Dawn French facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dawn French
French in 2005
Born	Dawn Roma French (1957-10-11) 11 October 1957 (age 67) Holyhead, Wales
Education	Central School of Speech and Drama (BA)
Occupation	Actress comedian writer
Years active	1981–present
Notable work	French and Saunders The Vicar of Dibley
Spouse(s)	Lenny Henry ​ ​ (m. 1984; div. 2010)​ Mark Bignell ​ (m. 2013)​
Children	1
Awards	BAFTA Fellowship (2009)

Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a famous British actress, comedian, and writer. She is well-known for creating and starring in the BBC comedy show French and Saunders (1987–2007) with her best friend and comedy partner Jennifer Saunders. She also played the main character, Geraldine Granger, in the popular BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2020). Dawn French has been nominated for seven British Academy Television Awards and won a special BAFTA Fellowship award with Jennifer Saunders in 2009.

Early Life and Friends

Dawn Roma French was born on 11 October 1957 in Holyhead, Wales. Her parents, Felicity and Denys French, were from Plymouth, England. Dawn has an older brother named Gary. Her father worked in the Royal Air Force (RAF), which meant the family moved around. When Dawn was three, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother even visited their home!

Dawn French in 2005.

The RAF helped pay for Dawn's private schooling. She went to Caistor Grammar School for a year and then to a boarding school called St Dunstan's Abbey School for Girls in Plymouth. After school, she spent a year studying in New York on a special scholarship she won.

Dawn says her father helped her feel confident and believe in herself. He always told her she was beautiful and important. Her father faced personal challenges and sadly passed away when Dawn was nineteen.

In 1977, Dawn started studying drama at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. This is where she met Jennifer Saunders, who would become her comedy partner. They both came from RAF families and had even grown up on the same base, but they had never met before! At first, they didn't really like each other. Dawn was very keen on becoming a drama teacher, while Jennifer wasn't.

However, Dawn and Jennifer ended up sharing a flat in college. Their flatmates encouraged them to try comedy for their college projects. After talking more, they became good friends. After college, they decided to form a comedy duo called the Menopause Sisters. They started performing in clubs and quickly became noticed as part of a new wave of comedy in the early 1980s called alternative comedy.

Career Highlights

Dawn French has had a very long and successful career in television, film, and theatre.

Television Shows

Starting Out in the 1980s

Dawn first appeared on TV in 1982 in a Channel 4 series called The Comic Strip Presents. This show featured different stories each episode and starred many comedians, including Dawn and Jennifer Saunders. Dawn acted in many episodes and even wrote two of them. Some of her early comedy sketches were also put on a record album in 1981, which helped her and Jennifer become known outside of London.

In 1985, Dawn starred with Jennifer Saunders, Tracey Ullman, and Ruby Wax in Girls on Top. This show was about four funny women sharing a flat in London.

Dawn is most famous for co-writing and starring in her own comedy series with Jennifer Saunders, called French & Saunders. It started in 1987. On their show, they made fun of many famous people like Madonna and the Spice Girls. They also parodied popular films like The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. After 20 years, their sketch series, A Bucket o' French & Saunders, began airing in 2007.

Popular Roles in the 1990s

Dawn and Jennifer also worked on separate projects. Dawn starred in Murder Most Horrid from 1991 to 1999. In this show, she played a different character in a new mystery story each week.

Dawn's biggest solo TV role was as the main character in the long-running BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley. The show began in 1994. She played Geraldine Granger, a female vicar in a small, fictional village called Dibley. The final full episode, which showed her character getting married, was watched by over 12 million people! Dawn also appeared in mini-episodes of The Vicar of Dibley for Comic Relief, a charity event. She was nominated for a BAFTA award for her comedy performance in the show. Even today, repeats of The Vicar of Dibley are very popular. Although the main series ended in 2007, there have been special short episodes since, with the latest ones airing in December 2020.

In 1995, Dawn appeared in a Comic Relief sketch called Dawn, where she played a talk-show host.

Comedy and Drama in the 2000s

In 2002, Dawn starred in the comedy-drama mini-series Ted and Alice. She played a tourist information officer who falls in love with an alien. She also made a guest appearance in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous in 1992 and again in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016, playing a TV interviewer named Kathy.

Dawn also appeared in the BBC sitcom Wild West with Catherine Tate. In this show, she played a character living in Cornwall. This series ended in 2004 after two years.

French played a big role in Jam & Jerusalem, a show created by Jennifer Saunders. Dawn played a woman named Rosie who had a unique personality with an alter ego called "Margaret." She starred alongside Sue Johnston and Joanna Lumley. Dawn also made a guest appearance in Little Britain as Vicky Pollard's mother. She even performed in a special live version of Little Britain for Comic Relief.

In 2006, Dawn appeared in an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple called "Sleeping Murder." In 2008, she played Caroline Arless in the BBC drama Lark Rise to Candleford. She described her character as "quite vibrant," someone who "drinks too much, laughs too much and sings too much."

Recent TV Work in the 2010s and 2020s

In late 2010, Dawn starred in Roger & Val Have Just Got In with actor Alfred Molina, which ran for two series. She also appeared in Little Crackers, which were short comedy films shown at Christmas in 2010.

In 2012, Dawn was a judge on ITV's live show Superstar. In 2013, she joined the judging panel for Australia's Got Talent.

From 2016 to 2019, Dawn starred in three series of Delicious on Sky One. In 2020, she appeared in the six-part series The Trouble with Maggie Cole. In 2021, Dawn was a special guest judge on the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, where she judged the contestants' comedy routines.

Film Roles

In 1996, Dawn appeared in The Adventures of Pinocchio as "The Baker's Wife." She played The Fat Lady in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Her husband at the time, Lenny Henry, voiced the Shrunken Head in the same movie.

In 2005, Dawn provided the voice for Mrs. Beaver in Disney's film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 2010, she voiced Angie the Elephant in the animated film Animals United. She also appeared in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie in 2016 and Death on the Nile in 2022.

Theatre Performances

Dawn has also performed in many plays. She has been in A Midsummer Night's Dream, My Brilliant Divorce, and Smaller, where she played a schoolteacher looking after her mother. In 2007, Dawn performed at the Royal Opera House in London in an opera called The Daughter of the Regiment. She returned to this role in 2010. In December 2022, Dawn began starring in Jack and the Beanstalk at the London Palladium.

Stand-up Comedy Tours

In 2014, Dawn toured the UK and Oceania with her one-woman show called 30 Million Minutes. The title was based on how many minutes she had been alive when she created the show! In 2022, she toured the UK again with a new show titled Dawn French is a Huge .... She plans to continue touring this show in 2023 and 2024.

Advertising Work

Dawn French was the face of Terry's Chocolate Orange from 1997 to 2007. She has also appeared in advertisements for the Churchill Insurance Company. In 2019, she provided her voice for Greatest Hits Radio.

In 2021, Dawn was chosen to voice a fairy lady for the Christmas food advertisements for Marks and Spencers. She worked alongside Tom Holland, who voiced the company's mascot, Percy Pig. In the main advert, Dawn's fairy character brings Percy Pig to life with her magic wand. She then shows Percy all the Christmas food items. She returned for the 2022 M&S Christmas advert, this time with Jennifer Saunders voicing a sidekick called 'Duckie'.

Writing Books

Dawn French has written a very popular autobiography called Dear Fatty. It was released in 2008. Dawn has said that "Fatty" is her nickname for Jennifer Saunders, as a joke about her own size. The book is written as letters to different people who have been important in her life.

In 2017, Dawn released her second non-fiction book, Me. You. A Diary. She has also written four novels: A Tiny Bit Marvellous (2010), Oh Dear Silvia (2012), According to Yes (2015), and Because of You (2020). Because of You was even considered for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction. Her third non-fiction book came out in October 2023.

Music Videos

Dawn has appeared in several music videos. In 1986, she was in Kate Bush's music video "Experiment IV". She also appeared in videos for Alison Moyet's songs "Love Letters" (with Jennifer Saunders) in 1987 and "Whispering Your Name" in 1994.

For Comic Relief, Dawn joined Jennifer Saunders and Kathy Burke to form a group called Lananeeneenoonoo in 1989. They released a charity single, a cover of The Beatles song "Help!", which reached number 3 in the UK charts. In 1997, Dawn, Jennifer, and Kathy returned for Comic Relief as "The Sugar Lumps" to parody The Spice Girls.

Personal Life

Dawn French met comedian Lenny Henry through their comedy work. They got married on 20 October 1984 in London. They adopted a daughter named Billie. Dawn has said that Billie always knew she was adopted. Dawn and Lenny announced their separation in 2010 after 25 years of marriage, and their divorce was finalized later that year. They remained friends.

In 2011, Dawn started dating charity executive Mark Bignell. They got married on 22 April 2013. The couple used to live in a large house in Fowey, Cornwall, overlooking the sea. In May 2021, it was announced that Dawn had sold her Fowey home and moved to an older, historic property in Calstock.

In September 2014, Dawn French was named the new Chancellor of Falmouth University, which is a special role at the university. Dawn is also a supporter of the football team Plymouth Argyle.

Awards and Recognition

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders won the special Golden Rose of Montreux award in 2002. In 2003, The Observer newspaper listed Dawn as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2006 poll, Dawn was named the most admired female celebrity among women in Britain. In February 2013, she was recognized as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4.

BAFTA Awards

• 1989 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in French and Saunders
• 1991 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in French and Saunders
• 1998 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
• 2000 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
• 2001 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
• 2007 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance in The Vicar of Dibley
• 2009 – Won – BAFTA Fellowship – awarded with Jennifer Saunders
• 2011 – Nominated – BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance in Roger and Val Have Just Got In

British Comedy Awards

• 1997 – Won – British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress in The Vicar of Dibley
• 1998 – Nominated – British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress in The Vicar of Dibley
• 2011 – Nominated – British Comedy Awards for Best TV Comedy Actress in Psychoville

National Television Awards

• 1998 – Nominated – National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Performer in The Vicar of Dibley
• 2000 – Nominated – National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Performer in The Vicar of Dibley
• 2002 – Nominated – National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Performance in Ted and Alice
• 2003 – Nominated – National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Performance in Wild West

Other Awards

• 1991 – Won – Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for TV- Light Entertainment in French and Saunders
• 2001 – Along with Jennifer Saunders, declined an OBE (an award from the Queen)
• 2002 – Won – Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award shared with Jennifer Saunders
• 2009 – Nominated – Annie Award for Voice Acting in a Feature Production for Coraline

Acting Credits

Television

Film

Theatre

Video Games

See also

In Spanish: Dawn French para niños