Biografia

Originally auditioned for the voice-part of Ursula in La sirenetta (1989) by recording an audio tape, but she was turned down for the part. However, Steven Spielberg heard the tape many years later and by his request, she was cast as the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2 (2004).

Performed all her own singing in Shrek 2 (2004).

Is now in remission after secretly battling Breast Cancer since October 2009.

The Eurythmics' songs "Jennifer", (from the album "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This"), and "Adrian" (from the album "Be Yourself Tonight") are dedicated to her and her husband.

The name of her character, Edina Monsoon, on Absolutely Fabulous (1992) is a play on the name "Eddie Monsoon," which in turn is a play on her husband, Adrian Edmondson's surname that he has used as a character name in comedy performances.

When I was a child, a lot of my time was spent in Scotland because my mother's Scottish, and we used to go up to Ayrshire and visit relations in a place called Dalry.

We were watching the first series recently, and it has a charm, a kind of amateur charm. At that point we didn't involve ourselves technically at all - we just messed about and told our jokes - and it looks a bit like that.

We had this party in New York, and there were a lot of gay men there dressed up as the characters. I showed up just looking like myself, but it was a real case of shame. They looked so fantastic. We could never quite live up to it.

They have become part of us in that if we get dressed up as them, we don't actually have to have a script. You can just become them. You just become nervy.

The reason they keep it so tight is that no one liked them, so that without each other, actually, they couldn't exist. They support each other. They support their flaws and everything else.