Jane Horrocks

Biography

Jane Horrocks (born Barbara Jane Horrocks in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, on 18 January 1964) is a British actress known across film, television, theatre and voice work. She is best remembered for playing Bubble, the assistant to Edina Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous, and for a distinctive voice that often draws on her Lancashire accent. Her career spans British television drama, independent cinema and stage musicals, and she is one of the most versatile performers of her generation.

Raised in a working-class family in the north of England, she showed a gift for mimicry as a child. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she studied alongside Ralph Fiennes and Imogen Stubbs, and started out with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She left the company to work with the writer Jim Cartwright. In the late 1980s she appeared in British series and television films. Her breakthrough on screen came in 1990 with two films: Nicolas Roeg's The Witches, in which she plays the Grand High Witch's put-upon assistant, and Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet, which won her strong reviews. In 1992 Absolutely Fabulous made her a household name, and she stayed with the show until 2016.

Her most celebrated screen role came with Little Voice (1998), an adaptation of the Cartwright play about a shy young woman who can imitate famous singers. Horrocks had already played the part on stage, and she reprised it in the film alongside Michael Caine, Brenda Blethyn and Ewan McGregor. The film and her performance earned nominations at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her accent, which she was once advised to lose, became part of her appeal and brought her work, particularly in America.

She has also become a familiar voice in animation, giving voices to Babs in Chicken Run, Meenie in Garfield 2 and characters in Tinker Bell and Corpse Bride. She has worked regularly on stage in London, including at the Young Vic, and voiced Fenchurch in BBC Radio 4's adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. She lives in Brighton and has two children. Her legacy lies in a career that moves easily between comedy, drama and voice work, and in a presence that audiences recognise at once.

Key films

• The Witches (1990), as the Grand High Witch's assistant.
• Life Is Sweet (1990), Mike Leigh's film that first drew critical attention to her.
• Little Voice (1998), starring as the title character in the film adaptation of Jim Cartwright's play.
• Chicken Run (2000), voicing Babs.
• Garfield 2 (2006), voicing Meenie.
• Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016), returning to the role of Bubble on the big screen.