Josette Simon

Josette Patricia Simon OBE (born c. 1959) is a British actress. She trained for the stage at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and played the part of Dayna Mellanby in the third and fourth series of the television sci-fi series Blake's 7 from 1980 to 1981. On stage, she has appeared in Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) productions from 1982, playing Ariel in The Tempest, to 2018 when she was Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra. The first black woman in an RSC play, Simon has been at the forefront of 'colour-blind casting', playing roles traditionally taken by white actresses, including Maggie, a character that is thought to be based on Marilyn Monroe, in Arthur Miller's After the Fall at the National Theatre in 1990. Her first leading role at the RSC, the first for a black actress, was as Rosaline, in Love's Labour's Lost, directed by Barry Kyle, in 1984. In 1987, Simon appea...