1. Francine Joy Drescher was born on September 30,1957 and is an American actress and trade unionist.
43 Facts About Fran Drescher
1. 2.
Fran Drescher played Fran Fine in the television sitcom The Nanny, which she created and produced with her then-husband Peter Marc Jacobson.
3.
In 2014, Fran Drescher made her Broadway debut in Cinderella as stepmother Madame.
4.
Fran Drescher led the union during the five-month actors' strike that began on July 14,2023, partially overlapping with the writers' strike that had begun in May of that year.
5.
Fran Drescher's family is Jewish, from Southeast and Central Europe.
6.
Fran Drescher's maternal great-grandmother Yetta was born in Focsani, Romania, and emigrated to the United States, while her father's family came from Poland.
7.
Fran Drescher was a first runner-up for "Miss New York Teenager" in 1973.
8.
Fran Drescher attended Flushing's Parsons Junior High School, which later dissolved, and then Hillcrest High School in Jamaica, Queens.
9.
Fran Drescher graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1975; one of her classmates was comedian Ray Romano.
10.
Fran Drescher took on a rare dramatic role in the 1981 Milos Forman film Ragtime.
11.
In 1990, Fran Drescher appeared on ALF as Roxanne, the wife of grown-up Brian, who had no clue she was a mob boss, in the episode "Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades".
12.
In 1991, Fran Drescher co-starred on the short-lived CBS sitcom Princesses.
13.
Fran Drescher reprised her This is Spinal Tap character of Bobbi Flekman, a look-alike for her Fran Fine character, in season 5, episode 3, of The Nanny.
14.
Fran Drescher was the voice of "Pearl" in Shark Bait.
15.
In 2003, Fran Drescher appeared in episodes of the short-lived sitcom Good Morning, Miami as Roberta Diaz.
16.
Fran Drescher appeared in an episode of Entourage and, in the same year, gave her voice to the role of a female golem in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XVII".
17.
In 2007, Fran Drescher appeared in the US version of the Australian improvisational comedy series Thank God You're Here.
18.
In 2008, Fran Drescher announced that she was developing a new sitcom entitled The New Thirty, starring Rosie O'Donnell.
19.
Drescher hand-picked the three couples, all of whom were entrants into "Fran Drescher's 'Love Is Love' Gay Marriage Contest" on Facebook, based on the stories the couples submitted about how they met, why their relationship illustrated that "love is love" and why they wanted to be married by her.
20.
Fran Drescher made her Broadway debut on February 4,2014, in the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.
21.
Fran Drescher replaced Harriet Harris as stepmother Madame for a 10-week engagement.
22.
Fran Drescher reprised the role during the North American tour's engagement in Los Angeles, lasting from March through April 2015.
23.
In 2021, Fran Drescher began her campaign to become president of the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union, citing both her entertainment and political background.
24.
Fran Drescher's candidacy came from the "Unite for Strength" faction, and she ran against actor Matthew Modine.
25.
On September 2,2021, SAG-AFTRA announced that Fran Drescher had won the election.
26.
On July 13,2023, after SAG-AFTRA members overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike action a week prior, Fran Drescher announced the SAG-AFTRA strike was to begin at midnight the following day, running alongside the concurrent Writers Guild of America strike that began just over two months prior.
27.
On July 25,2024, ten months after SAG-AFTRA members voted overwhemingly to authorize another strike against the video game industry, Fran Drescher stated that SAG-AFTRA would begin a strike against major video game publishers, with the strike then going into effect the following day at 12:01 am.
28.
Fran Drescher met Peter Marc Jacobson when she was 15.
29.
Fran Drescher was paraphrased as saying in an interview with Larry King that although it was a traumatic experience, she found ways to turn it into something positive.
30.
Fran Drescher has worked to support LGBT rights issues after her former husband came out.
31.
Fran Drescher has stated that the primary reason for the divorce was her need to change directions in life.
32.
In March 2024, Fran Drescher's father died at the age of 94.
33.
Fran Drescher had to undergo an immediate radical hysterectomy to treat the disease.
34.
Fran Drescher was declared cancer-free and no post-operative treatment was ordered.
35.
Fran Drescher wrote about her experiences in her second book, Cancer Schmancer.
36.
On June 21,2007, the seventh anniversary of her operation, Fran Drescher launched the Cancer Schmancer Movement, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all women's cancers be diagnosed while in Stage 1, the most curable stage.
37.
Fran Drescher celebrated her tenth year of wellness on June 21,2010.
38.
Fran Drescher says her goal is to live in a time when women's mortality rates drop as their healthcare improves and early cancer detection increases.
39.
In 2008, Fran Drescher supported Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
40.
Fran Drescher said that she had been considering a run for the United States Senate in 2008 to succeed Hillary Clinton, but ultimately decided against it.
41.
In 2018, Fran Drescher attended a fundraiser gala for Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, which raised $60 million.
42.
Fran Drescher became an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church Monastery so that she could legally officiate LGBT wedding ceremonies.
43.
Fran Drescher has been the recipient of the John Wayne Institute's Woman of Achievement Award, the Gilda Award, the City of Hope Woman of the Year Award, the Hebrew University Humanitarian Award, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Spirit of Achievement Award.