The Biography

Sara Martins (born 19 August 1977) is a Portuguese-born French actress of Cape Verdean descent. She is known in France for her roles on television and in film and theatre. She also appeared as Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey in the joint British-French crime comedy-drama Death in Paradise, filmed in Guadeloupe, a French overseas department. Sara was born in Faro, in the Portuguese region of Algarve, and is of Cape Verdean descent. She moved to France at the age of three. She studied ballet in her youth and was the first person of African descent to join the Lyon Opera. She learned that she would be unable to advance to the Paris Opera, where the corps was expected to look alike and there were no other black dancers. Instead, she received her Baccalauréat with a theatre option. After receiving a DEUG in law, at age 20 she studied at the École de théâtre Les Enfants Terribles in Paris. Then, she completed an acting degree at the extremely selective French National Academy of Dramatic Arts. She learned English through U2 lyrics as a teenager.