7 Facts Of Sarah Parish: Losing Her First Daughter, Exploring Various Roles-From Playing As Troll In Merlin To Detective In Bancroft, Including Marriage With James Murray

English actress Sarah Parish is well-known for her works in television series like The Pillars of the Earth, Doctor Who, Mistresses, Merlin, Atlantis, Monroe, Trollied, and her most recent work in Bancroft.

Here we will learn seven interesting facts about the phenomenal actress Sarah Parish. 

7. What Age Is Sarah Parish In 2020?

Born on June 7, 1968, Sarah Parish is 51 years old. She will turn 52 on June 7, 2020. 

Parish was born in Yeovil town of South Somerset, England, to Bill Parish and Thelma Parish.

What's interesting is that despite growing up in the South, her appearance in the Boddingtons Bitter advertisement led her to a string of roles as a northern woman prompting many people to assumed Parish to be a native of the north-west.

6. Parish's Brother Is A Musician

Sarah has two siblings: an older sister, Julie Parish, and an older brother, John Parish. Julie Parish, born in 1962, is six years older than Sarah. Julie works as a music teacher. 

On the other hand, John, born on April 11, 1959, is nine years older than Sarah. He is a musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. John has released six solo albums and has acquired success from collaboration with artists as PJ Harvey and Tracy Chapman, including bands like Sparklehorse, Eels, and Giant Sand.

Surely, musical and acting talent runs in the family since Parish's father was the lead singer of the band the Gay Batchelor's while her mother loved singing and acting and had a dream of becoming a dancer.

5. Joined Twitter In 2010

Parish utilized the perks of social media to connect to her fans. The 51-years old joined twitter in October of 2010. Her twitter username is @DrSarahParish. Currently, she has 34.7K followers on Twitter. 

Bancroft actress is also active on Instagram; her Instagram handle is @sarahparish23.

Parish, who describes herself as "Actor, Charity founder, Mum, Wife, dog lover, fly hater" in her Instagram account, has 49.3k followers.

4. Sarah Became A Troll For Merlin 

The trial and tribulation of being an artist! The 51-years old actress went through an extreme make-under for playing as Lady Catrina in the television series Merlin. In the show, she is seen as a troll, an ugly folklore creature in the form of a giant or a dwarf, masquerading as a beautiful Lady Catrina to rule Camelot.

In an interview with the UK television magazine, What's on TV, Parish talked about her experience, stating,

“I loved it, hiding behind prosthetics is great. I think all actors do really, the bigger the mask the more fun you can have because the further away from yourself you are, so you can really go for it. The troll was a really funny and well written character and I was playing opposite Anthony Head who is brilliant at comedy so we had lots of laughs."

In addition to Parish, Sex Education's star Asa Butterfield also had a guest appearance in the series. 

3. Has Frequently Appeared Alongside David Tennant

Does Mr. Tennant possess a magnetic personality because he sure seems to grasp all attention with zero effort? Making us emotional with his love for tardis, making us admire him for loving cookie, and yes, we can keep gushing over his spectacular performance in Doctor Who and his perfect chemistry with all his companions, but so does Sarah Parish. 

While chatting with The Guardian, the 51-years old jocularly compared her relationship with David to "George and Mildred" adding, 

"In 20 years time we will probably be doing a ropey old sitcom in a terraced house in Preston."

David Tennant and Sarah Parish have worked together on numerous projects, the first being musical serial Blackpool. They have also appeared in two movies: Recovery and You, Me and Him, as well as in the third series of the Broadchurch. 

Sarah also appeared on the Doctor Who Christmas special episode, The Runaway Bride. She had asked Tennant to speak to writer Russell T Davies to make her character a "really horrible villain with some sort of ridiculous prosthetic costume." An interesting trivia- Parish is a huge fan of Cyberman among other villains of Doctor Who.

2. Is Married To James Murray

Actor James Murray and Sarah Parish met while working together in BBC drama series Cutting It. After dating for two years, Parish and Murray married on December 15, 2007, in Hampshire in a private ceremony attended by a few close friends and relatives. 

At the age of 40, Parish gave birth to her first child, daughter Ella-Jayne Murray. Ella was born with Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes inborn anomaly of body parts.

In mid-January of 2009, 8-month-old Ella-Jayne died at her home due to complications from a congenital heart defect. After her death, the couple raised funds for the Children's Intensive Care Unit at Southampton General Hospital, where Ella has cared. 

Parish gave birth to her second daughter, Nell Murray, on November 21, 2009. She considers her daughter the greatest achievement of her life and adds that her happiest moment to date is  "the first month of my second daughter, Nell’s life." 

1. She Finds Her Bancroft Character Hard To Play 

Sarah Parish plays as Elizabeth Bancroft, a lead character in the television series Bancroft. Along with Parish, the series has amazing actors in a primary role as Adam Long, Adrian Edmondson, Lee Boardman, Charles Babalola, Ryan McKen, Faye Marsay, Amara Karan, Anjli Mohindra and many more. 

In an interview with Daily Express magazine, Parish stated,   

“Elizabeth is not an easy part to play. You have to understand and like the person that you are playing, it is very difficult to not. I have never played anyone I didn't like. She’s not a likeable character but I think she’s great.”