- Born: 1964
- Occupation: Actor
- Active: '80s-2000s
- Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
- Career Highlights: Alien Autopsy, Saturday Night Live: Season 20
- First Major Screen Credit: Saturday Night Live: Season 20 (1994)
Biography
Morwenna Banks is best known for her oddball character portrayals in British and American TV comedy programs. These programs include situation comedies such as Baddiel's Syndrome, a 2001 British series about thirtysomethings who sit around engaging in trivial conversation reminiscent of Seinfeld discourse; The Strangerers, a 2000 British series in which Banks plays the "supersupervisor" of bumbling aliens who visit earth; and Saturday Night Live, the weekly American comedy program specializing in satire and parody (Banks appeared in episodes airing in 1994 and 1995). Banks has also served as a writer and producer, acted in several motion pictures, and performed numerous voice-over roles. For example, in 2000, Banks was the voice of Britain's Prince William in a Channel 4 production entitled Will's World, an animated feature directed by Oscar winner Bob Godfrey that pokes fun at the young royal on the occasion of his 18th birthday. In 1999, she lent her voice to a well-received animated production entitled The Big Knights, about two dimwitted paladins called Sir Boris and Sir Morris who keep a dog and a hamster known as Sir Horace and Sir Doris. In 1998, Banks was the voice of two animated characters, Claire Feeble and Heather Perfect, in Stressed Eric, a Simpsons-esque BBC2 production about a family tested to the limits by the pressures of everyday life.Banks has also appeared in motion pictures -- all flops or near-flops (examples: The Announcement and Large, both 2000), but she succeeded magnificently in 2001 when she gave birth to a daughter, Dolly. The father was boyfriend David Baddiel (the star of Baddiel's Syndrome). Banks, who was born in 1964, has a first name that puzzles non-Brits. "Morwenna" is an old name of Cornish-Welsh-Celtic origin; there is a 5th century saint named Morwenna, as well as many English churches that bear the name. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
