Short Biography

Sophie Dahl (born Sophie Holloway, 15 September 1977 in London) is an English model and author. She is the daughter of actor Julian Holloway and writer Tessa Dahl. Her maternal grandfather was the late author Roald Dahl, her maternal grandmother is the Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal and her paternal grandfather was the comic actor and entertainer Stanley Holloway.

Dahl made her name as a model and was hailed by the media and the fashion industry as a glamorous icon whose voluptous body stood apart from the prevailing trend for unhealthily thin models. Dahl was discovered by Isabella Blow, a Vogue stylist who lived in the same building as her family. Sophie had just had an argument with her mother, and was sitting on the front steps of their apartment, weeping. The two strangers struck up a long conversation, and soon after, Blow referred Dahl to Sarah Doukas of the Storm Model Agency in London. Dahl was featured prominently in many large-circulation magazines, including Elle, Harper`s Bazaar, Marie Claire and the British, Italian and American versions of Vogue.

Dahl achieved a degree of notoriety in 2000 after she appeared in an advertisement for the Yves Saint-Laurent perfume brand Opium. The ad featured a photograph of her posing nude on a fur rug. It was removed from UK billboards after complaints were made to the Advertising Standards Authority. Dahl also appeared in campaigns for Versace, McQueen, Patrick Cox, Pringle, Godiva, Banana Repulic, and The Gap, among others. For three years, Dahl has been a contributing editor at Conde Nast. She also contributed to The Saturday Times Magazine and both the British and American editions of Vogue magazine.

Dahl has written two books, The Man With the Dancing Eyes (2003) and Playing with the Grown-Ups (2008). Her new book, a cook book, Miss Dahl`s Voluptous Delights will be published by Harper Collins in May 2009. She also provides the introduction to Virago Press` re-issue of Stella Gibbons` 1938 novel Nightingale Wood, due to be relased in April 2009.

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