- Josette Simon
Josette Patricia Simon OBE (born c. 1960) is a British actress of
Antiguan descent. She trained for the stage at theCentral School of Speech and Drama in London. [ [http://www.cssd.ac.uk/pages/famous_alumni.html CSSD Alumni] ]Career
She is best known for her portrayal of
Dayna Mellanby in the third and fourth seasons of the television sci-fi series "Blake's 7 ". Her recent television work includes roles in "Lewis", "Casualty", "Skins", "Midsomer Murders ", "The Last Detective " and the "Poirot" episode "The Mystery of the Blue Train ".Simon's film appearances include "
Cry Freedom " and "Milk and Honey", for which she was nominated for a Best Actress award.Simon is also a notable stage actress who has performed frequently with the
Royal National Theatre andRoyal Shakespeare Company , being cast a one of the three 'weird sisters' inMacbeth alongside Kathy Behean,Lesley Sharp andBob Peck who played the lead.As a black actress, she has been at the forefront of 'colour-blind' or 'non-traditional' casting, frequently taking roles traditionally considered white. [ [http://arts.independent.co.uk/theatre/news/article347380.ece 'Colour-blind casting finds new stars for Billy Elliott', Louise Jury, "The Independent"] ] [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/racism/Story/0,,370567,00.html 'Black kings are old hat', Hugh Quarshie, "The Guardian"] ] One example is Maggie in
Arthur Miller 's "After the Fall", which has been said to have been based onMarilyn Monroe , former wife of Miller, a performance which won Simon the "Evening Standard "'s Best Actress award in 1990, [ [http://www.albemarle-london.com/awards/AwardWinners.php?Award_Type=Evening%20Standard%20Awards&Year=1990 "Evening Standard" Theatre Awards, 1990] ] as well as several Best Actress nominations.She was also nominated for a Best Actress award for her performance in "Golden Girls" at the RSC. In 1992 she starred alongside
Brenda Fricker in the TV film "Seekers", produced bySarah Lawson .Awards and honours
Simon was awarded the
OBE for services to drama in 2000, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/birthday_honours_2000/793823.stm Birthday Honours 2000, BBC News] ] and also received an honorary Master of Arts degree from theUniversity of Leicester in 1995.References
External links
*imdb name|id=0800219|name=Josette Simon
* [http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/JosetteSimon.htm British Theatre Guide]
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