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Diana was born in South Africa of English par­ents. Growing up she loved phys­ic­al pur­suits, such as swim­ming and gym­nastics, and was pas­sion­ate about anim­als. She was also an avid read­er; devour­ing any­thing and everything from mod­ern nov­els to Shakespeare. Gymnast or vet might both have been pos­sible careers but Diana had­n’t yet found one that truly cap­tured her ima­gin­a­tion.

When Diana com­pleted school, she came to London where she worked as a train­ee design­er for a soft fur­nish­ings com­pany before real­ising it was not a path she wanted to pur­sue.

However the exper­i­ence helped to give her a much needed focus and dir­ec­tion and soon after­wards Diana enrolled on a train­ing course as a pro­fes­sion­al act­or.

Diana Kent Starting a new career in an already over­crowded and highly com­pet­it­ive pro­fes­sion was def­in­itely a chal­lenge but she per­severed and with hard work, and some lucky breaks, star­ted to gain recog­ni­tion for her tal­ent.

Since then Diana has gone on to appear in many roles on the stage, on tele­vi­sion, and on film; play­ing in everything from clas­sic­al theatre to tv sit­coms. She has also been for­tu­nate to work with some very tal­en­ted people in the course of her career.

She is still pas­sion­ate about anim­als too . . .

Diana in 1978

Diana in 1978

Diana in 1994
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102 Responses to Biography

  • Dan Bergeron says:

    Hi Diana,

    I was won­der­ing if you knew where was it in the UK that you filmed the Poirot epis­ode of “The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge?”

    Dan Bergeron, Denver Colorado USA

    • Diana says:

      Hi Dan,

      The exter­i­ors were filmed on moor­land out­side Sheffield. It was snow­ing and so cold that the cam­er­as froze up and we had to stop film­ing.
      Can’t remem­ber where the interi­ors were shot, I’m afraid, it was a long time ago

      Diana

  • Peter Cobrin says:

    Greatly enjoyed your mod­est (in time) but sig­ni­fic­ant (in impact) con­tri­bu­tion to Whitechapel. Sublime non­sense but done with integ­rity and wit!! Should see more of you on TV

  • Bryony says:

    Fantastic grip­ping per­form­ance in ‘A Long Days Journey into Night’ at the Edinburgh Lyceum. As a Vet Anaesthetist I always wondered how Morphine affects the mind. It is well named after the god of dreams!

    • Diana says:

      Thanks, Bryony. I did some research into morphine addic­tion but, from what I could find out, it affects people very dif­fer­ently. In the end I used my intu­ition about the char­ac­ter.

  • Ian Piper says:

    Hi Diana
    I found your appear­ance in Band of Brothers quite sig­ni­fic­ant.
    I am adapt­ing a book I wrote about a WWII RAF Squadron at the moment into a mini-series.
    Hearing such a great English accent with­in the may­hem of the 501st really hit home.
    I am also act­ing as tech­nic­al con­sult­ant on anoth­er WWII themed film, so please drop me a line.
    Kind regards
    Ian

    • Diana says:

      Thanks for the com­pli­ment, Ian. It was a tricky scene to do because the pro­du­cers decided they wanted the accent changed in post-synch.

  • sage shelton says:

    Ms. Kent: I just wanted to say that you are such a beau­ti­ful lady. When I saw that you like anim­als I knew that you are a good per­son.
    —an old cow­boy and admirer
    Sage

    • Diana says:

      Dear Sage,
      Thank you kindly. Yes, it’s true I still like and respect anim­als (some­times more than people, just between you and me)
      Diana

  • Jane Chatfield says:

    I have just fin­ished watch­ing ‘Undeniable’ which I really enjoyed. Your screen daugh­ter Emma looked so much like you that I thought maybe you and Christine Bottomley might be mum and daugh­ter in real life? The resemb­lance was uncanny — great cast­ing!
    Best regards
    Jane

    • Diana says:

      Pleased that you enjoyed it. I’m def­in­itely not related so I guess the cred­it must go to the cast­ing dir­ect­or. Thanks, Diana

  • Susanna says:

    Ditto above. Your screen daugh­ter MUST be your real daugh­ter, surely? Great prog, by the way.

  • Gary says:

    I just watched the epis­ode of Goodnight Sweetheart where you played the char­ac­ter Jayne Mansfield.

    I love the part where you whis­per to Gary Sparrow that you are wear­ing stock­ings! Now I can­’t remove this fantasy out of my mind of you wear­ing these stock­ings.

    Thanks for mak­ing a middle-aged man happy!

  • Nick Williams says:

    Hi.
    I saw you in “The Missing”, and recog­nised you — I’m sure you were in “The Villagers” a mil­lion years ago. You were as fab then, as you are now.

    • Diana says:

      Hi there
      I am amazed you recog­nised me! Yes, the Villagers, a life­time ago. But a fun time. Hope you enjoyed The Missing. Thank you so much for your mes­sage.

  • John Farrer says:

    Just saw ur ‘Midsummer Murders’ here in NY.a few days ago...congratulations..you were .excellent..Do u ever go back to South Africa...I was on vaca­tion last year in Capetown and did a couple of days ‘Background’ on ‘Black sales’. unfortunatly,I’m.back in freez­ing NY now ..Smile...John Farrer on IMDB..

    • Diana says:

      Nice to hear from you John.I have just been back in Capetown for a week. Gorgeous weath­er. I hope New York is not still freez­ing! Glad you enjoyed Midsomer Murders .best wishes Diana

  • Joe says:

    time to see Diana Kent in a soap, best wishes

  • Heavenly Creatures , every one in that film was out stand­ing a mas­ter­piece what are your thoughts (hon­estly) on mak­ing it , for years every few months this film pops into my head

    • author says:

      Hi Michael,

      It was a dif­fi­cult decision to do ‘Heavenly Creatures’ because Stephen Daldry wanted me to stay in ‘An Inspector Calls’ which was due to trans­fer from the National Theatre to Broadway. But the script was very good and ulti­mately I’m glad I did it.

      Diana

  • Mark Bingham says:

    Hi Diana,
    I loved your work in the Jesus Code as Helena, moth­er of Constantine. What a remark­able lady. Thank you for bring­ing her char­ac­ter, her Christian faith and her world so long ago to life.
    Kind regards,
    Mark Bingham
    Sydney, Australia

  • Mark Bingham says:

    P.S. Just noticed the series is called Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery. However, “Jesus Code” was ref­ered to on my screen as con­tinu­ing with the next epis­ode about Mary Magnalene. Mark

    • author says:

      Hi Mark,

      Thanks for the com­pli­ment. I think Helena should be bet­ter known. It was a remark­able feat, trav­el­ling two years to ful­fil her quest.

      We filmed in Morocco in a place where they were sim­ul­tan­eously film­ing sev­er­al oth­er bib­lic­al epics — dis­con­cert­ing to find a col­lec­tion of Jesus’s all in the hotel swim­ming pool at the same time!

      regards
      Diana

  • moox says:

    You look very alike to Kate Winslet! When I watched Heavenly Creatures I really thought the cast­ing of Juliet and Hilda was excel­lent. Great lookalikes.

  • Dear Diane,
    Saw you in “Goodnight Sweetheart” thought you looked ter­rif­ic!

  • brian says:

    you don’t do enough T.v. .love your dark hair and beau­ti­ful dark eyes and your a won­der­ful actor­ess

  • Peter says:

    Just seen you in an old Bergerac Diana.

    You dont age! Whats your secre ?

  • aaron mullen says:

    just watched you in the miss­ing. i thought your per­form­ance was incred­ible, under­played to per­fec­tion, spe­cif­ic
    and sug­gest­ive of the ter­rible secret later con­veyed whilst nev­er giv­ing it away. your per­form­ance stole the show for me. tricky, murky, dupli­cit­ous... loved it

  • author says:

    Thanks for the com­pli­ment, Aaron. Glad you liked it

  • David Richards says:

    Hi Diana. Was enjoy­ing your per­form­ance too in an epis­ode of ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’. Some of your earli­er pho­to’s
    Remind me of Mila Kunis. I hope you take that for the com­pli­ment that it is inten­ded.
    Kind regards, David.

  • Kevin Merchant says:

    Diana, Just get­ting Midsomer Murders in the US via Netflix. Thought you were out­stand­ing in the Fisher King. I know 2004 was a while ago, but that is what is great about cinema, it lives on. I will look for more of your work. Best wishes.
    Kevin

  • Gerald Rouse says:

    Well ‘Lady Rose’ I have now checked out all your work and think what a fine act­ress you are, from an arm­chair crit­ic.

  • Gerald Rouse says:

    Hi Lady Rose, just spot­ted what a fine act­ress you are in Father Brown and in all your oth­er act­ing roles — from an arm­chair crit­ic who may have called you Miss Rose in an earli­er com­ment.

  • Jeff Bingham says:

    Hi Diana. I hope this finds you well. Just watched you in epis­ode 7 of fath­er Brown, one of my favour­ite dra­mas.
    I would very much like to know more about you, per­haps din­ner with a young man??

  • Fergal says:

    Just saw you in Goodnight Sweetheart and you played a great seductress auc­tion­eer! How on earth could Gary refuse your charms rgds Fergal

  • Have recently dis­covered the superb ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ series,never watched them in their day,well writ­ten and acted sitcom,heads above many others,very funny and enjoy­able epis­ode when Gary rents the shop from the estate agents,regards,Blake,Cheshire.

  • author says:

    To every­one who has left com­ments recently:

    2017 was a dif­fi­cult year for me and my fam­ily, so I apo­lo­gise for not respond­ing per­son­ally but thank you for get­ting in touch. This year has been bet­ter. I am tak­ing life and work a little easi­er and get­ting more from both.

    very best wishes, Diana

  • Jullian says:

    Hello Diana,
    I saw you on the TV pro­gram Poirot, ‘Mystery at Hunter’s Lodge’.
    I really love this épis­ode, you’re so Beautiful.
    Regards,
    Jullian, from France

  • HAOLIN ZHANG says:

    Hi, Diana,

    Just saw Poirot the epis­ode of “The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge” again. What a won­der­ful appear­ing!

    Admirer from China

    Haolin

  • joao says:

    Beautiful par­ti­cip­a­tion in Band of Brothers,
    deep and del­ic­ate at the same time.

  • Garry says:

    Hi Diana. Just hav­ing a re-run of Goodnight Sweetheart and have just got to Series 3 where you make an appear­ance as Jayne Mansfield. You are quite simply stun­ningly beau­ti­ful. Kind regards.

  • Walt underwood says:

    Saw you on midsummer..beautiful lady

  • Diana says:

    Thank you, Walt

    Diana

  • John martin says:

    Hi just saw you as lady rose in fath­er brown. Wonderful act­ing.

  • Claudia Parker says:

    You’re a fant­ast­ic act­ress, seen you in so many won­der­ful pro­duc­tions- are you related to the dir­ect­or Jonathan Kent?

    • Diana says:

      Thank you for the com­pli­ment, Claudia. No, no rela­tion to Jonathan Kent but I do admire his work.

      Best wishes,
      Diana

  • Clynton Yon says:

    Hi Diana — I was 7 when TV first came to SA and one of the most mem­or­able TV series was The Villagers. Did you play the part of Wendy McRae? (I sort of had a crush on you back then!!)
    Kindest regards

    • Diana says:

      Hi Clynton,

      Yes, that was me, Wendy in the Villagers all those years ago.
      Hello to your 7 year old self — well remembered!

      Best wishes
      Diana

  • laurie says:

    No won­der Ron fell off his lad­der

  • Dave Hawkins says:

    Which epis­ode of Band of Brothers did you appear in?
    Hope to hear from you
    Regards
    Dave

  • Diana says:

    Hi Dave, it’s all there in the TV sec­tion if you look,

  • Robert Cavender says:

    Dear Diana,

    I only want to say that I have nev­er heard of someone in the pub­lic eye reply­ing to strangers in this way. Perhaps I should get out more. I appre­ci­ate your doing this. It´s a nice ges­ture. Praise.

    Bob

  • Frances Gedet says:

    Hi Diana, just watched Belgravia and was struck by the quiet class and beau­ti­ful enun­ci­ation and empathy of your par­ti­cip­a­tion. Feeling I knew the face I looked for you on cred­its as Duchess of Richmond — lo and behold, I did­n’t know you.
    But I shall cer­tainly look out for you in future, both in past pro­duc­tions and those still to come. Do you get a heads-up when re-show­ings ( is there such a word?) are due?
    Congratulations on a suc­cess­ful career
    Francesca

    • Diana says:

      Hi Francesca,

      Thank you for your kind words. They don’t usu­ally tell us when they repeat tv shows but some­times my friends let me know when they see me in some­thing. The ones that seem to be most repeated are Poirot and Midsomer Murders.

      Very best, Diana

  • Mike says:

    I saw you tonight on Father Brown. I wasn’t famil­i­ar with you here in the US. Just wanted to say you were great in that epis­ode. What a time­less beauty you are.

  • Jason mee says:

    Hi Diana,just seen you in an old Bergerac.You played a strange ol char­ac­ter in it,where you believed you was a witch from a pre­vi­ous life.i enjoyed your Performance.What was John nettles like to work with ? Regards Jason Mee

    • Diana says:

      Hi Jason,
      Glad you enjoyed it. John Nettles is a very nice man. I worked with him again in 2004 on ‘Midsomer Murders’ and he remembered the Bergerac epis­ode per­fectly even though it had been many years — impress­ive because he was in a lot of them!

      Diana

  • Kevin Harwood says:

    Just saw you in Goodnight Sweetheart on Forces TV Diana great act­ing so sexy

  • Tyrone Hempton says:

    Good after­noon Diana and a very Happy Easter,

    I hope you are mak­ing the most of the lock­down and stay­ing safe. I have to add that i just saw you in Goodnight Sweetheart and must admit i thought it was an amus­ing epis­ode and i think that you more than lived up to the char­ac­ters name­sake.

    Enjoy this sunny day and please stay safe.

    Ty

  • Nic Oatridge says:

    Just watched your brief appear­ance in Band of Brothers. You may have only been on cam­era a couple of minutes, but you totally illu­min­ated the scene you were in.

  • Mike Backlund says:

    I remem­ber you from The Villagers, way back in the 70’s. Still as beau­ti­ful as ever!

  • Radovan Alaupovic says:

    I have just watched The Last Letter from Your Lover. You are so beau­ti­ful. Trying to find how old are you. Of course I don’t ask you. Actually it does­n’t mat­ter. Your beauty is etern­al.

    • Diana says:

      Hi Radovan,

      Of course, you know a lady nev­er reveals her age!

      Thank you for your kind words though.

      Eternally, Diana

  • Doreen Ross says:

    Hi Diana, I have just watched Last Letter from your Lover. That last scene was beau­ti­fully acted and I cried. I hope you keep on work­ing and don’t retire. Thank you.

  • Diana says:

    Hi Doreen,

    Pleased to hear you were moved by the film. It’s a beau­ti­ful story and I was glad to be part of it.
    The good thing about being an act­or is stor­ies encom­pass all ages — so I won’t be retir­ing just yet.

    Very best, Diana

  • Gail Browne says:

    Hi Diana. I have just seen you in an Episode of Heatbeat. My hus­band imme­di­ately said you had played Wendy Mc Rae in the Villagers in South Africa. Could he be cor­rect.

    Gail Browne
    Surrey UK.

    • Diana says:

      Hi Gail,
      Your hus­band must have amaz­ing recall. Yes, that was me in ‘The Villagers’. It’s hard to ima­gine nowadays with so many dif­fer­ent chan­nels to watch, that we opened South African tv with that series — and there was just the one chan­nel !!!
      All the best, Diana

  • Paul C says:

    Diana,

    Are you related to Amanda Tapping at all? You gals could be twins! Just saw you in Midsomer Murders, and the resemb­lance is uncanny! You were won­der­ful in the show as well!

    Thanks,
    Paul

  • Mahyar Ebrahimi says:

    Dear Ms Kent,

    I am writ­ing to express my admir­a­tion for your amaz­ing por­tray­al in Poirot’s epis­ode Hunter’s Lodge. I was cap­tiv­ated by your per­form­ance and how you brought your char­ac­ter to life.

    I have been a fan of Poirot since I was a kid, watch­ing the dubbed ver­sion on Iranian state TV twenty some­thing years ago. I still enjoy watch­ing one epis­ode per night, and tonight it was Hunter’s Lodge. I loved how you played the only woman in the plot, who turned out to be a crim­in­al (I know Agatha Christie’s meth­ods too!). I have stud­ied English lit­er­at­ure and I share your pas­sion for read­ing. I think it’s won­der­ful that you still main­tain a blog instead of using social media. You have such a unique voice and per­spect­ive that I always look for­ward to read­ing your posts. I hope that someday I will have the oppor­tun­ity to meet you in per­son, either in Iran or in England.

    Thank you for tak­ing the time to read my let­ter. It would mean so much to me if you could send me an auto­graph or a reply. You are an inspir­a­tion to me and many oth­ers who appre­ci­ate your work.

    Best regards,
    Mahyar Ebrahimi,
    Bandar Abbas, Iran.

  • Diana says:

    Dear Mahyar,

    Thank you so much for com­pli­ment­ary let­ter. It is quite a long time since I recor­ded ‘Hunter’s Lodge’ but it seems to get shown quite often and it’s nice to be part of some­thing that still gives enjoy­ment to people.

    I don’t read as much these days as I used to but I enjoy listen­ing to the occa­sion­al audiobook. My taste is more for bio­graph­ies than crime fic­tion though!

    Nice to hear from you,
    Very best wishes,
    Diana

  • Peter Childs says:

    Dear Diana,

    I just wanted to express how much I enjoyed your char­ac­ter as Mrs. Lamb in Band of Brothers. As a dual cit­izen and former UK res­id­ent, I would likely have seen you in more recent pro­duc­tions.

    However, you will remain in my heart as the lovely, hard-work­ing and oh-so-sexy British milf of my dreams...

    I hope you are well.

    My Best Wishes,

    Peter

  • Karen Gider says:

    Goodness ! Slightly obsessed with the last few minutes when you and “Boot” meet .
    Oh my days ....sit­ting just now, rewind­ing and rewind­ing and actu­ally going through the same thing ( albeit ever so slightly dif­fer­ent)

    Your eyes..... my heart aches.

    Love
    Karen

  • William Mosby says:

    Dear Diana, I’m cur­rently binging on Midsomer Murders and just fin­ished “The Fisher King”, which reminded me of what a treas­ure you are. I’ve enjoyed so many of your per­form­ances through the years, and look for­ward to many more.
    Yours truly, Bill.

    • Diana says:

      Thank you, Bill
      The epis­ode of ‘Midsomer Murders’ I was in seems to have been seen by more people than any­thing else I’ve done! Glad you enjoyed it,

      Very best
      Diana

  • Tommy says:

    Hi Diana, I was watch­ing an epis­ode of Goodnight Sweetheart the BBC com­edy which you were in an epis­ode. You were great in it, you played a flirty estate agent to Nicholas Lyndhurst char­ac­ter, Gary Sparrow, it was great fun to watch. Loved you in Band of broth­ers and The Awakening in par­tic­u­lar, very power­ful dra­mas, you are a very fine act­ress and a beau­ti­ful lady.

    Take care

    Tommy (Dublin)

  • Morris says:

    Hi Diana,
    I watched you in “Morlang” and you were superb. I hope to see you in many more films like “Morlang.”

    • Diana says:

      Hi Morris, thanks for the com­pli­ment. “Morlang” was quite an ori­gin­al film — shot mostly in Holland and Ireland. Unfortunately, I don’t often get such inter­est­ing scripts sent to me.
      Best, Diana

  • Darren says:

    Hi Diana, I’m inter­ested in how cast­ing works. Is it true, that choos­ing act­ors to “act” togeth­er, can be chosen on how all of you look togeth­er, i.e fea­tures facially. A bit like when two love interests look com­pat­abile. Goodnight sweet­heart gave me this idea, alot of the act­ors remind me of my social circle/kinship, maybe that’s what draws me to it. Cheers. Daz. P.s hope you don’t think this sounds strange. Lol

    • Diana says:

      Hi Darren,
      A lot of factors go into cast­ing and looks are import­ant but resemb­lance only usu­ally mat­ters if your char­ac­ter is sup­posed to be related to anoth­er — or some­body is play­ing an older or young­er ver­sion of some­body else.

      For example, in “Brothers of The Head” an act­or was cast as a young­er ver­sion of me. While in “The Last Letter From Your Lover” I was play­ing an older ver­sion of Shailene Woodley.

      The only prob­lem with that was I had to wear con­tact les­sons — which I hated because they hurt my eyes!
      Diana

  • Abderemane SIDI (Normandie, France) says:

    Bonjour madame Kent (de France). Je suis tombé sur votre site en voulant con­naître votre iden­tité. Des épis­odes de Barnaby (Midsomer Murders) et Hercule Poirot sont souvent dif­fusés en France et j’aime bien votre jeu d’act­rice. La malé­dic­tion du tumu­lus ou le mys­tère de Hunter’s Lodge. Quelle élégance! Salutations

    • Diana says:

      Dear Monsieur Sidi,

      Thank you for your mes­sage and the com­pli­ment. I knew they showed “Poirot” and “Midsomer Murders” in America but it’s inter­est­ing to hear they’re also show­ing it in France.

      I hope to be vis­it­ing your beau­ti­ful coun­try later this year to see friends.

      best wishes
      Diana

  • Tony Ebbs says:

    Hi Diana,
    Lovely comed­ic turn from you in “Goodnight Sweetheart”, which we’ve just been rewatch­ing. The qual­ity of the sup­port­ing act­ors, in shows like this, really make a series work.
    We should see more of you on TV today.
    Thanks for the laughs.

    • Diana says:

      Hi Tony,

      Thanks for get­ting in touch. Yes, work­ing on “Goodnight Sweetheart” was great fun — a lot of tal­en­ted people. Interesting to see Nicholas Lyndhurst in “Frasier” now, play­ing a posh char­ac­ter for once.

      As for see­ing more of me on tv, I have a small part in “Black Cake” — cur­rently stream­ing.

      best
      Diana

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