Myriam Francois-Cerrah

Myriam Francois-Cerrah
Born	Emilie Francois 1983
Education	BA, MA
Alma mater	Cambridge University
Occupation	Actress, scholar, spokeswoman
Years active	1995–present
Religion	Islam

Myriam Francois-Cerrah, also known as Emilie Francois (born in 1983), is a British actress of French and Irish heritage. Her screen career began at age 12 in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995) in which she played Margaret Dashwood alongside Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. She went on to star in Paws (1997) alongside Nathan Cavaleri and Heath Ledger, and New Year's Day (2000), in which she played Heather.

In 2003, following extensive research into the faith, she converted to Islam and became a Muslim.^[1] She is active as a spokesperson for Muslim understanding, appearing on BBC Big Questions (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)^[2] alongside Dame Ann Leslie, Beverly Knight, Rev. Peter Owen-Jones, et al. She has also contributed to discussions on Newsnight (2009), 4thought (2011),^[3] BBC News (2010),^[4] Crosstalk (2010), and documentaries including The Life of Muhammad, presented by Rageh Omar (2011).^[5]

Myriam currently works as a freelance journalist, with her articles featured in The London Paper, Index on Censorship,^[6] the F-Word,^[7] the magazine Emel,^[8] and more.

Myriam gave a lecture titled "Women in Islam: Liberated or Oppressed?" to the Surrey Islamic Society

Education

Myriam is due to complete her PhD at Oxford University in Oriental Studies in 2012.^[9] She has an MA with honours in Middle East politics from Georgetown University, and a BA from Cambridge University in Social and Political science.

References

1. ^ Kellogg, Amy (2010-09-24). "Actress Among Growing Number of Women Converting to Islam in Britain". Fox News. http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/24/female-converts-to-islam-in-britain/. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
2. ^ "One Programmes - The Big Questions, Series 3, Episode 5". BBC. 2010-01-31. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qmzqf. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
3. ^ "0258 Myriam Francois Cerrah Should Muslims adapt to Britain or should Britain adapt to Muslims?". 4thought.tv. http://www.4thought.tv/4thoughts/0258-Myriam-Francois-Cerrah-Should-Muslims-adapt-to-Britain-or-should-Britain-adapt-to-Muslims-?comment_id=12952&reply=true#reply_12962. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
4. ^ "Impact Asia - A veiled threat or an attack on faith?". BBC News. 2010-07-13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/impact_asia/8816594.stm. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
5. ^ "Press Office - Rageh Omaar to present The Life Of Muhammad for BBC Two". BBC. 2011-06-20. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/06_june/20/muhammad.shtml. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
6. ^ Francois-Cerrah, Myriam (2011-01-15). "Tunisia: France’s faux pas". Index on Censorship. http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/01/tunisia-france’s-faux-pas/. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
7. ^ "Articles by Myriam Francois-Cerrah". The F-Word. 2009-07-20. http://www.thefword.org.uk/archives/author/myriam_francois-cerrah. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
8. ^ "Sailing Towards The Divine | Feature Interviews | Features | June 2011 &#124". Emel. 2008-06-27. http://www.emel.com/article?id=86&a_id=2400. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 
9. ^ "Student Research - Faculty of Oriental Studies". University of Oxford. 2011-06-09. http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/research/student_research.html. Retrieved 2011-09-30. 

External links

• Myriam Francois-Cerrah at the Internet Movie Database