Tessa Dahl

Tessa Dahl
Born
Chantal Sophia Dahl

(1957-04-11) 11 April 1957
Oxford, England
Occupations
  • Novelist
  • journalist
Spouses
  • James Kelly
    ​
    (divorced)​
  • Patrick Donovan
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1992; div. 1992)​
PartnerJulian Holloway (1976-2025) His Death
Children4, including Sophie Dahl
Parents
Relatives

Chantal Sophia "Tessa" Dahl (born 11 April 1957) is a British author and former actress. She is the daughter of British-Norwegian author Roald Dahl and American actress Patricia Neal.

Dahl was born in Oxford, the second daughter of British author Roald Dahl and American actress Patricia Neal;[1] her elder sister Olivia died from measles in 1962. She grew up in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and attended Roedean and Downe House schools, the Elizabeth Russell Cookery School and the Herbert Bergof Acting Studio.

Dahl has worked as an actress, modelled, worked at an antique shop, worked at an employment agency and written articles for Tatler before publishing her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Working For Love, in 1988.[2] Dahl became an author of children's fiction. Her book Gwenda and the Animals won the Friends of the Earth Best Children's Book of the Year.

Dahl's relationship with actor Julian Holloway produced one daughter, model and author Sophie Dahl; the couple separated shortly afterwards.[3] She subsequently married businessman James Kelly and had two children, Clover and Luke. She then married businessman Patrick Donovan (deceased on 7 February 2021), son of Ambassador Francis Patrick Donovan, and had one son, Ned.[4] Dahl has also had relationships with Peter Sellers, David Hemmings, Bryan Ferry, Brian de Palma, Brian Cant and Dai Llewellyn.[5][6]

Bibliography

  • Working for Love (1988) – an autobiographical novel; among other things, the point-of-view character has a sister who dies from measles.
  • The Same But Different (1988) – picture book
  • Gwenda & the Animals (1989)
  • School Can Wait (1990)
  • Babies, Babies, Babies (1991) – picture book
  • Everywoman's Experience of Pregnancy and Birth (1994)

References

  1. ↑ Shearer, Stephen Michael (16 March 2021). Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-8072-4.
  2. ↑ "For Love and Money : Celebrity Daughter Tessa Dahl Wrote Her First Novel Because She Needed a Job. She Also Needed the Applause." Los Angeles Times, 5 March 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2015
  3. ↑ "A fairytale life" The Telegraph, 28 January 2003. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  4. ↑ France, Antony (3 February 2026). "Roald Dahl's Met officer grandson blasts own force over botched pickpocket asssault probe". The Standard. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "Great dynasties of the world: The Dahls" The Guardian, 19 November 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2017
  6. ↑ "'In my youth," Tessa Dahl has said, "I was notorious not famous." Her father was legendary author Roald Dahl and her mother the movie star Patricia Neal. Life was never going to be conventional for Tessa." Sunday Independent (Dublin, Republic of Ireland), 26 December 2010].
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