Sophie Winkleman

Sophie Lara Winkleman was born on 5 August 1980 in Primrose Hill, London. Her father, Barry Winkleman, published the Times Atlas of World History, and her mother is the children's author Cindy Black. The television presenter Claudia Winkleman is her half-sister from her father's first marriage to Eve Pollard.

Sophie Winkleman was educated at the City of London School for Girls and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she studied English literature. She joined the Cambridge Footlights and wrote and performed in the comic revue Far Too Happy, which toured Britain for three months and gained the troupe's first Perrier Award nomination in 20 years. She joined the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain in 1997. She is also a soprano, reprising her singing in the First Love series for Sky Arts.