Daisy Constance Donovan (born 23 July 1973) is an English television presenter, actress and writer.

Early life

Donovan was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Her father was fashion photographer and film director Terence Donovan; her mother, Diana (''née'' St. Felix Dare), was chairwoman of the

English National Ballet School English National Ballet School is a specialist classical ballet school based in London in the United Kingdom. The School was founded in 1988 by Peter Schaufuss as the official school of English National Ballet. The School's current artistic d ...

. She is sister to

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

co-founder Terry Donovan and half-sister to

Big Audio Dynamite Big Audio Dynamite (later known as Big Audio Dynamite II and Big Audio, and often abbreviated BAD) were an English band, formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones (The Clash guitarist), Mick Jones, former lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of th ...

keyboard player Dan Donovan – and former sister-in-law of

Patsy Kensit Patricia Jude Francis Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Birds Eye frozen peas. She went on to appear in films ...

.Leith, William (30 March 2002
"Queen of Cringe"
''The Guardian''. Retrieved 5 February 2016. Donovan went to the independent

St Paul's Girls School St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in west London, England. The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the world's 150 best private schools and among top ...

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, London. She started reading

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

before switching to study English at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where she performed with the Drama Society. She then studied at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

Career

Donovan became a receptionist, and then a runner on the first series of ''

The Eleven O'Clock Show ''The 11 O'Clock Show'' was a satirical late-night British television comedy series on Channel 4 which featured topical sketches and commentary on news items. It ran between 30 September 1998 and 8 December 2000, most notably hosted by Iain Lee ...

''. 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 An "it girl" is an attractive, well-known young woman who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th&nbs ...

" Pandora Box-Grainger. In the second series she presented shorts, 'Angel of Delight', in which she interviewed politicians (she once asked

Denis Healey Denis Winston Healey, Baron Healey (30 August 1917 – 3 October 2015) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 and as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970; he remains the lo ...

whether he would ever give

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

a "pearl necklace") and got the co-host job with

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English former broadcaster, writer, and television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show ''The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career began ...

from late 1999–2000. In 2000, Donovan was featured prominently in series one of sitcom ''

My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...

'', playing Brigitte, Ben's annoying, superstitious

dental assistant Dental assistants are members of the dental team. They support a dental operator (such as a dentist or other treating dental auxiliary) in providing more efficient dentistry, dental treatment. ''Dental assistants'' are distinguished from other gr ...

. 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. 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), '' Wild Child'' (2008) and ''

I Give it a Year ''I Give It a Year'' is a 2013 romantic comedy film, written and directed by Dan Mazer in his directorial debut. It stars Rose Byrne, Rafe Spall, Anna Faris and Simon Baker. Set and filmed in London, it was released on 8 February 2013. Mazer w ...

'' (2012).

Personal life

In 2005 she married her longtime boyfriend,

Dan Mazer Daniel Gideon Mazer (born 4 October 1971) is a British director, screenwriter, producer, and comedian. He is best known as the long-time writing and production partner of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and worked with him on his three unorthodox cha ...

, a comedy writer and producer, in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. They have two daughters, Maisy and Mini Ivy. She lives in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Daisy 1973 births Living people Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English film actresses English women writers English stage actresses English television presenters Participants in American reality television series People educated at St Paul's Girls' School British women television presenters Actresses from London English women comedians Comedians from London