52 Facts About Dawn French

Dawn Roma French was born on 11 October 1957 and is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer.

Dawn French has been nominated for seven BAFTA TV Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.

Dawn Roma French was born on 11 October 1957 in Holyhead, Wales, to English parents Felicity Roma and Denys Vernon French, who married in their home town of Plymouth in 1953.

Dawn French's father served in the Royal Air Force, stationed at RAF Valley and later RAF Leconfield, where Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother went to tea at French's home when French was three years old.

Dawn French later attended boarding school at St Dunstan's Abbey School for Girls in Plymouth, where she was a member of Downton house.

Dawn French has said that her self-confidence and self-belief stem from her father, who told her how beautiful she was each day.

Dawn French told me that I was beautiful and the most precious thing in his life.

When Dawn French was nineteen years old, her father died by suicide.

In 1977, Dawn French began studying drama at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she met her future comedy partner, Jennifer Saunders.

Saunders recalled her first perception of Dawn French was that she was a "cocky little upstart"; Dawn French considered Saunders to be snooty and aloof.

The comic duo originally did not like each other as Dawn French wanted to become a drama teacher whereas Saunders loathed the idea and thus disliked Dawn French for being enthusiastic and confident about the course.

Dawn French has had an extensive career on television, debuting on Channel 4's The Comic Strip Presents series in an episode called "Five Go Mad in Dorset" in 1982.

Dawn French acted in 27 of the 37 episodes and wrote two of them.

In 1985, Dawn French starred with Saunders, Tracey Ullman and Ruby Wax in Girls on Top, which portrayed four eccentric women sharing a flat in London.

Dawn French appeared on The Vicar of Dibley with Damian Lewis in a mini-episode made for Comic Relief in 2013.

Dawn French was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance in the last episode of The Vicar of Dibley.

In 1995 she appeared as a talk-show host in a Comic Relief sketch called Dawn French, written by Victoria Wood.

Dawn French appeared once in the Saunders led sitcom Absolutely Fabulous as TV interviewer Kathy in 1992, a parody of Lorraine Kelly, she reprised that role for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016 as a more established veteran journalist as Kelly is.

Dawn French appeared in the BBC sitcom Wild West, with Catherine Tate, in which she played a woman living in Cornwall who is a lesbian, more through lack of choice than any specific natural urge.

Dawn French co-starred alongside Sue Johnston, Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley.

Dawn French made a guest appearance in Little Britain as Vicky Pollard's mother.

Dawn French appeared in a special version of Little Britain Live which featured several celebrity guests and was shown by the BBC as part of Comic Relief.

Dawn French played the part of a lesbian barmaid in a sketch with Daffyd Thomas.

In 2006, Dawn French appeared in Agatha Christie's Marple in the 2006 episode "Sleeping Murder".

Dawn French appeared as Caroline Arless in the BBC television drama Lark Rise to Candleford in 2008.

Dawn French appeared in Little Crackers, short comedy films which were broadcast over Christmas in 2010.

Dawn French appeared as a special guest on Michael Buble's Home For Christmas in December 2011.

In March 2013, it was announced that Dawn French would replace Brian McFadden on the judging panel of Nine Network's Australia's Got Talent alongside Kyle Sandilands, Geri Halliwell and Timomatic who is the additional fourth judge.

Dawn French departed the show after one series and was replaced by Kelly Osbourne.

From 2016 until 2019 Dawn French starred in three series of Delicious on Sky 1, co-starring as a talented cook who is having an affair with her celebrity chef ex-husband who has remarried and started a successful hotel business with his new wife in Cornwall.

In 2021, Dawn French appeared as a celebrity guest judge on the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, where she judged the final five contestants, Lawrence Chaney, Bimini Bon-Boulash, Tayce, Ellie Diamond and A'Whora, on their comedy stand-up routines.

In 1996 Dawn French appeared in The Adventures of Pinocchio as "The Baker's Wife" alongside Martin Landau and star Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

Dawn French played The Fat Lady in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, replacing Elizabeth Spriggs, who played the character in the first film of the series.

In 2010, Dawn French lent her voice to the role of Angie the Elephant in the English dub of the German-British environmental animated film Animals United.

Dawn French has appeared in plays such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, My Brilliant Divorce, and Smaller, the latter of which she played a schoolteacher caring for her disabled mother.

January 2007 saw Dawn French performing as the Duchesse de Crackentorp at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in The Daughter of the Regiment by Gaetano Donizetti starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez.

Dawn French returned to Covent Garden and La Fille du regiment in the 2010 revival.

In December 2022, Dawn French began appearing in Jack and the Beanstalk at the London Palladium.

In 2014, Dawn French toured an autobiographical one woman show 30 Million Minutes in the UK and Oceania.

In 2022, she toured the UK with a further show titled Dawn French is a Huge Tw*t.

Dawn French was chosen as the face of Terry's Chocolate Orange, until August 2007, when she was dropped.

Dawn French has been in advertisements for the Churchill Insurance Company.

In 2019, Dawn French provided her voice for numerous Station idents for Greatest Hits Radio.

In 2021, Dawn French was chosen to play the voice of a fairy lady for the Christmas food advertisements for leading retailer Marks and Spencers alongside Tom Holland voicing the company's mascot Percy Pig.

Dawn French has written a best-selling epistolary autobiography, which she has titled Dear Fatty.

Dawn French said that she became great friends with Saunders well before they started working together, which was "over 30 years ago".

Dawn French has appeared in the videos for Alison Moyet's songs "Love Letters" in 1987 and "Whispering Your Name" in 1994.

Dawn French met comedian Lenny Henry on the alternative comedy circuit.

Dawn French has stated that Billie has always known that she was adopted, but once took out an injunction when a biographer came close to revealing the identity of Billie's biological mother.

Dawn French supported Keir Starmer during the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

In May 2021 it was announced that Dawn French had sold her Fowey property, having moved to an 1868 Gothic revival property in Calstock.

In September 2014, Dawn French was named as the new Chancellor of Falmouth University.