Sarah Agha (born January) is a British actress, presenter, writer, and curator. She founded the Arab Film Club and presented the BBC documentary The Holy Land And Us: Our Untold Stories (2023). Her films include Layla (2024).
Early life
Agha is from London and of Irish and Palestinian descent. Her maternal grandmother is from Derry, while her Palestinian father was born in the village of Delhamiya. At 2 years old, his family were displaced to Jordan during the Nakba under the impression it would be temporary and left most of their belongings at their house, not knowing they would be forbidden from returning. After moving to the Golan Heights when he was 8, they were displaced again during the Naksa; her father came to London in his 20s.[1]
After graduating from university, Agha was cast in the Polka Theatre children's production of Operation Magic Carpet[5] and made her television debut with a guest appearance in a season 5 episode of the Showtime thriller series Homeland. She worked as a script supervisor on a number of projects, including the feature films A Christmas Star in 2015 and The Courier in 2019, and assistant produced the 2016 short film Portrait.[6]
Out of the Arab Play Reading Club she joined and curated during the COVID-19 lockdown, Agha co-founded the Arab Film Club.[9] She returned to the stage with Bitterenders at the Arcola Theatre in 2021, followed by Hakawatis at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse the following year.[10] Agha narrated her first documentaries Atahualpa: Death of the Last Inca Emperor and Inside Britain's Secret Nuclear Bunker.[11]
In 2023, Agha gained recognition when she featured in the BBC Two documentary centred around the Nakba titled The Holy Land And Us: Our Untold Stories opposite Robert Rinder, in which they explore their family histories as a British-Palestinian and a British Jew respectively, as well as the stories of four other families.[12][13] The documentary was nominated for Best Specialist Factual Programme at the Broadcast Awards.[14] Agha has since contributed to publications such as The New Arab,[15]Middle East Eye, and The Guardian, and appeared on networks such as BBC News.[16]