Sarah Solemani

Sarah Solemani (born 4 September 1982) is an English actress, writer and activist, best known for starring in the BAFTA winning sitcom Him & Her, playing Renee Zellweger's best friend 'Miranda' in Working Title's Bridget Jones's Baby, for which she was nominated for an Evening Standard Best Actress Award, and for her role as Rosie Gulliver in Bad Education.

Early life
Solemani was born in the London Borough of Camden and grew up in Crouch End. Her father is a Persian Jewish mathematics lecturer (now retired). Her mother, who died of cancer when Sarah was 16, was a sociology teacher of Northern Irish descent.

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 (Hons).

At Cambridge, she joined the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club and became social secretary during her first year and then vice president. She went down in Footlights history for writing the biggest all-female comedy sketch ever performed on a Footlights stage, writing twenty five female students into her sketch 'Brawl'.

Career

Theatre
Solemani was a member of the National Youth Theatre during her gap year, starring as Elaine in the West End theatre production of The Graduate and as 'Ayesha' in the critically acclaimed National Theatre production of Sanctuary.

Solemani 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. 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.

In 2011, she wrote The Baron which received the Old Vic New Voices 'Ignite' award.

In 2009, she appeared in Simon Stephens Pornography at the Tricycle Theatre in London and in 2012, she appeared as Maryam in the play The House of Bernarda Alba at the Almeida Theatre. 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.

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. Her first major TV role was as "Becky" in BBC Three sitcom Him & Her, which was first broadcast in November 2010, and ran for four series ending in 2013.

In 2012, Solemani starred in the BBC Three comedy, Bad Education, including its spin off movie The Bad Education Movie. In 2013, she featured in the BBC and Hulu's The Wrong Mans alongside James Corden. She went on to reprise the role in the second series. Solemani wrote and starred in an episode titled Aphrodite Fry in the Sky TV series Love Matters that aired in 2013. In 2014, she wrote the television film The Secrets on BBC One at 9pm to critical praise.

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.

Print
Solemani has contributed to the New Statesman, The Guardian, The Independent and Harper's Bazaar.

She writes regularly for the publications Red and Glamour.

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.

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.

In 2012, Solemani was named one of the year's Broadcast Hot Shots.

Activist
Solemani is against the criminalisation of sex work, and has been a champion for sex worker rights since 2002. 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.

Personal life
Solemani married Daniel E. Ingram , a sustainable investment expert specialising in climate change in Petah Tikva, Israel on 3 June 2012. Their daughter was born in December 2013 and their son was born in May 2018.

The couple revealed their daughter's godparents at a ceremony in the New London Synagogue.

Filmography

Film and television

Stage

References

External links

Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:1982 births
Category:Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge
Category:English film actresses
Category:English people of Iranian-Jewish descent
Category:English people of Northern Ireland descent
Category:English television actresses
Category:Jewish comedians
Category:Jewish English actresses
Category:Living people
Category:National Youth Theatre members