Josie Lawrence is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedienne and actress best known for her work with the
Comedy Store PlayersThe Comedy Store Players is a group of improvising comedy performers known for their performances at The Comedy Store in London. The group first came into being in October 1985.Members of the group have included:*Dave Cohen*Jeremy Hardy*Kit Hollerbach...
improvisational troupe, the television series
Whose Line Is It Anyway?Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for the UK's Channel 4, for a 10 series run...
and more recently her role as
Manda BestAmanda "Manda" Best is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Josie Lawrence. Manda was introduced by executive producer Diederick Santer, and made her first appearance on 6 March 2009....
in
EastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
.
Early life
Josie Lawrence was born
Wendy Lawrence in
Old HillOld Hill is a locality in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell in West Midlands, England. It is a district of Cradley Heath.-General description:...
,
Rowley RegisRowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom. Being part of the Black Country, locals speak with the traditional dialect, though in a form regarded by many as the quickest and the hardest to...
(later
WarleyWarley is the name of several places in the United Kingdom:In the West Midlands:*County Borough of Warley*Warley, West Midlands*Warley *Warley High School*Warley WoodsIn Essex:*Great Warley*Little Warley...
and now
SandwellSandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands with a population of around 289,100, and an area of . The borough is named after Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of both the Black Country, and the West Midlands conurbation, encompassing the urban towns of Blackheath,...
). She has a brother, John, and sister, Janet, 10 years older who are twins. They were brought up in nearby
Cradley HeathCradley Heath is a town in the Black Country, located in Sandwell metropolitan borough, England. The name is usually pronounced "Craid-ley", not "Crad-ley", but in the Black Country accent, it may even sound like "Craig-ley Aith"...
, where her father worked for British Leyland and her mother as a dinner lady. She says everyone in her family has a wicked, dry sense of humour. She knew she wanted to be an actress at the early age of 5 and by the time she was 16 she joined the Barlow Players in Oldbury.
She studied at
Dartington College of ArtsDartington College of Arts was a specialist arts institution near Totnes, Devon, South West England, it specialized in post-dramatic theatre, music, choreography, Performance Writing and visual performance, focusing on a performative and multi-disciplinary approach to the arts. In addition to this,...
from 1978 to 1981, receiving a
bachelor of artsA Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
honours degree.
Stage
Her first acting role was as a young boy in a production of
The Ragged Trousered PhilanthropistsThe Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is a novel by Robert Tressell first published in 1914 after his death in 1911. An explicitly political work, it is widely regarded as a classic of working-class literature.-Background:...
at the
Half Moon TheatreThe Half Moon Theatre Company was formed in 1972 in a rented synagogue in Alie Street, Aldgate, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Half Moon Passage was the name of a nearby alley...
. During the 1980s, she was also involved in a play called Passionaria at the
Newcastle PlayhouseNorthern Stage is a theatre and producing theatre company based in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is adjacent to Newcastle University's city centre campus on King's Walk, opposite the students' union building. It hosts various local, national and international productions in addition to those produced by...
, starring
Denise BlackDenise Black is an English actress, best known for playing Denise Osbourne in the ITV1 soap Coronation Street and Hazel Tyler in Channel 4 TV's Queer As Folk in 1999 and 2000, written by Russell T Davies. After attending Portsmouth's Girls Public Day School, she studied Psychology at London...
and Kate McKenzie, and they later formed the jazz group Denise Black and the Kray Sisters.
Her work in comedy began as a result of starring in a
Donmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
play called Songs For Stray Cats and hearing the audience invited to supply lines and ideas for improvisers appearing in after-show cabaret.
In 1994-1996 Lawrence played Katharine in the
Royal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
production of
The Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
in both
Stratford-upon-AvonStratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
and
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, for which she received a Dame
Peggy AshcroftDame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
award for Best Actress. She also appeared in
FaustFaust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
and
The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
and starred as Benedick in an all-female production of
Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
at
Shakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
, having played Beatrice previously at Manchester's
Royal ExchangeThe Royal Exchange is a grade II listed Victorian building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann’s Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street...
. She later took over the lead role of Anna in the stage musical
The King and IThe King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, replacing
Elaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
. In 2005, she appeared with
Victoria WoodVictoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
,
Julie WaltersJulie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...
and
Celia ImrieCelia Diana Savile Imrie is an English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom...
in the cult West End production of Wood's Acorn Antiques: The Musical.
In April and May 2008, Lawrence took the lead role in
Tom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's
HapgoodHapgood is a play by Tom Stoppard, first produced in 1988. It is mainly about espionage, focusing on a British female spymaster and her juggling of career and motherhood...
at the
Birmingham Repertory TheatreBirmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
and later at the
West Yorkshire PlayhouseThe West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...
in which she was a secret spymaster given the task of exposing a traitor who is leaking vital information to the Russians. She will be co-directing The Time Step, a comedy about fantasies and talent contests, with Linda Marlow from 30 July at the
Edinburgh FestivalThe Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
.
Lawrence appeared as Madame Ranevskaya in a new version of
ChekhovAnton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's
The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
, translated by
Tom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
, at the
Birmingham Repertory TheatreBirmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
in autumn 2010.
Television and film
Lawrence came to public attention as a regular guest on the
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
improvisationImprovisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
al comedy series
Whose Line Is It Anyway?Whose Line Is It Anyway? is a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a British radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for the UK's Channel 4, for a 10 series run...
at its launch in 1988. A talented singer, Lawrence's speciality on Whose Line was her ability to improvise songs on the spot. She was the first female performer to regularly perform and featured on the show until 1997, which was the final UK series to be made in London. She also performed in two episodes of the American edition of the show in 1999.
In 1991, she had her own short-lived comedy series Josie, also on Channel 4. The next year she starred in
Enchanted AprilEnchanted April is the second film adaptation Elizabeth von Arnim's 1922 novel, The Enchanted April. The novel was adapted as a Broadway play in 1925, and as an RKO Radio film in 1935 - both using the same title as the novel. The 1992 film release received several Golden Globe and Academy Award...
a British remake of the 1935 film based on Elizabeth von Arnim's novel. Her other television work includes the comedy series
Not with a BangNot with a Bang was a short-lived British television sitcom produced by London Weekend Television in 1990. It ran for seven episodes, each 30 minutes long, before being cancelled due to poor ratings and a stagnant plot. The show was a dark science fiction comedy, focusing on the end of the human...
and Downwardly Mobile, and she is remembered for her performances as Maggie Costello in the cricketing comedy drama
Outside EdgeOutside Edge is a play by Richard Harris about a cricket team trying to win a game of cricket whilst sorting out their various marital problems.-Plot:...
alongside
Timothy SpallTimothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
and
Brenda BlethynBrenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
, for which she was awarded the Spectacle Wearer of the Year award in 1993. She went on to perform in Sealed with a Loving Kiss and Lunch in the Park as part of the
Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
series on 16 February 1996 and 21 October 1997. She appeared in the 1999 made-for-TV movie The Flint Street Nativity as both Debbie Bennett and Debbie's mother. In 2001 she played Camilla in A Many Splintered Thing.
In 2006 she starred alongside
Peter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
in
The Complete Guide to ParentingThe Complete Guide to Parenting is an ITV comedy drama, starring Peter Davison as George Huntley, Professor of Child Psychology at London University, best-selling author of Hey Mum & Dad, Get Your Act Together and LBC resident parenting guru. He finds his so-called parenting expertise put to the...
as Phoebe Huntley. She has also recently appeared in the BBC 1 drama series Robin Hood and as Mrs Jiniwin in the 2007 ITV adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop. She appeared in an episode of the 2007 E4 teen comedy/drama
SkinsSkins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
, playing Liz Jenkins, estranged mother of
Sid JenkinsSidney "Sid" Jenkins is a fictional character in the television series Skins portrayed by Mike Bailey. In the first series, Sid is portrayed as a nice guy stereotype, an unlucky virgin who is nervous around girls, and has low self-esteem. Tony Stonem is his role model, whom he frequently looks up to...
, a role which she reprised in the second series.
She has appeared as a guest on the panel show games
QIQI is a British comedy panel game television quiz show created and co-produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. Most of the questions are extremely obscure, making it unlikely that the correct answer will be given...
and
Never Mind the BuzzcocksNever Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...
.
Lawrence joined the cast of
EastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
in March 2009. She played Amanda Best, an old flame of
Minty PetersonRichard "Rick" Peterson is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Cliff Parisi. He made his first appearance on 11 March 2002. His nickname was given to him because he was always late for work, turning up "after eight" when he was an apprentice mechanic...
. She left the cast of EastEnders in February 2010.
She was featured with
Meera SyalMeera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
in a celebrity special of
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
that aired on 31 January 2009.
She appeared in series 25, episode 3 of Casualty named The Chaos Theory. Lawrence played Mrs Haines head teacher of a school where sixteen children were admitted to the E.D owing to having taken LSD.
Josie plays the part of Sandra, Tony's agent, in
the 2010 British feature film versionRound Ireland with a Fridge is a 2010 film released in September 2010 by Fridge D'Or Productions. The film is based on Tony Hawks's internationally best selling book of the same name and was written by and stars Tony....
of
Tony HawksAntony Gordon Hawksworth, better known as Tony Hawks, is a British comedian and author.-Early life:Born in Brighton in 1960, Hawks was educated at Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School and Brighton College...
' best selling book Round Ireland with a Fridge that was released in September 2010 and is scheduled to come out on DVD on 8 November 2010.
Radio
Lawrence starred in three series of the improvised comedy series
The Masterson InheritanceThe Masterson Inheritance was an improvised comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1993 to 1995 billed as "an improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself." There were three series and two Christmas specials...
from 1993 to 1995 on
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
alongside
Paul MertonPaul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...
, Phelim McDermott,
Caroline QuentinCaroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...
,
Lee SimpsonLee Simpson is a British actor and comedian best known as a member of the improvisational group The Comedy Store Players.He has appeared in a number of roles, including the sitcoms Terry and Julian and Drop The Dead Donkey, the films Paper Mask and Nuns On The Run, and played a key role in...
and Jim Sweeney. Each episode comprised a different time period, and the plots were improvised based on suggestions from the studio audience. One unaired episode was produced and narrated by Lawrence, but it was released on the internet by Jim Sweeney on his
official site.
The
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
series The Lawrence Sweeney Mix aired from 27 February to 20 March 2007 and was described as "Josie Lawrence and Jim Sweeney create improvised sketches from audience suggestions". Series 2 began airing on 29 January 2008.
She starred in two other
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
comedy series: the
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
comedy
MarriedMarried is a BBC radio comedy with science fiction themes, first aired on BBC Radio 4. The main character is Robin Lightfoot, a confirmed bachelor with a successful architectural practice, who wakes up one day in a parallel universe in which he is married with two children...
in 1996 and the dark comedy series
VentVent is a dark comedy series produced for BBC Radio 4 in 2006. It is written by Nigel Smith. The producer is Gareth Edwards.The story revolves around an unsuccessful writer named Ben , who is in a coma...
in 2006 as well as appearing in a
Galton and SimpsonRay Galton OBE , and Alan Simpson OBE , are British scriptwriters who met in 1948 at a tuberculosis sanatorium, the Surrey county sanatorium near Godalming, on which the sitcom Get Well Soon was based...
Radio Playhouse 50th Anniversary recording of Clicquot et Fils alongside
Richard GriffithsRichard Griffiths, OBE is an English actor of stage, film and television. He has received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actor and a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor...
and
Roger Lloyd PackRoger Lloyd-Pack is an English actor known for his roles in the TV shows The Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools and Horses and The Old Guys.-Career:...
that originally aired on 29 December 1998.
Lawrence made her debut appearance in the long-running BBC Radio 4 show
Just A MinuteJust a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game chaired by Nicholas Parsons. Its first transmission on Radio 4 was on 22 December 1967, three months after the station's launch. The Radio 4 programme won a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award in 2003....
on 7 January 2008 and returned again in the following series.
Audio books
Lawrence has lent her voice to several audiobooks, the majority of which were books for children. She has recorded several of the books in
Roger Hargreaves'Charles Roger Hargreaves was an English author and illustrator of children's books, notably the Mr. Men and Little Miss series, intended for very young readers...
Little MissMr. Men is a series of 49 children's books by Roger Hargreaves commencing in 1971. Two of these books were not published in English. The series features characters with names such as Mr. Tickle and Mr. Happy who have personalities based on their names...
series, namely, Bossy, Giggles, Trouble, Tiny,
SunshineLittle Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...
, Naughty, Somersault and Neat and four of
Jacqueline Wilson'sDame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, FRSL is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature. Her novels have been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such challenging themes as adoption, divorce and mental illness...
books, Secrets,
The Illustrated MumThe Illustrated Mum is an acclaimed children's novel by English author Jacqueline Wilson, with drawings by Nick Sharratt. The title is a reference to The Illustrated Man, a 1951 novel by Ray Bradbury....
,
Bad GirlsBad Girls is an award-winning British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1999 to 2006. It is produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road...
and
The Bed and Breakfast StarThe Bed and Breakfast Star is a children's novel by British author Jacqueline Wilson.-Plot:Elsa is a bright and lively young girl who has dreams to become a comedienne. When her stepfather loses his job, her family, including her baby half-brother Hank and half-sister Pippa, are forced to move into...
. She has also recorded books from Emma Thomson's
Felicity WishesFelicity Wishes is a British children's book series created by Emma Thomson. Books include story books, activity books, picture books and annuals. The popularity of the books led to the launch of a Felicity Wishes magazine and several other products....
,
Eric Hill'sEric Gordon Hill OBE is a popular author and illustrator of children's picture books, best known for his character Spot the Dog...
Spot the DogSpot the Dog is a series of children's books by Eric Hill, which were later made into a popular children's animation series, known as Spot, for BBC television by David McKee's King Rollo Films....
and
Tony Bradman'sTony Bradman is an English author of children's books, best known for the Dilly the Dinosaur series. He is the author of over 50 books for young people published by multiple houses including Alfred A. Knopf, Methuen Publishing, Puffin Books, and HarperCollins.Bradman earned an M.A...
Dilly the Dinosaur, as well as
Philip Ridley'sPhilip Ridley is a British artist working with various media.- Biography :Ridley was born in Bethnal Green, in the East End of London, where he still lives and works. He studied painting at St. Martin’s School of Art and his work has been exhibited throughout Europe and Japan...
Mercedes Ice and
Julia Donaldson'sJulia Catherine Donaldson MBE is an English writer and playwright, best known as author of The Gruffalo and other children's books, many illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Of her 157 published works, 56 are widely available in bookshops...
Room on the Broom.
For adults, Lawrence has recorded tapes of
Rosie ThomasRosie Thomas is an American singer-songwriter, originally from Michigan. It was through mutual friends that she met Trey Many and began playing shows with Velour 100. They recorded one EP together and played a few short tours, where she met Damien Jurado and Pedro the Lion...
's Sun at Midnight,
Lynee TrussLynne Truss is an English writer and journalist, best known for her popular book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.-Early life:...
's
Going LocoGoing Loco is a farcical comic novel by the author Lynn Truss. It focuses on the life of Belinda, a writer who is obsessed with the idea of doubles or doppelgangers in fiction, unaware that real life doubles of one sort or another are surrounding her day to day life....
and
Daphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's
Jamaica InnJamaica Inn is a novel by the English writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936. It was later made into a film, also called Jamaica Inn, by Alfred Hitchcock...
.
Video games
Her latest voice-over role was as a peasant in the
Assassin's CreedAssassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...
action/adventure game from
UbisoftUbisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
. She also appeared on the 1992/1993 series of
GamesMasterGamesMaster was a British television show, screened on Channel 4 from 1992 to 1998, and was the first ever UK television show dedicated to computer and video games.-Origins:...
, playing
Mad Dog McCreeMad Dog McCree is the first live-action laserdisc video game released by American Laser Games. It originally appeared as an arcade shooting game in 1990....
winning her challenge.
Charity
In 2003 Lawrence spent eight months walking across China, Cuba, Peru and Tanzania for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and helped to raise over £550,000. She had to wear a knee brace throughout the trek because of damage to her anterior cruciate ligament.
In 2005 she climbed
Mount KilimanjaroKilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...
for Sunfield, a school for children with autism and complex learning needs, of which she is a patron. On 21 April 2008, she hosted a VIP-night performance of Hapgood at The Birmingham Rep in aid of Sunfield and raised a further £3,500 for the charity. She is also a supporter of the
National Autistic SocietyThe National Autistic Society is a British charity for people with autistic spectrum disorders , including autism and Asperger's Syndrome. The purpose of the organisation is primarily to improve of the lives of people with Autism in the United Kingdom.Founded in 1962 as the Autistic Children's Aid...
's Make School Make Sense campaign. In 2009, Lawrence raised £25,000 for Sunfield by appearing on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire with
Meera SyalMeera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
.
Lawrence and actor
Shane RichieShane Richie is an English actor, comedian, singer and media personality, known for his portrayal of the character Alfie Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.-Early life and career beginnings:...
participated in the final leg of the celebrity
Around the World in 80 DaysAround the World in 80 Days is a British travel documentary series made to support the annual BBC Children in Need charity appeal in 2009. It sees twelve celebrities attempt to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days without using air transport, recreating the journey of Phileas Fogg and Michael...
challenge to raise money for
Children in Need 2009Children in Need 2009 was a campaign held in the United Kingdom to raise money for Children in Need. It culminated in a live broadcast on BBC One which began on the evening of Friday 20 November and ran through to the morning of Saturday 21 November. The broadcast was hosted by Terry Wogan, Tess...
. They travelled from
MemphisMemphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
to
Wilmington, North CarolinaWilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
and then to
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
over 15 days.
Honours and personal life
She resides in
South HackneySouth Hackney is a district in the London Borough of Hackney situated north east of Charing Cross.It is immediately north of Victoria Park and the area centred on Victoria Park Road and Lauriston Road...
,
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and is unmarried. She has two cats, a long-haired ginger (Aynuk) and a black-and-white (Ayli), named after the
Black CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
characters
Aynuk and AyliAynuk and Ayli are two mythical characters from the Black Country that figure in a large number of local jokes. Their names are literal, phoentical translations of the names Enoch and Eli into the Black Country accent...
, who feature prominently in jokes about Black Country dialect. In addition to performing, she also paints watercolours. She is also single as she quoted in a interview with good friend
Jim SweeneyMichael James Dominic Sweeney , best known as Jim Sweeney, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his improvisation partnership with Steve Steen....
, "It's always the same: 'You're 41, and not married and no kids', God, I'm so bored with it" [having to explain herself].
In 1996, Dartington awarded her an honorary doctorate of arts, and she has since been awarded a further two, the second an honorary doctorate of letters from the
University of WolverhamptonThe University of Wolverhampton is a British university located on four campuses across the West Midlands and Shropshire. The city campus is located in Wolverhampton city centre with a second campus at Compton Park, Wolverhampton; a third in Walsall and a fourth in Telford...
in 2004 and the third in 2006 awarded by
Aston UniversityAston University is a "plate glass" campus university situated at Gosta Green, in the city centre of Birmingham, England.Established in 1895 as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School, Aston was granted its Royal Charter as Aston University on 22 April 1966...
for services to the entertainment industry.
External links