Sally Phillips: How I became a Christian.
The comedy actress known for her roles in Miranda and Bridget Jones talks about her Christian conversion and her campaign for Down’s syndrome equalit
Being public about her Christian beliefs is something Sally Phillips is, justifiably, a bit nervous about. Loud professions of faith have never been the key to success in showbusiness, and most of her peers in the comedy world are clever atheists. She was once one of them as a student at Oxford University, where her career began. Her subsequent conversion story sounds ‘crazy’ to most people, she says, especially the bit about bursting into tears at 3am in a shopping centre after a Pentecostal Christian from Sierra Leone prayed for her. Nevertheless, the actress is not alone as a believer with a successful comedy career.
Milton Jones (well known for wearing loud shirts on TV quiz shows) was instrumental in her faith journey and fellow comedian Miranda Hart is also a committed Christian. Sally admits that she took the part of Tilly in Miranda as a favour to her then-unknown friend, never predicting the show would become such a hit with the public.
The breakthrough in Sally’s own TV career began as corpsing Travel Tavern receptionist Sophie opposite Steve Coogan in I’m Alan Partridge, later followed by her all-female comedy sketch show Smack the Pony with Fiona Allen and Doon Mackichan. Film parts have included playing Shazza, the foul-mouthed best friend to Renée Zellwegger’s Bridget Jones (the third instalment will be released in September), while Clare in the Community, in which Sally plays politically correct-but-hapless social worker Clare, is in its fifth season on BBC Radio 4. Premier Christianity.
