Daniela Denby-Ashe

Daniela Denby-Ashe
Born	Daniela Denby-Ashe 9 August 1978 North West London,[1] England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present

Daniela Denby-Ashe (born 9 August 1978) is an English actress, best known for playing the character Sarah Hills in the soap opera EastEnders, Margaret Hale in the period drama North and South and Janey Harper in the sitcom My Family. She also played the character Lorraine Donnegan in the drama series Waterloo Road after previously playing a different character, "Jem Allen" in one episode a few years earlier.

Early life

Daniela's parents are of Polish descent, her paternal surname being Pszkit. Before they married, they decided to create a more British-sounding family name, so they looked in the telephone directory and each chose a name they liked and hyphenated them.^[2]

Denby-Ashe is fluent in English, Polish and French – the latter due to her grandmother, who was brought up in France until World War II.^[3] She began studying ballet at the age of two and tap at a later stage; from the ages of 10 to 16, she attended several stage schools including Corona Academy.

Career

Daniela first gained film experience on the children's video Nursery Rhymes 2 from Pickwick Video. She appeared in many television commercials as a child actor which then led on to children's drama such as Kevin & Co, as well as the Channel 4 sitcom Desmond's. Daniela also appeared alongside Jennifer Saunders and Julia Sawalha in Absolutely Fabulous. Her big break came in 1995 when she landed the role of Sarah Hills in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She played this character until 1999.

The following year she got the role of Janey Harper in the BBC sitcom, My Family. Daniela took a break from My Family for the fourth series in 2003, but returned to the role in 2004. The eleventh and final series first aired on BBC One from June 2011.

In 2004 she took the lead role of Margaret Hale in the BBC TV drama adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South, and in 2006 played Mary in the science fiction TV series Torchwood episode Greeks Bearing Gifts. Her other television roles include Office Gossip, Rescue Me, Is Harry on the Boat?, and The Afternoon Play. From 2003 she appeared in the Radio 4 comedy Ring Around the Bath.^[4]

In 2007, she starred as Robert Maxwell's secretary in Maxwell, a BBC drama about his life.^[5]

In December 2008 she appeared in BBC Four's supernatural drama series Crooked House, and in October 2010 she starred in an episode of the ITV detective drama Midsomer Murders. In April 2009 she appeared in the fourth series of the BBC drama Waterloo Road as deceitful supply teacher, Jem Allen. In April 2012, she returned to the drama as a new regular character, Lorraine Donegan. The character, a former pupil taught by current headteacher Michael Byrne (Alec Newman), played an important role in a storyline that has seen the current school move from its location in Rochdale to a new site in Greenock, Scotland at the end of the seventh series. The character appeared regularly throughout the eighth series, however the character left the school toward the end of the series due to a disagreement with Michael, leading to her handing the school over to LEA control.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Desmond's	Jackie	Episode: "Growing Pains"
1992	Kevin and Co	Sophie Coe	6 episodes
1993	The Bill	Joanne Jameson	Episode: "In Safe Hands"
1994	The Bill	Debbie Higgins	Episode: "Gone Away"
1995	The Bill	Deirdre Jackson	Episode: "Powerless"
1995	Absolutely Fabulous	Victoria	Episode: "The End"
1995–99	EastEnders	Sarah Hills	276 episodes
1999	Molly	Mary	Television film
2000	Fish	Jess Taylor	6 episodes
2000–11	My Family	Janey Harper	94 episodes
2001	Is Harry on the Boat?	Lorraine	Television film
2001	Office Gossip	Cheryl	6 episodes
2002	Rescue Me	Julie Carter	Episode: "Gone Away"
2003	The Afternoon Play	Kate	Episode: "Girls' Weekend"
2004	North & South	Margaret Hale	All episodes
2006	The Family Man	Kelly	Movie
2006	Torchwood	Mary	Episode: "Greeks Bearing Gifts"
2007	Maxwell	Andrea Martin	Television film
2008	Crooked House	Hannah	2 episodes
2009	Waterloo Road	Jem Allen	Series 4, Episode 16
2010	Midsomer Murders	Camilla Farquaharson	Episode: "The Noble Art"
2012–13	Waterloo Road	Lorraine Donnegan	32 episodes
2016	Silent Witness	Julia Lubas	Series 19, In Plain Sight (Parts 1 and 2)

References

1. "The Walford Gazette Internet Edition: The Daniela Denby-Ashe Interview : Summer 99". wgazette.com. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
2. '"Believe it or not, there's is [sic] a story behind my last name. My dad came here when he was twelve. My dad was born in Poland. His name was Miroslaw Pszkit (pronounced SHKEET). Needless to say, when he arrived some people wouldn't learn how to pronounce it properly. So just before he and my mum got married they had a look in the telephone directory. One found the name Denby and the other found Ashe. They couldn't decide between them which name to use so they just put them together with a hyphen in the middle. I'm not Pszkit like my dad; I was born with Denby-Ashe on my birth certificate. So that's where my birth certificate comes from." Daniela Denby-Ashe Interview (Summer 1999), wgazette.com; accessed 9 March 2016.
3. "Daniela Denby-Ashe profile at". celebarazzi.com. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
4. "Ring Around the Bath" (PDF). Global British Comedy Collaborative. 27 March 2005.
5. "Suchet in title role of BBC Two's drama special Maxwell". BBC Press Office. 16 February 2007.

External links

• Daniela Denby-Ashe at the Internet Movie Database