Myriam Francois-Cerrah, also known as Emilie Francois, is a British actress of French and Irish heritage. Aged 12, her screen career began in Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility (1995) in which she played Margaret Dashwood alongside Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. She went on to star in Paws (1997) alongside Nathan Cavaleri and Heath Ledger and New Year's Day (2000) in which she played Heather. In 2003, following extensive research into the faith, she converted to Islam and is active as a spokesperson for Muslim understanding, appearing on BBC Big Questions (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)alongside Dame Ann Leslie, Beverly Knight, Rev. Peter Owen-Jones and others; She has also contributed to discussions on Newsnight(2009), 4thought (2011) , BBC News (2010), Crosstalk (2010) and documentaries, including 'The Life of Muhammad', presented by Rageh Omar (2011). She currently works as a freelance journalist, with articles featured in The London Paper, Index on Censorship, the F-Word, emel magazine and more. Education She is due to complete her PhD at Oxford University in Oriental Studies in 2012. She has an MA, with honours, in Middle East politics from Georgetown University and a BA from Cambridge University in Social and Political science.