Samantha Spiro

Samantha Spiro (born 20 June 1968) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for portraying Barbara Windsor in the stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and the television films Cor, Blimey! and Babs, DI Vivien Friend in M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team, Melessa Tarly in the HBO series Game of Thrones and Maureen Groff in Sex Education. She has won two Laurence Olivier Awards. Born in Whitechapel, London, England, Spiro grew up in Radlett, Hertfordshire. She is Jewish. Spiro decided to be an actress at the age of ten after seeing a production of Androcles and the Lion at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. She joined the National Youth Theatre and later trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Spiro attended Bancroft's School from 1982 to 1985 and subsequently returned in 2016 for an Arts & Drama masterclass Spiro spoke about how her time at Bancroft's had fuelled her enthusiasm for a career in the Arts.