Josie D’Arby (born October 3, 1972) is a British actress and television presenter from Newport, South Wales.
She attended the Anna Scher Theatre School, and later the London School of Journalism.
D’Arby began a presenting career while still a student of acting at RADA. In the early 1990s she presented on Children’s BBC and then on SMart. She has since presented a number of high profile programmes including the Bigger Breakfast (a spinoff from The Big Breakfast) and Top of the Pops. Recently she has been a presenter on the daytime TV show, Loose Women, Just Up Your Street, a talent show on BBC Wales, and Inside Out West, a BBC regional programme in the West of England.
In 2003, she was a contestant in the first series of the Channel 4 reality TV show, The Games, where she came third and received a bronze medal. As a result of appearing on this, she later appeared on Back To Reality, where she came fifth. She appeared in The Games Champion of Champions, helping finalists from series 1 of The Games, to win this competition.
She has also worked in radio, as a co-presenter of The Steve Wright Show for BBC Radio 2.
D’Arby’s first high-profile acting role was as WPC Jodie Finn, in the BBC drama, Merseybeat from 2002-2003. From February 2005, she starred as Pealy Maghti, one of the presenters of the BBC’s spoof of 1980s science programming, Look Around You. D’Arby currently appears in the new Channel Four sketch series Spoons, and has recently made guest appearances in dramas, such as Casualty.
D’Arby has also appeared on the stage.
In summer 2006, she was a celebrity showjumper in the BBC’s Sport Relief event Only Fools on Horses.
She is a celebrity ambassador for the British Red Cross.
She has also performed as a singer under the name Sephine Collins.
