Sara Martins

Sara Martins (born 19 August 1977) is a Portuguese-French actress. 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. She left the show halfway through series 4 (January 2015). She later returned to Season 10 E6 to reprise her role temporarily, and again in Series 13 Episode 1, in a video call with Neville.

Martins 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 theater 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 French National Academy of Dramatic Arts. She learned English through U2 lyrics as a teenager.

Shortly after graduating from high school, Martins was hired by Roger Planchon for a local production of Le Radeau de la Méduse at the Théâtre National Populaire in Villeurbanne. She appeared in a play at the Young Vic in London called Le Costume (The Suit) and in a French-language production of David Mamet’s Race.