Daisy Donovan
{{short description|British actor and television presenter (born 1973)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
| birth_name= Daisy Constance Donovan
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|7|23|df=y}}
| birth_place = London,[https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2006/apr/30/7days4.news2 "My Week: Daisy Donovan"]. The Guardian (30 April 2006). Retrieved 5 February 2016. England
| nationality = British
| alma_mater = London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
| spouse = {{marriage|Dan Mazer|2005}}
| children = 2
}}
Daisy Constance Donovan{{Cite web|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06025181/officers|title=GLOBOMAZERCOMULTRACORP LTD people - Find and update company information|website=Find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk|access-date=22 October 2021}} (born 23 July 1973) is an English television presenter, actress and writer.
Early life
Donovan was born in London. Her father was fashion photographer and film director Terence Donovan; her mother, Diana (née St. Felix Dare),{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/25/arts/terence-donovan-60-society-photographer.html |title=Terence Donovan, 60, Society Photographer – New York Times |website=The New York Times |date=25 November 1996 |access-date=23 June 2013}} was chairwoman of the English National Ballet School. She is sister to Rockstar Games co-founder Terry Donovan and half-sister to Big Audio Dynamite keyboard player Dan Donovan – and former sister-in-law of Patsy Kensit.Leith, William (30 March 2002).[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2002/mar/30/weekend.williamleith "Queen of Cringe"]. The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2016. Donovan went to the independent St Paul's Girls School in Hammersmith, London. She started reading Classics at the University of Cambridge before switching to study English at the University of Edinburgh, where she performed with the Drama Society.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity/its-funny-how-being-a-mum-977786 |title=It's funny how being a mum changed Daisy Donovan |publisher=Daily Record |date=20 May 2008 |access-date=23 June 2013}} She then studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.{{cite web |url=http://tbs.com/stories/story/0,,63640,00.html |title=Daisy Does America – Daisy Donovan |website=Tbs.com |access-date=6 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205131448/http://www.tbs.com/stories/story/0%2C%2C63640%2C00.html |archive-date=5 February 2012 |df=dmy }}
Career
Donovan became a receptionist,{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10106670/Daisy-Donovan-I-still-cant-believe-I-asked-Denis-Healey-if-hed-given-Margaret-Thatcher-a-pearl-necklace.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Vicki | last=Power | title=Daisy Donovan: 'I still can't believe I asked Denis Healey if he'd given Margaret Thatcher a pearl necklace' | date=10 June 2013}} and then a runner on the first series of The Eleven O'Clock Show. The producers were looking for a female interviewer who would act straight but use comedic lines, and searched everywhere – until they tried their receptionist, the rather posh-talking Donovan. She made occasional appearance as "It Girl" Pandora Box-Grainger. In the second series she presented shorts, 'Angel of Delight', in which she interviewed politicians (she once asked Denis Healey whether he would ever give Margaret Thatcher a "pearl necklace"){{cite news|author=Liam O'Brien |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-conversation-daisy-donovan-tv-presenter-8665382.html |title=The Conversation: Daisy Donovan, TV presenter – Profiles – People |newspaper=The Independent |date=22 June 2013 |access-date=26 January 2014 |location=London}} and got the co-host job with Iain Lee from late 1999–2000.
In 2000, Donovan was featured prominently in series one of sitcom My Family, playing Brigitte, Ben's annoying, superstitious dental assistant.
In 2002 she played Laura in Debbie Isitt's The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband while it ran at The Ambassadors Theatre in The West End.{{Cite web |title=Theatre review: The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at New Ambassadors |url=https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/womanwhocooked-rev |access-date=2023-08-27 |website=British Theatre Guide |language=en-GB}}
Donovan subsequently hosted quiz shows: Does Doug Know? and the eponymous Daisy Daisy, which she also wrote and produced. In 2006, Donovan presented the British Fashion awards and later presented one series of a programme based in America called Daisy Does America.
Since 2006 she has concentrated on writing screenplays and acting in minor roles. Donovan appeared in Death at a Funeral (2007),{{Cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/daisys-blooming-517576|title=Daisy's blooming|date=2 November 2007|website=Mirror.co.uk|access-date=22 October 2021}} Wild Child (2008) and I Give it a Year (2012).
Personal life
In 2005 she married her longtime boyfriend, Dan Mazer, a comedy writer and producer, in Morocco.{{cite web|url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/style/article522029.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615210109/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/style/article522029.ece |archive-date=15 June 2011 |title=The Times |website=The Times |access-date=6 March 2012}} They have two daughters, Maisy and Mini Ivy.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/dan-mazer-interview-sacha-baron-cohens-partner-in-crime-on-dirty-grandpa-and-the-new-bridget-jones-a6838021.html|title=Dan Mazer interview: Sacha Baron Cohen's partner in crime on Dirty Grandpa and the new Bridget Jones film|newspaper=The Independent|last=Jones|first=Alice|date=January 27, 2016|access-date=May 3, 2017}}
She lives in West London.
Filmography
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="margin-right: 0;" |
| scope="col" | Title
! scope="col" | Role ! scope="col" | Year ! scope="col" | Episode / Series ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| Spiceworld: The Movie
| Reporter | 1997 | | uncredited |
| Still Crazy
| Female Reporter | 1998 | | |
| Parting Shots
| | 1998 | | |
| The Eleven O'Clock Show
| Presenter | 1998–2000 | | |
| The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
| Alexanda / Marina | 1999 | | |
| My Family
| Brigitte | 2000 | Series 1 | |
| Daisy, Daisy
| Host | 2001 | | |
| Does Doug Know?
| Host | 2002 | | |
| Second Nature
| Kristina Kane / Amy O'Brien | 2003 | | |
| Poirot
| Cornelia Robson | 2004 | |
| Coming Up
| Jen | 2004 | "Pillow Talk" | |
| Millions
| Dorothy | 2004 | | |
| Angel's Hell
| Polly | 2005 | | |
| Daisy Does America
| Host | 2005 | | |
| Death at a Funeral
| Martha | 2007 | | |
| Wild Child
| Miss Rees-Withers | 2008 | | |
| The Greatest Shows on Earth
| Host | 2013 | |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|232963|Daisy Donovan}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Daisy}}
Category:Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:English film actresses
Category:English women writers
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English television presenters
Category:Participants in American reality television series
Category:People educated at St Paul's Girls' School
Category:British women television presenters
Category:Actresses from London