Dawn French

Dawn is one of Britain's most popular comedians and one half of the very successful female comedy duo French & Saunders.

She was born on October 11, 1957 in Holyhead, Wales, and trained to be a drama teacher at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, where she met Jennifer. Their partnership began life on the comedy club circuit, which led to their own show on BBC television which is now in its sixth series. They are especially noted for their movie parodies. Absolutely Fabulous originated from their show. In 1999, they also wrote and starred in a comedy series loosely based on the French Revolution, Let Them Eat Cake.

In addition to French and Saunders and The Vicar of Dibley, Dawn is also well-known for Murder Most Horrid, a series written specially for her, which ran for four series. She has also starred in two series of the eccentric Cornish comedy Wild West, and the two very different TV movies: Tender Loving Care, in which she featured as a psychiatric nurse prone to knocking off the awkward patients; and Sex and Chocolate, in which she played a housewife tempted by a glamorous old flame. Other TV credits include David Copperfield, Ted and Alice, Milk, Girls on Top and Happy Families.

Dawn is an original member of the award-winning Comic Strip team, and writes and performs in their productions. She also was a series writer for Girls on Top, and has presented two series of programs for Channel 4 - Swank and Scoff - which respectively looked at various aspects of the fashion and food industry. She has also appeared on a number of chat shows, and guest-starred in a variety of programs including The Young Ones, Harry Enfield & Chums, The Full Wax and The Lenny Henry Show. She also regularly contributes to fund-raising events, such as the BBCâ??s Comic Relief night. She has also starred in a number of theater productions.

She has worked on a variety of advertising campaigns and is the face of television advertisements for Terryâ??s Chocolate Orange. She features on a number of spoken-word audio cassettes reading childrenâ??s stories, notably for Mick Inkpenâ??s Kipper series.

Dawn has been interested in promoting the issue of Big Being Beautiful and has produced two knitting pattern books with designer Sylvie Soudan. She now has a significant role in the managing of her fashion business for larger-sized girls, Sixteen47, and their designer range, French and Teague.

Dawn is married to comedian Lenny Henry and they have an adopted child.