Jennifer Saunders

Acting

Jennifer Saunders

Born 1958-07-06 · Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, UK

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.

Acting credits

Coraline poster
7.9

Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.

Coraline

2009

Shrek 2 poster
7.3

Happily ever after never seemed so far far away when a trip to meet the in-laws turns into a hilariously twisted adventure for Shrek and Fiona. With the help of ever-faithful Donkey, Shrek takes on the potion-brewing Fairy Godmother, pompous Prince Charming, and infamous ogre-killer Puss In Boots.

Shrek 2

2004

Sing 2 poster
7.8

Buster and his new cast now have their sights set on debuting a new show at the Crystal Tower Theater in glamorous Redshore City. But with no connections, he and his singers must sneak into the Crystal Entertainment offices, run by the ruthless wolf mogul Jimmy Crystal, where the gang pitches the ridiculous idea of casting the lion rock legend Clay Calloway in their show. Buster must embark on a quest to find the now-isolated Clay and persuade him to return to the stage.

Sing 2

2021

Minions poster
6.4

Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.

Minions

2015

Death on the Nile poster
6.4

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.

Death on the Nile

2022

Sing poster
7.1

A koala named Buster recruits his best friend to help him drum up business for his theater by hosting a singing competition.

Sing

2016

The Magic Faraway Tree poster
6.2

A modern family relocates to the countryside where the children discover a magical tree with eccentric residents. They're transported to fantastical lands, rekindling their family bond through adventures.

The Magic Faraway Tree

2026

Muppet Treasure Island poster
6.7

Young Jim Hawkins and his two best friends, Gonzo and Rizzo, embark on a voyage across the high seas in search of buried treasure, but soon find that not everyone onboard can be trusted.

Muppet Treasure Island

1996

200% Wolf poster
6.7

When Freddy Lupin's wayward wish transforms him into a werewolf and deposits a mischievous moon sprite on Earth, Freddy must restore the cosmic order before the earth and moon collide.

200% Wolf

2024

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie poster
5.3

Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they're accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing around London's trendiest hotspots. Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

2016

Spice World poster
4.9

World famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans.

Spice World

1997

Stick Man poster
6.8

Stick Man lives in the family tree with his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three, and he's heading on an epic adventure across the seasons. Will he get back to his family in time for Christmas?

Stick Man

2015

Isn't It Romantic poster
6.2

For a long time, Natalie, an Australian architect living in New York City, had always believed that what she had seen in rom-coms is all fantasy. But after thwarting a mugger at a subway station only to be knocked out while fleeing, Natalie wakes up and discovers that her life has suddenly become her worst nightmare—a romantic comedy—and she is the leading lady.

Isn't It Romantic

2019

Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps poster
6.5

Three Mysterious Curses, two lost souls... and one incredibly difficult dance. A lowly goatherd seeks out a reclusive witch to break the evil enchantment that has long kept him from taking a wife. When he completes the three impossible trials the witch prescribes, the man earns the hand of the legendary Princess, only heir of the Old King of the Cursed Kingdom. But when he arrives at the altar with a perfect fairytale ending hanging in the balance, both the goatherd and mysterious witch who helped transform him into the perfect eligible bachelor find that there is one enchantment they can't figure out how to break... true love.

Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps

2024

British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves poster
5.7

Documentary celebrating the British sitcom and taking a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. We enjoy a trip through the comedy archive in the company of the people who made some of the very best British sitcoms. From The Likely Lads to I'm Alan Partridge, we find out the inspiration behind some of the most-loved characters and how they reflect the times they were living in.

British Sitcom: 60 Years of Laughing at Ourselves

2016

Dusty poster
8.0

A career retrospective celebrating the timeless music of one of the world's greatest singer–Dusty Springfield. For the first time, Dusty contributes to her own intriguing story with plenty of outrageous assistance from hosts Jennifer Sanders and Dawn French.

Dusty

1994

Patrick poster
6.7

A woman's chaotic life becomes more complicated when she inherits her grandmother's dog.

Patrick

2018

Virginia Woolf's Night & Day poster
6.5

In 1910 London, independent-minded Katharine Hilbery defies her family's expectations of marriage to pursue a career in astronomy. But when her father pressures her into an unwanted engagement, her resolve is tested. Through new friendships—including a bold suffragette and a thoughtful editor—Katharine begins to question the limits placed on her by society, love, and tradition, ultimately searching for a path that is truly her own.

Virginia Woolf's Night & Day

2026

Gino: Full Story and Pics poster
NR

A hoodlum is turned into a celebrity when he steals a cab and subsequent events are blown out of proportion by the media.

Gino: Full Story and Pics

1984

People's Emergency Briefing poster
NR

Last November, ten of the UK’s leading experts briefed an invited audience of over 1,200 politicians and leaders from business, culture, faith, sport and the media. The briefing set out the implications of climate and nature breakdown for health, food systems, national security and the economy. The People's Emergency Briefing presents the national implications of climate and nature breakdown - along with credible, positive responses - in a single, accessible account. A new film featuring Chris Packham, leading scientists, a former general and Jennifer Saunders - all being far too frank about where things are heading and what can be done about it.

People's Emergency Briefing

2026

The Supergrass poster
6.1

While taking a holiday in the country with his mother, Dennis hits on a scheme to impress a girl so that she'll go away on a trip with him as his girlfriend. Although he fails to gain any interest from the girl, the police take a great interest in his story. From this point on, Dennis digs a deeper hole for himself at every turn

The Supergrass

1985

Allelujah poster
5.2

When news of the closure of a small hospital's geriatric ward begins to reach the community, the hospital invites a local news crew to document their planning of a concert in honor of the hospital's most celebrated nurse. But there might be something more threatening to the hospital itself, more deadly than the politicians ready to shut down the place at a moment's notice.

Allelujah

2023

Summer School poster
NR

A motley band of suburbanites arrives at a summer school to simulate life in an Iron Age village. However, the village is right in the middle of a modern university campus which somewhat detracts from its air of authenticity.

Summer School

1983

Eat the Rich poster
6.2

Alex is a disgruntled waiter at a snobby exclusive restaurant who falls on hard times. Forced to deal with the contempt and disgust of the upper class, Alex & cohorts attempt to go on a rampage. Meanwhile, General Karprov and Spider plot to involve the inept anarchists into their plans to derail the prime-minister-to-be's campaign.

Eat the Rich

1987

Behind the camera

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie poster
5.3

Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they're accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing around London's trendiest hotspots. Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi. Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forever more!

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

2016

Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout poster
7.3

Eddy and Patsy prepare to go on a skiing holiday to hopefully indulge in the jet-setting lifestyle of the international celebrity elite when Saffy is proposed to by her stuffy, upper-class boyfriend, Paolo. Eddy hits the slopes and has a near death experience where God appears to her and tells her it's not yet her time. When Eddy comes to, she waits for a sign that she should get involved in Saffy's wedding. As she returns to the house, it appears all hell has broken loose- relatives piling up, practically squatting, and Saffy about to lose her mind. Eddy calms her by throwing money at her as they bond together, planning Saffy's dream wedding. What could go wrong?

Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout

1996

Absolutely Fabulous poster
4.9

Middle-aged best friends Eddie and Patsy live in an endless haze of drugged, drunken selfishness. The duo leave no impulse unenacted and no lust unsated — be it for sex or the latest in designer clothing. Waking up from a night of drunken debauchery, the two dip right into a feast of champagne and caviar, much to the irritation of Eddie's elegant mother and her resentful daughter. As Eddie stretches an appalling pair of leopard-print leotards (complete with matching shoes, purse, and hat) over her massive rear end, she and Patsy learn of a handsome young rollerblading delivery boy who quickly becomes the object of their lust.

Absolutely Fabulous

2001

Mirrorball poster
8.0

Vivienne Keill and Jackie Riviera are a couple of aging stage actresses who live in vertically adjacent flats. The two are of questionable talent, and their careers seem to be at a standstill. During the course of the pilot, Vivienne has the opportunity to be cast in a new show but delivers a horrifying rendition of the standard "Send in the Clowns", thanks in part to Jackie's off-kilter advice.

Mirrorball

2000

The Comic Strip poster
8.0

A tongue-in-cheek "behind the scenes" look at the Comic Strip comedy club in the early 1980s, which gave rise to 'The Comic Strip Presents'

The Comic Strip

1981

Slags poster
2.0

Teen-age gang leaders Passion and Little Sister are released from prison, only to find that their gang the Slags has disbanded due to a rival gang, the Hawaiians, who wear garlands and drink Pina Coladas.

Slags

1984

French And Saunders - Christmas Special '88 poster
NR

Parodies of Christmas movies, hair gel ads, and Bananarama.

French And Saunders - Christmas Special '88

1988

French and Saunders' Christmas Carol poster
NR

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders reprise some of their favourite characters for a yuletide airing, while Charles Dickens and the Oscar-winning film The Piano feel the lash of their satirical humour.

French and Saunders' Christmas Carol

1994

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again poster
7.6

Jennifer Saunders and a host of famous faces star in this hilarious Comic Relief reimagining of the hit movie featuring some of ABBA's biggest hits as well as a peek behind the scenes.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Yet Again

2019

French & Saunders: Still Alive poster
5.2

French and Saunders, Britain’s most celebrated female comedians, bring their final ever sell-out Still Alive tour to DVD! Catch the last chance to watch the infectious duo in their side-splitting comedy tour featuring the best of their characters and sketches from the past three decades, together with brand new material written by the first ladies of comedy. Filmed at Cardiff, the Still Alive tour is a lively, fun and celebratory farewell from French and Saunders to their fans and to each other after 30 years of comedy genius – don’t miss it!

French & Saunders: Still Alive

2008

How to Be Absolutely Fabulous poster
7.0

Jennifer Saunders hosts a party of AbFab outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage.

How to Be Absolutely Fabulous

1995

Absolutely Fabulous: A Life poster
7.7

During the filming of her very own documentary, 'A Day in My Life', Edina drops in on her mother who's working in a Help the Aged charity shop. There, she reminisces about the people and events which have made her what she is today.

Absolutely Fabulous: A Life

1998

French & Saunders - Live poster
8.3

For the first time in 10 years, see Britain's funniest double act French & Saunders at their hilarious LIVE best... Together they perform their unique brand of humour to standing ovations and critical acclaim in this theatrical comedy spectacular.

French & Saunders - Live

2000

Consuela (or, The New Mrs Saunders) poster
NR

Jessica, the second Mrs Saunders, arrives with her new husband John at his country estate. Very much left to her own devices she is unnerved by the power that Consuela, the sinister Spanish housekeeper,seems to wield, comparing her to John's first wife and forbidding her to enter a mysterious locked room.

Consuela (or, The New Mrs Saunders)

1986

The Best of French & Saunders poster
NR

A compilation of all the best sketches from Britain's favourite female comedy double-act. They are all here - the music numbers, Hollywood spoofs, the uncannily perceptive mickey-taking of our various - and particularly female - obsessions, and much, much more.

The Best of French & Saunders

2002

No artwork available
NR

The Doctor is on trial... again but this time he is disputed by some Silurians, or more accurately the people who played them.

The Silurian Disruption

1987