Sarah-Jane Crawford is an English television and radio presenter, actress, voice-over artist, and DJ best known for her radio work with

Hits Radio Hits Radio is a network of 26 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. The network launched in 2018 with the rebranding of Bauer's Manchester station Key 103 and its merger with The Hi ...

and formerly with

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

, and television work with

E! Network E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movies. ...

(which she is currently a host for),

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

on '' The Xtra Factor'',

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Crawford has also presented and appeared a number of shows for the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. Crawford has been a vegan since 2015 and released a vegan app called Viappi in November 2017.

Early life

Born in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

to parents of Irish and Caribbean descent, she was adopted at two months old. She attended schools at Bessemer Grange, Dulwich Hamlet and Sydenham Girls' School before moving up to

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

for her remaining years of secondary school. Before becoming a television presenter, Crawford attended both

Kingston University Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...

and

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Unive ...

, graduating with a 2:1 degree in Marketing.

Career

Television

Crawford began her TV career on '' Shipwrecked 3'' on Channel 4, but began presenting in 2007 when she hosted the Red Carpet and Back Stage show of the Vodafone Live Music Awards for The Hits music video channel, now known as 4music. In 2007, Crawford joined the presenter line-up for the E4 Music Zone and ''Freshly Squeezed'' for Channel 4 and as a result she has interviewed the likes of Robert De Niro, Usher, Nicole Scherzinger, the Pussycat Dolls, Natasha Bedingfield, will.i.am, Colin Farrell, Kate Hudson, Ewan McGregor, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Jessica Parker and Renée Zellweger for Channel 4. On 25 July 2008, Crawford was the celebrity guest on eviction night for '' Big Brother's Big Mouth'' and for '' Big Brother's Little Brother'', on 18 August 2008. In October 2009, Crawford officially launched the UK MTV channel VIVA, the first channel from MTV. In August 2010, Crawford began hosting a weekly show on MTV HD's channel called ''The Music Alphabet''. In September 2010, Crawford appeared with Jonathan Ross and Ant and Dec, on the Nintendo TV advertisement celebrating 25 years of Mario. In July 2013, she co-hosted the BBC Three coverage of T in the Park festival with Greg James. In August 2013 Crawford co-hosted BBC Three's first Urban Classic Prom at the Royal Albert Hall with Charlie Sloth. In October 2013, she co-hosted the

Mobo Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

with

Trevor Nelson Trevor Ricardo Nelson, MBE (born 7 January 1964) is an English DJ and radio presenter. He is best known for presenting a range of shows across BBC Radio. Early life Born in Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, Nelson attended Centra ...

which aired on BBC One and BBC Three. In December 2013, Crawford appeared as one of the celebrity panelists for four episodes of I'm a Celebrity get me out of here now, on ITV2. On 30 August 2014, Crawford replaced Caroline Flack and Matt Richardson as the presenter of The X Factor's ITV2 spin-off show ''The Xtra Factor''. In October 2014 Crawford hosted the

MOBO awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

with Spice Girl

Mel B Melanie Janine Brown, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Mel B or Melanie B, is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s as a member of the Pop mus ...

. In February 2015 Crawford began presenting duties for

by hosting the BAFTA red carpet show. In June 2015, Crawford launched a show to help E! find a new UK and Ireland online host. In November 2015, she hosted the Mobo Awards for the third time at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. In December 2016 - January 2017, Crawford co-hosted

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decemb ...

for Channel 5. Crawford co-hosted her second series of World's Strongest Man in 2017 due to air on Channel 5 during December to January 2018. Crawford took part in series 3 of Celebs Go Dating which aired on E4 in September 2017. On 19 May 2018, Crawford was a co-presenter of E!’s royal wedding coverage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding live from Windsor Castle alongside

Giuliana Rancic Giuliana Rancic (; ; born August 17, 1974) is an Italian-born American Entertainment journalism, entertainment reporter and television personality. She is a co-anchor of ''E! News'' and resides in Chicago and Los Angeles. Early life Rancic was bo ...

Melanie Bromley Melanie Bromley (born September 30, 1974) is an American-based British-born entertainment journalist and broadcaster who is currently Head of News Operations & Chief News Correspondent for E! News, where she covers celebrity news. Early life an ...

and Brad Goreski. This telecast was broadcast live in both the US and UK and repeated throughout the next 12 hours afterwards. E!’s coverage was broadcast on their local networks globally. As well as this Crawford appeared in a number of specials about the royal wedding for broadcast on E! in the US which were later aired in the UK in the week leading up to the ceremony.

Radio

In October 2008, Crawford began presenting on ad hoc shows as a cover DJ on

. In April 2009, she began hosting her own show which was the early weekend breakfast slot from 7.00 am on BBC Radio 1Xtra In 2011, Crawford began hosting the Saturday and Sunday slot from 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm, upon which she launched BBC Radio 1Xtra's first Book Club. From 2 April 2012, she started to present the weekday afternoon slot on BBC Radio 1Xtra. On 11 September 2012, Crawford appeared on BBC Radio 1's Innuendo Bingo. Crawford has stood in for Aled Jones on occasions to present the Surgery on BBC Radio 1 and in January 2014, she co-hosted a special show on 'Happiness' with him. On 8 March 2014, she kick-started a marathon on Radio 1 and 1xtra of one-off special takeover shows for International Women's day by hosting the 7–9 pm slot on radio 1. Crawford depped for MistaJam on Radio 1 on the 7-9 pm slot to host a special warm-up show for Glastonbury festival. Crawford has since covered for Gemma Cairney who currently presents the Surgery and on 12 August 2015 hosted a A-level results advisory show. In 2015 Crawford has also covered on BBC Radio 1, Saturday and Sundays from 1 pm to 4 pm On 1 October 2015, Crawford hosted her last show for BBC Radio 1Xtra after an announcement by her earlier the previous month that she was leaving to work on TV projects in Los Angeles. Crawford joined Bauer media's new national station

in June 2018 to present weeknights 7-10pm, she also presented The Hits Radio Top 40 Sunday's 4-7pm which later became known as The UK Chart Show. As of Monday 24 June 2019, Crawford took over the 1-4pm afternoon slot on the station in addition to presenting the chart. She was replaced on evenings by Jordan Lee. Crawford now presents 4-7pm every weekend, and occasionally stands in for regular presenters.

Modelling

Crawford appeared in the April 2008 issue of ''FHM'' and in the November 2008 issue of British ''Vogue'' as part of a photo shoot and article called "Top of the Box" with Lauren Laverne and Fiona Bruce. In early 2013, Crawford signed to Models 1, as part of their Special Bookings. In January 2014, Crawford appeared on the covers of ''Black Hair'' magazine and The Sun's ''Fabulous'' magazine twice in 2014. She appeared on the cover of Pride magazine in 2014. In June 2015 Crawford became the face of Brazilian flip flop brand Ipanema for a summer campaign. In September 2015 Crawford signed to Select Model Management to their celebrity division.

Films

In 2013 Crawford appeared in the British Film ''It's A Lot'' which had its UK Cinema release in October 2013, she played the part of single mother Lorna. In July 2016 Crawford appeared in the Film '' The Hatton Garden Job'' playing the part of DCI Emma Carter alongside Matthew Goode, Joely Richardson and Larry Lamb, though made in 2016, the Film was released in April 2017.

References

External links

Sarah-Jane Crawford Official Website

Sarah-Jane Crawford on Hits Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Sarah-Jane 1983 births Living people 21st-century British women musicians Alumni of Anglia Ruskin University Alumni of Kingston University Black British DJs Black British radio presenters British adoptees English radio DJs English television presenters BBC Radio 1Xtra presenters English people of Guyanese descent English people of Irish descent Actors from the London Borough of Lambeth Select Model Management models British women DJs British radio presenters English women radio presenters Actresses from London People from Lambeth