'''Jennifer Jane Saunders''' (born July 6, 1958 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire) is an English comedian, actress, and comedy writer. She is one-half of the comedy duo, French and Saunders (with Dawn French), and is most widely known for writing and starring in the popular British sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous.''
Biography
Early years
Saunders attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. It was at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, in 1977, that she met her future partner, Dawn French, and as far as Saunders was concerned, French was a cocky little upstart. The animosity was mutual; French considered Saunders snooty and aloof. French had already been to drama classes, whereas Saunders had enrolled on the course only under pressure from her mother, who hoped that as her daughter had failed to get into university, she might salvage a future as a drama teacher. The two performed together after graduation, working the festival, cabaret, and stand-up circuits. They were a central part of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s.
Dawn's and Jennifer's double-act personae had been created and honed on stage, playing the London clubs and fringe cabaret venues in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Subsequent acting appearances as part of ''The Comic Strip Presents'' troupe, and in the sitcoms ''
Girls on Top'' and ''
Happy Families'' had added further strings to their bows. The women had a firm idea on the type of show they wanted to make and wrote the sketches themselves, which resulted in a quirky mixture of satire, slapstick, sparky impressionism, and other kinds of skits from a female perspective, the sum total successfully managing to bridge the gap between the new wave and the mainstream. For the first four series they were joined by the spoof middle-of-the-road comedy cabaret duo, Raw Sex, (Rowland Rivron and Simon Brint), who also supported in the sketches.
She and French created ''
French & Saunders'', a popular sketch comedy show for the BBC, which still runs sporadically to this day.
Both comedians are able to play a seemingly endless array of roles in parodies ranging from Fellini to ''Baywatch'', to The White Stripes. The shows are still only available on video in heavily edited "best of" compilations.
Saunders' biggest solo success, ''
Absolutely Fabulous'', was in fact based largely on a ''
French & Saunders'' sketch called "Modern Mother and Daughter".
Jennifer Saunders came to international attention for ''
Absolutely Fabulous'', which she created, wrote, and starred in as the irrepressible, irresponsible,
