Joanna Lumley

Born: May 1 1946
Where: Srinagar, Kashmir, India

The former model is probably best known for the role of the sottish Patsy in Jennifer Saunder's hit TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous.

However, she attracted earlier acclaim as the high-kicking Purdy in The New Avengers and Sapphire opposite David McCallum's Steel in the hit TV series.

The daughter of a major in the Ghurka Rifles, she attended army schools in India, Hong Kong and Malaysia before moving to England, where she took up ballet.

She failed her RADA audition at 16 (she was told she was too fat and ugly) and went into modelling, becoming a house model for Jean Muir.

After an uncredited part in Some Girls Do, she made her feature debut as a model assassin in the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

On the small screen, she also appeaered on the Morecambe & Wise show and starred in the horror film The House That Dripped Blood.

In 1971 she entered a shortlived marriage to comedy writer Jeremy Lloyd and appeared in the films The Games That Lovers Play and the Brian Rix comedy Don't Just Lie There. Say Something.

The role of Elaine Perkins in the soap Coronation Street followed in 1973 and she also played Peter Cushing's grandaughter in The Satanic Rites of Dracula.

In 1976, she was cast as Purdy in The New Avengers, following an illustrious line of female leads including Honor Blackman, Dianna Rigg and Linda Thorson.

Next up was the role of Sapphire in Sapphire and Steel and in 1982 she starred opposite Peter Sellers in Blake Edwards' Trail of the Pink Panther.

She also appeared in the sequel - Curse of the Pink Panther - as well as starring alongside Pauline Collins in the comedy drama Shirley Valentine.

In 1992, she swigged her first bottle of Bolly as fashion "advisor" Eurydice Colette Clytemnestra Dido Bathsheba Rabelais Patricia 'Patsy' Cocteau Stone in the comedy Absolutely Fabulous.

Staying with TV, she was cast away on a desert island for Girl Friday and also starred alongside Stephen Fry in the small screen adaptation of Cold Comfort Farm.

Lumley was awarded an OBE in 1995 and is currently married to the conductor Steven Barlow - they wed in 1986.

Subsequent film roles included the thriller Innocent Lies with Adrian Dunbar, Aunt Spiker in James and the Giant Peach and the sci-fi fantasy Prince Valiant.

Michael Winner cast her in his comedy Parting Shots and she went on to star alongside Anna Friel in the critically savaged comedy Mad Cows in 1999.

Cameo roles followed in films including Maybe Baby (written by Ben Elton), the Cat's Meow and a fleeting turn as a hostel receptionist in the dire Eurotrip.

Recent work includes the evil Aunt Olga in the children's fantasy Ella Enchanted.