Dawn French

In a survey of 1,000 schoolgirls in 2004, Dawn was voted the number one female role model in the UK.

Dawn's agent is Maureen Vincent who has other clients such as Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax and June Whitfield

Dawn has appeared in many stage productions. Her work has included roles in Smaller, My Brillant Divorce, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Side By Side, When We Are Married, Then Again, Me and Mamie O'Rourke and Silly Cow.

Dawn has starred in many film roles. She has appeared in The Supergrass (1985), Eat the Rich (1987) and Milk (1999), amongst others.

Her comedy partner for over 15 years is Jennifer Saunders.

In 1991, Dawn and her comedy partner Jennifer Saunders won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award in the category "Best TV - Light Entertainment" for their work on French and Saunders (1987).

In 2002, Dawn & Jennifer Saunders received the Honorary Rose at the Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival.

Dawn has been nominated in the category of "Most Popular Comedy Performer/Performance" 4 times at the National Television Awards. Her nominations in 1998 and 2000 were for her work in The Vicar of Dibley, 2002's nomination was for her role in Ted and Alice and her nomination in 2003 was for Wild West.

Dawn was nominated for her work on The Vicar of Dibley at the British Comedy Awards in the category of 'Best TV Comedy Actress' in 1997 and 1999. She was the winner of the Award in 1997.

Dawn has received five BAFTA nominations in total. Two of her nominations (1989 and 1991) were in the category 'Best Light Entertainment Performance' and were for her work in French and Saunders. The remaining three (1998, 200 and 2001) were in the category 'Best Comedy Performance' for Dawn's work in The Vicar of Dibley.

Dawn has appeared in numerous television commercials. Her work includes advertisements for House of Fraser department stores, Terry's Segsations (2003), BBC America's advertisements for "BBC: Serious About Comedy" and alongside Jennifer Saunders in a Dover to Calais advertisement for Radio and Television.

Dawn was featured as the "Fat Lady" on a limited edition autograph card from the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban trading card series released in 2004.

Dawn appeared in a business training video 'The Balance Sheet Barrier' with John Cleese.

Dawn played a lab assistant in Kate Bush's science-fiction music video Experiment IV in 1986 and appeared in the music video for Alison Moyet's Whispering Your Name in 1994.

In 2003 it was revealed that Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders declined Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) honours "for services to comedy drama" in 2001.

Dawn co-authored two books on knitting, Big Knits and Great Big Knits, which provide knitting patterns for larger ladies.

Dawn lives in Berkshire with her husband, Lenny Henry and their daughter, Billie.

Dawn's favourite singers are Eva Cassidy and Norah Jones.

Dawn frequently appeared on the Whose Line Is It Anyway? radio show but never appeared on the TV version of the show.