Sapphire Chrystalla Elia (born 15 April 1987) is an English actress, model and singer best known for her roles in musical drama ''

Britannia High ''Britannia High'' is a British musical drama television series co-produced by Granada Television and Globe Productions for the ITV network. The series focused on the lives of a group of teenagers and their mentors at a fictional London theatr ...

'' and the soap opera ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, ...

''.

Early and personal life

Sapphire Chrystalla Elia was born on 15 April 1987 in London. Elia is of Greek-Cypriot heritage. She is 3/4 Greek and 1/4 English.

Career

Elia modelled for brands such as

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, and cosmet ...

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...

and

Debenhams Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...

from the age of three. She later went on to appear in a number of adverts. In 1996, Elia began attending the

Sylvia Young Theatre School Sylvia Young Theatre School is an independent school in Marble Arch, London, England. It is a specialist performing arts school named after its founder and principal, Sylvia Young OBE. Outline The Sylvia Young Theatre School was founded in ...

. She was cast in the role of a young Cosette in

Trevor Nunn Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas ...

's theatre production of ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'' at the Palace Theatre. In 1998, Elia became an entertainer on ITV's ''

Fun Song Factory Fun Song Factory is a British preschool children's television series. It was originally created in 1994 by Will Brenton and Iain Lauchlan, who at the time, were part of the '' Playdays'' production team. The series was produced through their st ...

'' for one series. Two years later she became a presenter on

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were e ...

, which led to a two-hour reality show called ''Blast Off'', where she attended the NASA Astronaut Training Camp for children. In 2002, Elia played Isabelle in the educational series, ''Energy'' for Pearson Education. The following year, she graduated from Sylvia Young. In 2006, the actress was cast as Gemma Craig in the television drama series ''

Dream Team Dream Team may refer to: Sport Basketball * Dream Team, the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team in Barcelona * Dream Team II, the 1994 U.S. men's national basketball team at the FIBA World Championship * Dream Team III, the 1996 ...

''. Elia played two Polly Delwar and Kerry in two separate stints in ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

''. In 2008, Elia successfully auditioned for the musical drama series ''

''. She was cast as Claudine Cameron. During her time on the show, she recorded a song 'Do It All Over Again'. The song peaked at #21 on the UK charts and it also entered the Australian charts at #12. A year later, Elia played Snow White in a Christmas pantomime at the

Richmond Theatre The present Richmond Theatre, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is a British Victorian theatre located on Little Green, adjacent to Richmond Green. It opened on 18 September 1899 with a performance of ''As You Like It''. One of ...

. In 2010, the actress played the role of Amber in the movie ''Black Forest'' for the

Syfy channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

. In September of that year, Elia joined the cast of ''

'' as Mia Macey. In May 2011, Elia confirmed her departure from ''Emmerdale''. Sapphire appeared on second cover to Image 34 magazine in June 2012. In July 2020 Sapphire and her Partner Matthew set up a Consulting Agency called "alterniq inspired growth" with the Slogan, "We aim to help companies uncover talent within their workforce through a range of specialised programmes".

Filmography

Theatre

References

External links

*
Sapphire Elia
on Twitter
Sapphire Elia
on Facebook
alterniq inspired growth
Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Elia, Sapphire 1987 births Living people Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School British television actresses British people of Greek Cypriot descent