Dessie Brabant Keeley Hawes Othello's true love In Shakespeare: Desdemona, wife to Othello and daughter to Brabantio. Keeley Hawes was 'discovered' in London at the age of 15 and went on to become a successful model. After a couple of years a casting agent, who had seen pictures of her in campaigns for Sisley and Benetton, asked her to come in for an audition. She got the job and her career -- and life -- changed direction. Despite her Irish name, she has no Irish links. She comes from Marylebone where her father was a cabbie. She has three siblings and claims to be "a regular Londoner and homebody." Hawes's other film and television roles have included Cynthia in Wives and Daughters, the young Diana Dors in The Last of the Blond Bombshells and Lizzie Hexam in Our Mutual Friend.