Zienia Merton is a British actress born in Burma, 11 December 1945. Her mother was Burmese, and her father half English, half French. She was raised in Singapore, Borneo, Portugal, and England.
Her most famous role in probably that of Sandra Benes in Space: 1999, the science fiction series produced by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson, with Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Barry Morse. It ran from 1974 to 1977.
Twenty-two years later, she starred in the short film entitled Message from Moonbase Alpha, which was produced by fans and written by series writer Johnny Byrne. It has since been released on DVD along with the other episodes of the complete series.
Message from Moonbase Alpha is now considered by fans of the show to stand as the 49th episode, becoming part of the canon of the series. The short episode debuted in Los Angeles, California on September 13, 1999 - the same fictional date in the pilot episode of "Breakaway" when the moon is blasted out of Earth orbit. This eulogy served to provide closure to the series.
Her other significant science fiction credit was as Ping-Cho in the 1964 Doctor Who story Marco Polo. This installment of the series is one of the missing stories, although an audio version has been pieced together from various sources and released along with fan reconstructions of the story using visual material available such as photographs and composite pictures (as the reconstructions were made before the telesnaps were discovered).
Merton's other work includes Jason King (1971), and Return of the Saint (1979); and she was a lead actor as 'Christina' in the Dennis Potter television adaptation of Casanova with Frank Finlay (in which she appeared topless). She also appeared on The Benny Hill Show in 1972, playing the wife of Hill's Chow Mein character.
Zienia Merton also appeared in the film The Chairman (1969) with Gregory Peck, and has appeared several times in supporting roles on EastEnders, Casualty and The Bill.
Her autobiography, Anecdotes and Armadillos (with Robert Wood) was released in 2005.
Born in Burma on December 11th, 1945, of an English father and a Burmese mother, Zienia lived in Singapore, then in Borneo and was schooled in Portugal. Zienia childhood wish was to become a dancer, and upon securing her father's agreement she was registered at the dancing and acting school led by the "Arts Education Trust" in Tring, Hertfordshire, UK. But, as Zienia progressed, she found herself rather more interested in modern dance. Enjoying public performance, and taking into consideration her changing interests, she found herself gravitating towards the acting field. Without any official training, she began her career as an actress in the 1960s while still a teenager. It was a decade later, in the mid to late 1970s, that Zienia enjoyed one of her greatest professional successes when she garnered the role of 'Sandra Benes' in the hit syndicated British science fiction television series "Space: 1999" (1975). The series ran for two seasons of 48 episodes and gave her international exposure. In recent years, Zienia has roles in several films, made numerous television guest appearances, and has starred in live theatrical presentations in the UK, including "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Laundry, and "Present Continuous".
