Sophie Dahl

Sophie Dahl (born Sophie Holloway; 15 September 1977) is an English author and former fashion model. As a writer, she published her first novella in 2003 entitled The Man with the Dancing Eyes and followed this with Playing With the Grown-ups in 2007. In 2009 she wrote Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, a cookery book which featured recipes that were recreated for a six-part BBC 2 series called The Delicious Miss Dahl. Born in London, Dahl made her debut on the English catwalk in London Fashion Week in February 1997 after meeting Isabella Blow, who was then a stylist for Vogue magazine. Blow introduced her to the management at the Storm Model Agency in London who signed her to a number of modelling campaigns, including those for Versace, Alexander McQueen, Patrick Cox, DKNY, Boucheron and Pringle. Dahl is the daughter of the actor Julian Holloway and writer Tessa Dahl. Her maternal grandparents were the children's author Roald Dahl and the American actress Patricia Neal. Her paternal grandparents were the actor Stanley Holloway and Violet Lane, a former chorus dancer. Dahl was the inspiration for Sophie, the main character in her maternal grandfather's book The BFG. She is married to the singer Jamie Cullum.