Jennifer Saunders
| Jennifer Saunders | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Birth name | Jennifer Jane Saunders |
| Born | July 6 1958  Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England |
| Occupation | comedienne, writer, actress |
| Years active | 1982 – present |
| Spouse(s) | Adrian Edmondson (1985- ) |
| Children | Eleanor Edmondson (b.1986) Beatrice Edmondson (b.1987) Freya Edmondson (b.1990) |
Jennifer Jane Saunders (born July 6, 1958[1] in Sleaford, Lincolnshire) is a BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning English comedienne, writer and actress.
She first came into public prominence in the early 1980s when she became a member of
The Comic Strip comedy troupe after graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama. Along with her comedy partner Dawn French, she proceeded to write and star in their eponymous sketch show,
In her other work, she has guest starred as Andrea Waltham in Friends and voiced the evil Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2. She has since starred in Jam & Jerusalem, A Bucket o' French & Saunders and The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle.
Background
Childhood
Saunders was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire of French and English heritage, in 1958.[2] Her mother worked as a biology teacher and her father worked as an RAF Air Marshal[3] who went on to work for British Aerospace.[4] Having her father in the forces, Saunders moved schools many times.[4] She was educated from the age of five to eighteen in boarding schools, mainly at Northwich County Grammar School for Girls on Granville Road in Leftwich (now the County High School Leftwich). After school, she worked for a year in Italy as an au pair.[5]
Education
She later received a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London on a drama teachers course in 1977,[4] where she met her future comedy partner, Dawn French, and as far as Saunders was concerned, French was a "cocky little upstart". The hatred was mutual; French considered Saunders snooty and aloof.[6] The comic duo originally did not get on well as French actually wanted to become a drama teacher[2] whereas Saunders loathed the idea and had not understood fully what the course was about, and thus, she disliked French for being enthusiastic and confident about the course.[4] Saunders was shocked to find that she was on a course studying to become a teacher as her mother had filled out the application form.[4] Saunders came from quite an upper-class family[4] and her mother was saddened when Saunders was not going to apply for Oxbridge university education.[4]
At college, Saunders and French shared a flat together with five other girls, and for a short while shared a flat with Emma Thompson. Both came from RAF backgrounds,[4] having been on some bases at the same time, even sharing the same best friend although not meeting. The two performed together after graduation, working the festival, cabaret,[4] and stand-up circuits. They formed a double-act called The Menopause Sisters. She described the act as "cringeworthy", which involved wearing tampons in their ears.[3]
Career
Rise to fame
Saunders and French would eventually come to public attention as members of The Comic Strip, part of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s. What brought them ultimate success was when they answered a 1980 advert in The Stage newspaper for female artists to become part of the unknown The Comic Strip Presents.[2][3] They commented that they walked into the audition and they immediately said "You're booked".[4]
Both Saunders and French became founding and ongoing members of the informal comedy collective The Comic Strip, along with many of the comedians who were to become their generation's most well-known comedy performers including Peter Richardson, Rik Mayall, and Robbie Coltrane, as well as Saunders' future long-term partner Adrian Edmondson.[2][3] The group performed at Soho's Raymond Review Bar with regular guests Jack Nicholson and Robin Williams. By the time Saunders and French became members of The Comic Strip, French was already working as a drama teacher, whilst Saunders was on the dole and spending a lot of her time sleeping in bed.[3]
Her first exposure to a wider audience occurred when comedy producer Martin Lewis recorded a Comic Strip record album in Spring 1981 and featured skits by French & Saunders. The album was released on Springtime!/Island Records in September 1981. It was the first recording to feature Saunders and presented her and comedic partner Dawn French to an audience outside London. In 1980, Julien Temple filmed a documentary style film on The Comic Strip, starring Saunders playing a coy, upper class, vulnerable girl looking for her prostitute, fame hungry and attention-seeking sister.
Television
The comedy group appeared on Channel4's first night on air, in the first episode of The Comic Strip Presents: "Five Go Mad In Dorset" broadcast on November 2, 1982.[2][7] In the episodes "Bad News" and "More Bad News," Saunders plays a trashy rock journalist touring with the fictional heavy metal band, Bad News. In 1985, Saunders starred in and co-wrote Girls On Top with French, Tracey Ullman and Ruby Wax which portrayed four eccentric women sharing a flat in London.[2] Saunders also appeared in Ben Elton's Happy Families where she played various members of the same family, including all four Fuddle sisters in the six episode BBC situation comedy.[2] This added even more strings to her bow. Dawn French, Stephen Fry, and Chris Langham also appeared.
Saunders starred with her husband, Adrian Edmondson, in a Comic Strip film called, The Supergrass, a little-known parody of slick 1980s police dramas directed by Peter Richardson. Saunders also appeared twice as guest in The Young Ones, in which Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson were two of the main stars.[2]
In 1986 she worked with Academy Award-nominated director, Stephen Frears, on a dark parody of Daphne du Maurier's novel, Rebecca. Later in 1987, she and French created French & Saunders, a popular sketch comedy series for the BBC, which is still shown sporadically to this day.[8] By the end of the 1980s, the show was an established comedy programme and became a staple in BBC viewing.[3] In their vast amount of comedy sketches, they have parodied many well-known figures such as Cher, Madonna, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and films such as Alien and Titanic.[2] Saunders has appeared in the Amnesty International The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball live benefit in 1989, along with Dawn French and others. She co-directed the show with one of her comedy heroes, John Cleese.
Both Saunders and French proceeded to follow separate careers as well as maintaining their comedy sketch show. Her biggest solo success to date is Absolutely Fabulous. The comedy was in fact based largely on a fourteen minute French & Saunders sketch called "Modern Mother and Daughter".[4] Saunders and French were going to star in the comedy together, but just as the studio had been booked, French received a long-awaited phone call confirming that an adoption agency had a new baby for her to adopt.[4] Saunders proceeded to star in the comedy. The series which she created, wrote, and starred in as the irresponsible and impossible fashion PR agent Edina Monsoon along side Joanna Lumley who played Patsy Stone, brought her international acclaim and attention.[2] The show ran for five full series over the course of about thirteen years from 1992 to 2005, with there being an aditional two-part film and three special episodes.[2] During Absolutely Fabulous, stars such as Elton John made guest appearances.[9] The series is also known as Ab Fab[3] and was broadcast in America on the Comedy Central and BBC America, becoming cult viewing.[10]
Saunders has appeared on the
In less than a year Saunders has written three new series. She firstly began working on two series of
Film
Saunders has also appeared in several British films, such as Fany & Elvis, starring Kerry
Fox and Ray Winstone. She is also in the minority of English actresses who appear in
French films also. She made a cameo appearance alongside Catherine Deneuve in a French
film, based on Absolutely Fabulous, which also starred
She most notably appeared in the internationally successful DreamWorks animated movie, Shrek 2 in 2004 where she voiced Princess Fiona's evil Fairy Godmother and performed the song "Holding Out for a Hero". Her part took four days to record.[3] Shrek 2 broke its own box office record in the U.S in just a fortnight,[3] and it proceeded to make $353 million in just three weeks in the U.S.[19] The role won her an American People's Choice Award for the best movie villain in 2005.[20] She has also appeared in an Kate Bush and Alison Moyet music videos.
Personal life
Saunders married fellow comedian Adrian Edmondson on 11 May 1985. They have three daughters: Eleanor "Ella" (born 22 January, 1986), Beatrice (born 19 June, 1987), and Freya (born 16 October, 1990).[4] Saunders fell pregnant with her first child shortly before making her relationship with Edmondson official. Her middle daughter Beatrice has followed in her father's footsteps and is studying drama at Manchester University.[4] Her daughter, Freya, appears as her onscreen daughter in Jam and Jerusalem.[21] Saunders' oldest daughter, Ella, is a musician whose songs are also featured in the show, and Ella herself has made a cameo appearance.
Saunders currently lives in London, in Hyde Park, and rents a house in Barnes, London. She also owns a 400 year old farm house, with 45 acres of land in Chagford, Devon which she resides to often. She and Edmondson are estimated to be worth £11 million, based on profits of one business they co-own. [22]
Awards and recognition
Along with Dawn French, Saunders declined an
Won
- 1991: Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for TV Light Entertainment - French & Saunders
- 1993: BAFTA Award for Best Comedy - Absolutely Fabulous
- 1993: Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award TV for Situation Comedy - Absolutely Fabulous
- 1997: Emmy Award for Absolutely Fabulous
- 2002: Honorary Rose Award - Shared with: Dawn French
- 2005: People's Choice Award for Best Movie Villain - Shrek 2
Nominated
- 1993: BAFTA Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance - Absolutely Fabulous
- 1993: British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Actress - Absolutely Fabulous
- 1994: British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress - Absolutely Fabulous
- 1995: BAFTA Award for Best Comedy - Absolutely Fabulous
- 1996: BAFTA Award for Best Comedy - Absolutely Fabulous
- 1997: BAFTA Award for Best Comedy - Absolutely Fabulous
Filmography
Television
- The Comic Strip Presents... (1982-88, 1990-93, 1998-2000)
- The Young Ones (1982-1984)
- Girls On Top (1985-1986)
- French and Saunders (1987-2007)
- Absolutely Fabulous (1992-2005)
- Friends (1998)
- Let Them Eat Cake (1999)
- Mirrorball (2000)
- Jam & Jerusalem (2006)
- The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007)
Films
- Eat the Rich (1987)
- Queen of the East (1995) (TV)
- Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
- Spiceworld (1997)
- Fanny and Elvis (1999)
- Shrek 2 (2004)
- L'Entente cordiale (2006)
- Coraline (2008)
Bibliography
- Absolutely Fabulous: Continuity by Jennifer Saunders
- Absolutely Fabulous (scripts from the show) by Jennifer Saunders
- Absolutely Fabulous 2 (more scripts from the show) by Jennifer Saunders
- A Feast of French and Saunders by Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French
References
- ^ Editors at The Times. Birthdays — timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Editors at Screen Online. Jennifer Saunders — screenonline.org. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Decca Aitkenhead. What are you looking at? — guardian.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Chrissy Iley. Farewell French and Saunders — timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved August 30, 2007.
- ^ Editors at Teletronic. Dawn French — teletronic.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Decca Aitkenhead. What are you looking at? — guardian.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Neil Wilkes. 'Comic Strip' returns to Channel 4 — digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ Editors at Sreen Online. Dawn French — screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved May 10, 2007.
- ^ Editors at BBC. Elton John at 60 — news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ James Welsh. 'Ab Fab' stars receive GLBT Pride award — digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ Rosie Millard. Absolutely no more TV sketch shows, darlings — timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Press Release. BBC America to co-produce new comedies with Jennifer Saunders — bbc.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ Carol Midgley. Jennifer Saunders and Dr Tanya Byron take on the chat shows — timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Editors at Daily Mail. Jennifer Saunders hopes new comic creation will be 'Ab Fab' — dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Rupert Smith. 'We hardly even exaggerated' — guardian.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Dave West. Dawn and Jen target Winehouse, Spears — digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Kimberley Dadds Spice Girls: Timeline — digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Neil Wilkes. Bunton lands 'Ab Fab' role — digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- ^ Fiona Morrow. Jennifer Saunders — timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ Daniel Saney. People's Choice Awards presented — digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ Rob Salem. Laugh alert: AbFab still batty — thestar.com. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
- ^ Neil Sears. Saunders swaps London for Devon — dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. It is an honour to stand among the refuseniks — independent.co.uk. Retrieved May 11, 2007.
- ^ The Observer. The A-Z of laughter (part two) — guardian.co.uk. Retrieved October 5, 2007.
- ^ Daniel Saney. Victoria Wood Britain's funniest woman — digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
External links
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