Has a deep and abiding interest in helping women of size find attractive clothing. Has thereby co-authored two books on knitting, "Big Knits" and "Great Big Knits" as well as founding a clothing store carrying fashionable and affordable designs.
Was revealed that she and partner Jennifer Saunders declined Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) honors "for services to comedy drama" in 2001. [December 2003]
Dawn French Detailed Biography -
Dawn French (born 1957) is a British comedienne probably best known as one half of the comic duo French & Saunders.
French first came to public attention as a member of The Comic Strip -- part of the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s. Here she met her future husband Lenny Henry, with whom she has an adopted daughter.
After her success with French & Saunders, her first project was Murder Most Horrid a dark comedy satire of murder mysteries.
Her biggest solo television role to date has been as the title figure in the long running BBC comedy The Vicar of Dibley, created by Richard Curtis.
Since finishing The Vicar of Dibley, she starred in the BBC sitcom Wild West, in which she plays a woman living in Cornwall who is a lesbian more through lack of choice than any specific natural urge. This series was not met with as much success as her earlier role.
She played the Fat Lady in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, replacing the less well known actress Elizabeth Spriggs who played her in the first film of the series.
As a particularly large woman she is known for her efforts to promote the notion that big can be beautiful. As part of this she has her own line of clothes, Sixteen 47, deriving its name from the statistic that 47% of the British female population are at least a size 16. The aim of this label is to produce clothes that larger woman can look beautiful in, rather than dowdy clothes designed for pensioners and middle aged women.
For her large size and admitted chocoholism, she was chosen as the face of the confection, Terry's Chocolate Orange using the slogan they're not Terry's; they're mine
