Emma Francesca Sidi (born February 1991)[1] is an English actress, comedian and writer for radio, stage and screen.[2]
Early life
Sidi was born to British parents in the United States. Her father played rugby union for Harlequins, but was working in banking at the time of her birth. The family returned to England when Sidi was three years-old, and after a career in the City, her father would retrain as a physiotherapist in Chertsey, Surrey. Sidi was brought up and schooled near Woking, before studying French and Spanish at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, which included studying abroad in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico.[3]
Career
In 2016, Sidi appeared in James Acaster's web series Sweet Home Lahnsteineringa alongside Jack Barry. The mockumentary received a £5,000 budget from crowdfunding and was filmed in Lahnstein, Germany.[4]
Stand-up
Sidi was a finalist for the NATYS: New Act of the Year Show in 2016.[5] Her solo shows have often included Sidi playing many different characters. Sidi's Edinburgh Festival Fringe show ‘Character Breakdown’, in 2015, saw her play six different roles, including a feminist professor who delivers a lecture entirely in Spanish. Sidi's 2016 show, ‘Telenovela’, a Mexican soap opera and a European woman who dreams of a life as a TV presenter. In 2018 her show '‘Faces of Grace'’ included an American fresh from a bizarre blind date and a tearful wannabe Love Island contestant. There was also an aspiring nurse described as having “a clench-jawed Katharine Hepburn style drawl”.[6][7][8]
Television and radio
Sidi appeared in W1A and as Vlogger Millipede in BAFTA-nominated Pls Like.[9] Sidi's other television appearances include in Stath Lets Flats, Drunk History, King Gary, Ghosts and in Starstruck with real life housemate Rose Matafeo.[10] Sidi has also written and performed on The Now Show[11] In June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic Sidi released La Princesa de Woking, a web pilot based on a character from her 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show in which a Spanish-language soap opera is set in a British cul-de-sac.[12] In July 2021 she appeared as Natalie, Secretary to ex-Prime Minister Henry Tobin, on the BBC radio comedy Party's Over.