Burn Notice

Season 1 e.tv (*194) 09:30 Action

Gabrielle Anwar is turning up the heat weekday mornings as former IRA agent Fiona Glenanne in Burn Notice (20072013) and while her character only had an Irish accent in the first episode, the 48-year- old misses it: “I’m from Surrey in the United Kingdom, so it sounded like home, even just for one episode.” Given her surname and exotic looks, it’s not surprising that her heritage isn’t as British as her accent…

Her mother is British actress Shirley 1 Hills and her father Tariq Anwar was born to an Austrian Jew and Indian Muslim, which Gabrielle calls “the most beautiful DNA melting pot alive”. Acting is obviously a family busi2 ness but the actress says that she was left to choose her life. “It was my decision to take up acting, my choice to get into theatre and ultimately my preference for my life.” 3 She told her parents that she quit school at 15 because she didn’t like it, but she was actually expelled for getting into fights. Gabrielle laughs off claims that 4 she’s difficult to get along with on set, adding that “it’s not my fault that I like things done the right way. If that is a problem for some people, okay”. While she’s a movie and TV star, 5 Gabrielle doesn’t have a TV set at home. When she rents houses for work, the first stipulation is that there is no television on the property. Her favourite scene 6 from her work is also her best-known one: she danced the tango with Al Pacino’s blind character in 1992 drama Scent Of A Woman. And the only “sport” that she 7 does is yoga.