Souad Adel Faress (born 25 March 1948) is a stage, radio, television and film actress based in United Kingdom. She is best known for her portrayal of the solicitor

Usha Gupta This is a list of many of the characters from the long-running British radio soap ''The Archers''. The Archer family tree The Archer family Jill Archer née Patterson (born 3 October 1930) ( Patricia Greene) is ...

, in the long-running

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

serial ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural sett ...

'' and for her role as the High Priestess of the Dosh Khaleen in the sixth season of the HBO series '' Game of Thrones''. Born in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, she also holds Syrian and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

citizenships.

Biography

Faress was born in 1948 in Accra, Ghana, to Irish and Syrian parents. She grew up in

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

, Lancashire, studied drama at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

and lives in London. She has been exploring playwriting as a medium since before 2004. Faress completed a writing course at

City Literary Institute City Lit is an adult education college in Holborn, central London, founded by the London County Council in 1919, which has charitable status. It offers part-time courses across four schools and five "centres of expertise", covering humanities an ...

adult education college. Her other skills include dancing, horse riding, cricket and yoga.

Career

Faress appeared in two episodes of the BBC serial ''

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Ro ...

'' (1976) as a slave girl (shouting fire) and as a dancer who at Messalina's (second and bigamous) marriage party realises troops are coming to arrest them. In another early BBC appearance, she played the character Selma in the ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' (sometimes styled ''Blakes7'') is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four 13-episode series were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first ...

'' episode 'Horizon'. Since then, Faress has had substantial roles in films such as ''

My Beautiful Laundrette ''My Beautiful Laundrette'' is a 1985 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films. The story is set in London dur ...

'' (1985) and ''

Sixth Happiness ''Sixth Happiness'' is a 1997 British drama film directed by Indian director Waris Hussein. It is based on the 1991 autobiography of Firdaus Kanga entitled '' Trying to Grow''. Kanga played himself in this film about Britain, India, race and se ...

'' (1997), as well as much stage work around the UK. In October 2001 she appeared briefly in '' Coronation Street'' as

Dev Alahan Dev Alahan is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street''. Portrayed by Jimmi Harkishin, the character's first appearance was broadcast on 10 November 1999. He is the ex-husband of Sunita ( Shobna Gulati) and ...

's mother Umila. Souad Faress also appeared as the Old Rani in ''

The Sarah Jane Adventures ''The Sarah Jane Adventures'' is a British science fiction television programme that was produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies, and starring Elisabeth Sladen. The programme is a spin-off of the long-running BBC ...

'' serial ''

The Mad Woman in the Attic ''The Mad Woman in the Attic'' is the second serial of the third series of the British science fiction television series ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. The two-part story was first broadcast on BBC One on 22 and 23 October 2009, and marks the r ...

'' in October 2009. In October 2014, it was announced that Faress would perform in ''Hurried Steps'', Sharon Wood's translation of "Passi Affrettati by Dacia Maraini. The play's narratives were mainly sourced from Amnesty International, the subject matter including rape, honour killings, sex trafficking and other issues of violence against women. Between 2010 and 2011 she played

Jay Faldren '' Casualty'' is a British medical drama television series that premiered on 6 September 1986 on BBC1. The series was created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin. It is set in the fictional Holby City Hospital, in the equally fictitious city of H ...

's grandmother, Maryam Shakiba, in ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

''. Faress appeared in an episode of popular nursing drama ''

No Angels No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originated on the debut season o ...

'' as lead character, Anji Mittel's aunt Di. Faress appeared briefly as a hospital doctor in "The Dead of Jericho", the first episode of ''

Inspector Morse Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...

''. In 2016 she joined the HBO series '' Game of Thrones'' in

Season 6 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

as the High Priestess of the Dosh Khaleen. Faress also appeared in ITV drama ''Brief Encounters'', "a loose adaptation of Ann Summers CEO

Jacqueline Gold Jacqueline Summers Gold (born 16 July 1960) is a British businesswoman who is Chief Executive of Gold Group International, Ann Summers and Knickerbox. Gold is estimated to be the 16th richest woman in Great Britain. Gold is worth £470 milli ...

's memoirs, ''Good Vibrations''". In 2019, Faress appeared as a recurring character in

Daisy Haggard Celia Daisy Morna Haggard (born 1978) is a British actress and writer. She is known for her roles in the BBC sitcoms ''Uncle'' and ''Episodes''. Haggard stars in BBC Three’s comedy-drama, '' Back to Life'', which she also created and co-wrot ...

and

Laura Solon Laura Madalene Solon (born April 1979) is an English screenwriter, comedian, actress, and winner of the 2005 Perrier Comedy Award. She was the second woman to win as a solo performer, after Jenny Eclair in 1995. Background Solon was raised in G ...

's sitcom '' Back to Life''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faress, Souad 1948 births Living people Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Archers BBC people British film actresses British radio actresses British stage actresses British television actresses English people of Irish descent English people of Syrian descent Ghanaian emigrants to England Ghanaian film actresses Ghanaian people of Irish descent Ghanaian people of Syrian descent People from Accra Actresses from London

Biography

Career

See also

References

External links