Julie Mare Fernandez (born 20 April 1974 in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) is a British actress and model best known for her role as Brenda in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

comedy ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

''.

Early life

Fernandez was born with

osteogenesis imperfecta Osteogenesis imperfecta (; OI), colloquially known as brittle bone disease, is a group of genetic disorders that all result in bones that break easily. The range of symptoms—on the skeleton as well as on the body's other organs—may be mi ...

and uses a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

. She was a student at

Treloar School Treloar School and College is a non-maintained residential and day special school and college for disabled children and young people aged from 2 to 25 in Holybourne near Alton, Hampshire, UK. Aims and governance The school and college aims to ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. Her father is

Argentinean Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish language, Spanish (Grammatical gender, masculine) or (Grammatical gender, feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be resident ...

and her mother is English. At the age of 14, Fernandez appeared on the popular BBC television series ''

Jim'll Fix It ''Jim'll Fix It'' is a British television series broadcast by the BBC between May 1975 and July 1994 and was devised and presented by Jimmy Savile and produced by Roger Ordish. The show encouraged children to write in a letter to Savile with a ...

''. In October 2012, following a series of sexual abuse allegations made against the series' late host

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well known ...

, Fernandez claimed that Savile had touched her inappropriately during the recording.

Career

Her acting career began in 1992 when she starred as Vanessa Lockhead in the short-lived BBC

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Eldorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

''. She went on to play

Sean Maguire Sean Maguire (born 18 April 1976 in Ilford, London) is a British-American actor and singer, who rose to fame in 1988 when at the age of eleven he took on the role of "Tegs" Ratcliffe on the BBC children's drama ''Grange Hill'', in which he rem ...

girlfriend A girlfriend is a female friend, acquaintance or partner, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed relationship where the indi ...

in BBC1 drama '' Dangerfield'' before landing the role of Brenda in ''

''. In 2004, Fernandez formed a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

production company called

The Wheelie Good Company ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and has spent the time since working on new programme ideas. The company was set up by Fernandez to improve the representation of disabled people in the media but no longer focus on disability-related material. She appeared as a regular guest on the quiz show ''

HeadJam ''HeadJam'' is a BBC television game show hosted by Vernon Kay. It originally aired during the summer of 2004 on BBC Three, with a repeat soon afterwards on BBC Two. It features two teams, each consisting of a member of the public and a celebr ...

''. Fernandez also runs an

arts and craft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

small business in Cambridgeshire, ''Bee Crafty'', specialising in patchwork and quilting.

Personal life

Fernandez is married to Andrew Elliott. She and her husband are foster parents. Fernandez is a

disability rights The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities. It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocat ...

activist in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and has supported campaigns for the

Disability Rights Commission The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was established by the British Labour government in 1999. At that time, the DRC was the UK's third equality commission alongside the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission. It ...

and

Scope Scope or scopes may refer to: People with the surname * Jamie Scope (born 1986), English footballer * John T. Scopes (1900–1970), central figure in the Scopes Trial regarding the teaching of evolution Arts, media, and entertainment * Cinem ...

. She set up

The Disability Foundation The Disability Foundation (TDF) is a United Kingdom based non-profit organization. Its aim is to promote the lives of disabled people and anyone suffering from a chronic health issue or medical condition, and their families/those involved in th ...

, a British pan-disability charity boasting one of the largest disability information databases in the UK. In January 2003, she co-hosted the opening ceremony for the

European Year of People with Disabilities The year 2003 was designated the European Year of People with Disabilities (EYPD) by the European Commission. It is sometimes called the ''European Year of Disabled People''. The European Commission set aside 12 million euros to recognise the Europ ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

References

External links

* *
Website of Julie Fernandez's craft shop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Julie Living people 1974 births 20th-century English actresses 20th-century English women 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English women Actresses from London British actors of Latin American descent English people of Argentine descent English people with disabilities English soap opera actresses English television actresses Television presenters with disabilities People from Hampstead People with osteogenesis imperfecta