning Smack the Pony. She frequently collaborates with Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan, having played multiple characters in The Day Today, Brass Eye and Alan Partridge, and has also appeared in Toast of London and Two Doors Down. Mackichan was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance at the 2014 British Academy Television Awards for her performance in Plebs and won critical praise for her performance alongside John Malkovich in Bitter Wheat in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheridan Smith</span> English actress and singer

Sheridan Smith OBE is an English actress, singer, and television personality. Smith came to prominence after playing a variety of characters on sitcoms such as The Royle Family (1999–2000), Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001–2009), Gavin & Stacey (2008–2010), and Benidorm (2009). She co-starred as Joey Ross in the drama series Jonathan Creek between 2009 and 2013, and went on to receive acclaim for starring in a succession of television dramas, such as Mrs Biggs (2012), Cilla (2014), The C Word (2015), Black Work (2015), The Moorside (2017), Cleaning Up (2019), and Four Lives (2022). Her film credits include Tower Block (2012), Quartet (2012), The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), and The Railway Children Return (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haydn Gwynne</span> British actress (1957–2023)

Haydn Gwynne was an English actress. She was nominated for the 1992 BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance for the comedy series Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1991), and won the 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in the Broadway production of Billy Elliot the Musical. She was also a four-time Olivier Award nominee. Her other television roles included Peak Practice (1999–2000), Merseybeat (2001–2002), and playing Camilla in The Windsors from 2016 until her death in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Jones</span> Welsh actress, producer and writer

Ruth Alexandra Elisabeth Jones is a Welsh actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She co-wrote and co-starred in the award-winning BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey. She later co-wrote and starred in the Sky One comedy-drama Stella (2012-2017), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and won the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Screenwriter.

Thomas William Basden is an English actor, writer and comedian. He is best known for co-creating and starring in Plebs, which won the Royal Television Society award for Best Scripted Comedy in 2014. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2007 Edinburgh Comedy Awards and is a member of the sketch group Cowards.

Lloyd Woolf is a British comedy actor and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Dent</span> British columnist, broadcaster and author (born 1973)

Grace Dent is a British columnist, broadcaster and author. She is a restaurant critic for The Guardian and from 2011 to 2017 wrote a restaurant column for the Evening Standard. She is a regular critic on the BBC's MasterChef UK and has appeared on Channel 4's television series Very British Problems.

Alexis Zegerman is a British actress and writer.

<i>Him & Her</i> British television sitcom

Him & Her is a British television sitcom about a lazy twenty-something couple: Steve and Becky, who live in Walthamstow, London. It was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Three on 6 September 2010. It is written by Stefan Golaszewski and stars Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani. The theme tune is the song "Boom Bang-a-Bang" by Lulu.

Chivalry is a 2022 British comedy-drama television series broadcast on Channel 4. It was written by and stars Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani.

Ridley Road is a British four-part television drama series which premiered on BBC One on 3 October 2021, about Jewish opposition to British Fascism in the 1960s. It was adapted by Sarah Solemani from Jo Bloom's 2014 novel of the same name. The series is directed by Lisa Mulcahy and the executive producer is Nicola Shindler.

<i>Ridley Road</i> (novel) 2014 novel by Jo Bloom

Ridley Road is a 2014 novel by Jo Bloom, in which the 62 Group and opposition to 1960s British neo-Nazis such as Colin Jordan are a backdrop to the narrative. Ridley Road in Dalston in London's East End was well known as a fascist meeting place in the 1960s, around which battles took place.

References

  1. ↑ "Him & Her – Sarah Solemani plays Becky" (Press release). BBC Press Office. 10 September 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Gilbert, Gerard (21 January 2012). "Where are all the female comics?". The Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  3. ↑ "Alumnae Achievements" (PDF). The Dolphin (33). Cambridge: New Hall: 12. Summer 2007.
  4. 1 2 Simon Round (16 September 2010). "Interview: Sarah Solemani". The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  5. ↑ "The Directors". Young Vic. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  6. ↑ Carmel Doohan (17 October 2012). "Chavs at Lyric Hammersmith". Exeunt Magazine.
  7. ↑ "Him & Her Series 4". BBC Three. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 "Bad Education". BBC Three. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Ellen E Jones (23 December 2014). "Our boys from Bracknell hit the ground running on a trip to the Texas badlands". The Independent. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  10. ↑ "Sky Living to show 6 one-off comedies". Custard TV. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  11. ↑ Solemani, Sarah (20 October 2017). "'The TV and film industries are toxic – and it starts in the audition room'". The Guaradian. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  12. ↑ "Gripping New Thriller Ridley Road Announced for BBC One". RED Production Company. 22 August 2019.
  13. ↑ Bloom, Jo (2014). Ridley Road. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN   978-1-78022-824-2. OCLC   892869290.
  14. ↑ Whiteside, Shirley (29 November 2014). "Ridley Road by Jo Bloom, book review: An ambitious, but not wholly successful debut". The Independent.
  15. ↑ Solemani, Sarah (2 October 2021). "Ridley Road: how Britain's untold Nazi horrors inspired my TV thriller". The Guardian .
  16. ↑ Kanter, Jake (13 January 2020). "Steve Coogan & Sarah Solemani Team For #MeToo Comedy 'Chivalry' For Britain's Channel 4". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  17. ↑ Conlan, Tara (13 January 2020). "Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani to explore #MeToo in comedy drama". The Guardian . Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  18. ↑ Warner, Sam (13 January 2020). "Steve Coogan to explore #MeToo era in new Channel 4 comedy drama". NME . Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  19. ↑ "Sarah Solemani". New Statesman . Archived from the original on 1 October 2010.
  20. ↑ "New Political Writing Prize 2005". Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  21. ↑ "RTS Announces Winners for the Programme Awards 2011" (Press release). Royal Television Society. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  22. ↑ "Broadcast Hot Shots 2012". Broadcast. August 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  23. ↑ "Meet ... Daniel Ingram, Manager, BT Pension Scheme". www.sri-connect.com. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  24. ↑ "Social & Personal" (PDF). New London Bulletin. New London Synagogue. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 May 2012.
  25. ↑ Liat Elkayam (29 June 2012). "Departures/Arrivals: Who took off from and landed at Ben Gurion Airport this week?". Haaretz . Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  26. ↑ Lamont, Tom (7 September 2014). "Sarah Solemani: 'Russell Tovey? He came to my hen do'". The Guardian.
  27. ↑ Hayes, Martha (24 September 2016). "Interview Sarah Solemani: 'I had to hide my pregnancy. I worked until I was due'". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  28. ↑ "Love Matters" Aphrodite Fry (TV Episode 2013) - IMDb
  29. ↑ Darren Dalglish (23 October 2001). "The Graduate at Gielgud Theatre". LondonTheatre.co.uk. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  30. ↑ "Darings Pairings at Hampstead". The British Theatre Guide. 5 September 2007. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  31. ↑ Billington, Michael (7 August 2009). "Pornography, Tricycle, London". The Guardian . Retrieved 19 November 2012.
  32. ↑ Daisy Jestico (30 January 2012). "Theatre Review: The House of Bernarda Alba at Almeida Theatre". Islington Gazette . Retrieved 19 November 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.