- Nadia Sawalha
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Nadia Sawalha Born Nadia Sawalha
18 November 1964
Wandsworth, London, EnglandNationality British Other names Nadia Carina Ethnicity Anglo-Jordanian Occupation Television presenter, actress Years active 1986; 1992-present Spouse Justin Mildwater (1992-1997)
Mark Adderley (2002-present)Children 2 daughters Parents Nadim Sawalha
RobertaRelatives Julia Sawalha (sister) Nadia Sawalha (born 18 November 1964) is an English actress and television presenter.
Sawalha is perhaps best known for her role as Annie Palmer in the BBC soap opera EastEnders during the 1990s, although most of her television work is now as a presenter rather than an actress.
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Career
After training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Sawalha began her career in theatre.
In 1997 she started her role in EastEnders, as businesswoman Annie Palmer. She remained in the role until 1999.
Her other acting television credits include Casualty, Which Way to the War and ITV police drama, The Bill.
She has also appeared in the films Clockwise, Top Tips, Sleeping with the Fishes and the BBC Victorian drama Station Jim.
Sawalha has become a regular personality on daytime TV, after presenting the live programmes Loose Women and Live Talk 1999-2002.
For the BBC, she has fronted four series of Passport to the Sun, the Total series, TV Mail, Heir Hunters, Perfect Partner and Family Exchange. She is also a co-host on the live documentary City Hospital.
She has previously hosted the morning BBC One show Living in the Sun, about British ex-pats living in Spain, made by Ricochet, and Wanted Down Under, which shows families who want to make the move Down Under (Australia, occasionally New Zealand) what it would be like to live and work in those Antipodean nations.
She can also be seen on Accidents Can Happen, a daytime BBC One programme produced by Twofour, which follows families as they try to rebuild their homes and their lives following disaster.
She presented the BBC One programme Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre in 2005, following learner drivers as they learnt to drive & took their driving tests with varying degrees of success. Sawalha was one of the learner drivers, who ended up passing her driving test at the end of the second series.
Sawalha co-presented The One Show with Adrian Chiles. This 'Nationwide' style show launched on BBC One in the summer of 2006 and features a mix of interviews, factual features and topical stories. On 14 March 2007, it was confirmed on Digital Say Broadcast and The Sun that Nadia would not return to co-present The One Show when it returned in the summer of 2007, because she was pregnant.
In 2008, she returned to BBC One, to once again present its daytime programme, Wanted Down Under. Sawalha stars in the BBC One programme Eating In The Sun, which is produced by husband Mark Adderley. This follows on from her win in the Celebrity MasterChef series and has her challenged by celebrity chefs to cook in their favourite holiday restaurants.
Between July to October 2011 she guest presented the ITV Breakfast programme Lorraine, she has also been a regular guest chef on the show.
Other appearances
Nadia has appeared as a guest on Test the Nation and contributed to Comic Relief by taking part in Celebrity Driving School. She also starred as the 'hidden' celebrity in an episode of the CBBC gameshow Hider in the House.
Nadia won the 2007 series of Celebrity MasterChef, beating Craig Revel Horwood and Midge Ure in the final.
She then went onto host the children's version of the show Junior Masterchef, she was said to be 'delighted' to be given the chance to host the show.
In December 2010, Sawalha starred in a fitness DVD entitled Nadia Sawalha: Fat To Fab,[1] after losing three and a half stone.
In January 2011, Sawalha starred in the sixth series of ITV's Dancing On Ice with Scottish professional Mark Hanretty. She was voted out in a double elimination in Week 1 along with fellow competitor Angela Rippon with her partner Sean Rice.
Personal life
Nadia is the daughter of the Jordanian-born, English actor Nadim Sawalha and his English wife Roberta, and sister of television actress Julia Sawalha. The three all starred together in Dearest Daddy... Darling Daughter at the Young Vic Theatre in South London in 1997.
Nadia has suffered from psoriasis and has used homeopathy rather than conventional treatment.[2]
On 25 December 1997, Sawalha's first husband Justin Mildwater committed suicide.[3] They had been married for five years, but had split up a few months before.
She married second husband, television producer Mark Adderley, in June 2002. They have two daughters, Maddy (born 25 December 2002) and Kiki (born August 2007).
References
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0049CW4J0
- ^ Dana Ullman, The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy, page 147 (California: North Atlantic Books, 2007). ISBN 978-1-55643-671-0
- ^ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TV+Nadia+in+tears+as+she+tells+of+hubby%27s+suicide.-a060266220
External links
Preceded by
New PostCo-Host of The One Show
2006Succeeded by
Myleene KlassCurrent presenters Alex Jones (August 2010 – present) • Matt Baker (February 2011 - present) • Chris Evans (August 2010 – present)Former presenters Loose Women Anchors Panellists Categories:- 1964 births
- Living people
- 20th-century actors
- 21st-century actors
- British people of Huguenot descent
- British people of Jordanian descent
- Dancing on Ice participants
- English film actors
- English soap opera actors
- English television actors
- English television presenters
- Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
- People from Wandsworth
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