A British comedian and actress.
Daisy Donovan was born in about 1974 to Diana and renowned London photographer Terrence Donovan. With her mother also involved in performance and ballet, she grew up in a glamorous environment. Daisy went to the public (i.e. private) St Paul's Girls School in Hammersmith. She studied Classics at the University of Cambridge, but left in the middle of the course, going instead to Edinburgh University to study Performing Arts, which she completed. She went on to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
She had a number of performing jobs throughout the late nineties, appearing on stage as well as a couple of walk-on parts in films, such as the Spice Girls' Spice World.
Daisy's big break came in 1998 with The 11 o'clock show, the show that made Ali G and Ricky Gervais famous. She started off doing occasional pieces but became a full presenter by the second series.
She famously forced politicians to admit a variety of sexual acts by confusing them, such as this interview with Denis Healy, the former Chancellor, about Margaret Thatcher
DENIS – She was very dogmatic, er…
DAISY - Was she the sort of person you’d give a nice pearl necklace to?
DENIS – I wouldn’t give a pearl necklace to her, I wouldn’t give a pearl necklace to anyone except my wife…
Daisy laughs.
DENIS – Or maybe you if you’re very, very nice to me for the rest of the interview.
DAISY – Ooh, I hope so.
Source: The Unofficial 11 O'Clock Show page, http://www.angelfire.com/tv/11Show/
After the 11 o'clock show, Daisy got a small part in the BBC comedy My Family. However she left after the first series, before it became really popular.
In 2002, she presented the less-than-mediocre Does Doug Know?. It has been suggested that Does Doug Know was on so late at night (11pm) is so thirteen year old boys can have some, ahem, quality time alone in their bedrooms to watch Daisy, without arousing parents' suspicion.
Daisy, Daisy was the first series which Daisy both wrote and starred in. She took on a different task each week, such as marrying a count, winning a beauty pagent, or singing with a rock band. In essense, the spent the entire show making fun of her subject matter, more subtly than Ali G but with similar results. The show attracted mixed reviews.
Daisy is now moving more into other areas of performing. She has recently starred in the West End show "The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband", and is currently (June 2003) filming "Millions", directed by Danny Boyle and also starring James Nesbitt.
Daisy has a certain look about her, something like wide-eyed
naive innocence, even
embarrassment combined with a knowing twinkle that makes her seem like a ten-year-old who has heard something
rude. It is this look that deceives
interviewees but helps the viewer get the joke. It probably also helped her onto the
FHM Top 100 Women list for three years running --
2000-
2002
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http://www.angelfire.com/tv/11Show/Daisy/Information.html