Sarah Caroline Sinclair (née Colman) is a British award-winning actress and producer. She portrays Sarah Nelson in the Netflix adaptation of Heartstopper.
Biography[]
She was born in Norwich, the daughter of nurse Mary (née Leakey) and Chartered Surveyor Keith Colman.[1][2]She was privately educated at Norwich High School for Girls and Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk. Her first role was Jean Brodie in a school production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the age of 16.[3] She cites her mother's interrupted career as a ballet dancer as an inspiration to pursue acting professionally.[4] Colman spent a term studying primary teaching at Homerton College, Cambridge before studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, from which she graduated in 1999.[5] During her time at Cambridge, she appeared in the Channel 4 series The Word in 1995, under her nickname "Colly",[6] auditioned for the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club and met future co-stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb.[7][5][8][9]
Colman had to adopt a different stage name when she began working professionally, because Equity (the UK actors' union) already had an actress named "Sarah Colman". "One of my best friends at university was called Olivia and I always loved her name," Colman told The Independent in 2013. "I was never Sarah; I was always called by my nickname, Colly, so it didn't seem so awful not to be called Sarah."[7]
Colman was a subject of the UK genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are? in July 2018.[10] Although she expected that her family tree would mainly relate to Norfolk, it was discovered that her fourth great-grandfather, Richard Campbell Bazett, had been born on the island of Saint Helena[11] and that he worked in London for the East India Company. Bazett's son, Colman's third great-grandfather Charles Bazett, married Harriot Slessor. Researchers discovered that she was born in the Indian city of Kishanganj, lost her British father when she was aged three, and then made the journey to England alone.[10] Slessor's passage was paid for by her paternal grandmother.[12] The episode speculated that Slessor's mother might have been Indian, but did not present concrete proof; after the episode aired, the Berkshire Record Office published the will of Slessor's mother, which proved that her name was Seraphina Donclere, evidently of European origin, and that she had died in 1810.[13][14]
Colman is known for Tyrannosaur (2011), The Crown (2019–2020; 2023), The Favourite (2018) and The Lost Daughter (2021).
References[]
- ↑ Husband, Stuart (August 20, 2012). "Olivia Colman interview". The Telegraph.
- ↑ Briggs, Stacia (July 3, 2018). Check out the photograph from Olivia Colman's family album which appears on her episode of 'Who Do You Think You Are?. Ipswich Star. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018.
- ↑ Graham, Jane (15 May 2013). Olivia Colman: "I immediately knew I would marry him". The Big Issue. Archived from the original on May 9, 2013.
- ↑ Tennant, David (January 28, 2019). "David Tennant Does a Podcast With...". Player.fm.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Maggie, Meryl, and my modest career". The Herald (December 29, 2011).
- ↑ The Word (June 2, 2015). "The Word s05e06 13/01/1995 - Sleeper, Frank Bruno, Aaliyah, Marc Almond, McAlmont". YouTube.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gilbert, Gerard (March 2, 2013). "Class act: Is Olivia Colman Britain's most versatile actress?". The Independent.
- ↑ Nannar, Nina (January 7, 2016). "Famous alumni from Bristol's Old Vic Theatre School". ITV.com.
- ↑ Dempster, Sarah (June 18, 2007). "Fame is quite scary". The Guardian.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Olivia Colman". BBC One (July 20, 2018).
- ↑ Hogan, Michael (July 9, 2018). "Who Do You Think You Are? review: Olivia Colman was simply adorable". The Telegraph.
- ↑ Raphael, Amy (July 9, 2018). ""I'm much more interesting than I thought I was": Olivia Colman heads to India for 'Who Do You Think You Are?'". Radio Times.
- ↑ Berkshire Family Historian - the quarterly journal of the Berkshire Family History Society, vol. 42, September 2018, p. 14
- ↑ The Berkshire Record Office (July 10, 2018). Anyone catch Who Do You Think You Are? last night? Olivia Colman was searching to find Harriet Slessor's mother. Well we can reveal that her mother was in fact a lady called Seraphina Donclere, who died in 1810. We hold a copy of her will which mentions 'her beloved daughter Harriet Slessor'.. Facebook. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019.