Jennifer Saunders
Biography
Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award. She first came into widespread attention in the 1980s and early 1990s when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama. Along with her comedy partner Dawn French, she writes and stars in their eponymous sketch show, French & Saunders, and has received international acclaim for writing and playing the lead role of Edina Monsoon in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. In her other work, she has guest starred in the American sitcoms Roseanne and Friends, and won the American People's Choice Award for voicing the wicked Fairy Godmother in DreamWorks' animated Shrek 2. More recently, she wrote and starred in Jam & Jerusalem and The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (33)
The Magic Faraway Tree
2026
Virginia Woolf's Night & Day
as Mrs Hilbery
2026
Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out
as Self
2024
Kirsty MacColl at the BBC
as Self (archive footage)
2024
Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps
as The Goose (voice)
2024
200% Wolf
as Max (voice)
2024
We Work for the Dead
as The Mother (voice)
2024
Dawn French Is a Huge Twat
as Self (uncredited)
2023
imagine... French & Saunders: Pointed, Bitchy, Bitter
as Self - Featured Artist
2023
Sumotherhood
as DI Brookes
2023
Allelujah
as Sister Gilpin
2023
Death on the Nile
as Marie Van Schuyler
2022
The Best Birthday Ever
as Mother (voice)
2022
Sing 2
as Nana (voice)
2021
French & Saunders: Funny Women
as Self
2021
Completely Bad News
as Sally
2019
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again
as Meryl Streep / Cher
2019
Isn't It Romantic
as Natalie's Mother
2019
Patrick
as Maureen
2018
Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires
as Dr. Alex Cular
2018
Lady Windermere's Fan
as The Duchess of Berwick
2018
Grandpa's Great Escape
as Miss Dandy
2018
300 Years of French & Saunders
2017
Joanna and Jennifer: Absolutely Champers
as Self - Presenter
2017
Comic Relief: Red Nose Day
as Self
2017
Sing
as Nana (voice)
2016
British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves
as Comedy Role (archive footage) (uncredited)
2016
We Love Sitcom
2016
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
as Edina Monsoon
2016
Stick Man
as Narrator (voice)
2015
Minions
as Reine Elizabeth II (voice)
2015
The Boy in the Dress
as Miss Windsor
2014
The Spice Girls Story: Viva Forever!
as Self
2012
TV Shows (17)
Too Much
as Fiona
2025
Only Child
as Sally
2024
Fantasy Football League
as Themselves
2022
The Pentaverate
as Maester of Dubrovnik / Saester of Dubrovnik
2022
Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable
as Self
2021
Richard Osman's House of Games Night
as Self
2020
The Stranger
as Heidi Doyle
2020
Celebrity Gogglebox
2019
There's Something About Movies
as Self - Team Captain
2019
Moominvalley
as Mymble
2019
Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief
as Self - Judge
2017
Insert Name Here
as Self - Panelist
2016
Josh
as Judith
2015
Gogglebox
as Self
2013
The Last Leg
as Self
2013
The Great Comic Relief Bake Off
as Self - Contestant
2013
Blandings
as Lady Constance Keeble
2013