Jane Horrocks

Jane Horrocks
Born	Barbara Jane Horrocks (1964-01-18) 18 January 1964 Rawtenstall, Lancashire, England, UK
Occupation	Actress, voice artist, singer
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Nick Vivian

Barbara Jane Horrocks (born 18 January 1964) is an English stage, screen and television actress, voice artist, musician and singer. She played "Bubble" in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous and is known for her distinctive voice and strong Lancashire accent.

Early life

Horrocks, the youngest of three children, was born in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, the daughter of Barbara (née Ashworth), a hospital worker, and John Horrocks, a sales representative. She attended Balladen County Primary School and later trained at Oldham College and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with Imogen Stubbs and Ralph Fiennes, and began her career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She drew critical notice for her performance in the film Life Is Sweet (1991), followed by her award-winning performance in the West End play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice in which she sang all the songs. Horrocks became a name with the role of Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2012).

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

While working on Road, a play directed by Jim Cartwright, Horrocks warmed up by doing singing impressions of Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey and Ethel Merman. Cartwright was so impressed with her mimicry he wrote The Rise and Fall of Little Voice for her. She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1992 West End production, directed by her boyfriend Sam Mendes. She reprised her role in the 1998 screen adaptation, Little Voice, which earned nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture, and the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress.

In 2000, Horrocks made the CD Further Adventures of Little Voice, again singing in the style of favourite divas. The recording includes duets with Ewan McGregor, Robbie Williams and Dean Martin. Horrocks collaborated once more with Robbie Williams the following year, for a cover of the Bobby Darin song "Things" on Williams's album Swing When You're Winning.

Career

Horrocks has appeared on stage in Ask for the Moon (Hampstead, 1986), A Collier's Friday Night (Greenwich, 1987), Valued Friends (Hampstead, 1989), and The Debutante Ball (Hampstead, 1989). She appeared in "Catherine Cookson's The Fifteen Streets, alongside Sean Bean and Owen Teale in 1989, Our Own Kind (Bush, 1991), Deadly Advice (Fletcher, 1993), Cabaret (Donmar Warehouse, 1994), Macbeth (Greenwich Theatre, 1995) and Absurd Person Singular (Garrick Theatre, 2007). Her last West End appearance was in Sweet Panic, the 2003 Stephen Poliakoff drama in which she portrayed a neurotic mother locked in a battle of wills with her disturbed son's psychologist. She starred in Richard Jones's critically acclaimed production of The Good Soul of Szechuan at the Young Vic in 2008, and was reunited with Jones in a new musical production of Annie Get Your Gun, which opened at the Young Vic in October 2009.

Horrocks's voiceovers have been used on Chicken Run (2000), Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001), Corpse Bride (2005), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) and Tinker Bell (2008) (in which she was Fairy Mary; she reprises the role in the Tinker Bell sequels), and on radio as Fenchurch in the audio adaptation of Douglas Adams' science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for BBC Radio 4. She has voiced Donner in all three Robbie the Reindeer films in aid of Comic Relief.

Other television credits include Absolutely Fabulous, Victoria Wood - We'd Quite Like To Apologise, Bad Girl, Boon, Heartland, Hunting Venus, La Nonna, Leaving Home, Never Mind the Horrocks, Nightlife, Wyrd Sisters, Foxbusters, Red Dwarf, Some Kind of Life, Suffer the Little Children, The Storyteller, The Garden, Fifi & the Flowertots, Little Princess (the voice of the princess) and Welcome to the Times. She was the subject of an episode of the genealogy documentary series Who Do You Think You Are? in 2006. That year she played the title role in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, a drama about a woman elected prime minister. For 10 years, Horrocks appeared with Prunella Scales in commercials for the UK supermarket chain Tesco. She narrated BBC2's television series The Speaker in April 2009.

Also in 2009, Horrocks took the lead in the BBC TV production Gracie!, a drama portraying the life of Gracie Fields during World War II and her relationship with the Italian-born director Monty Banks (played by Tom Hollander).

Personal life

Horrocks lives with playwright Nick Vivian in Twickenham with their children, son Dylan and daughter Molly.

Filmography

• 2013: Sunshine on Leith
• 2012: Secret of the Wings (V) (voice) .... Fairy Mary
• 2012: True Love .... Sandra (1 episode, Series 1.4)
• 2011: Phineas and Ferb (voice) .... Eliza Fletcher
• 2011: Trollied (TV) .... Julie Cook (2011-13)
• 2011: Pixie Hollow Games (V) (in production) .... Fairy Mary
• 2010: No One Gets Off in This Town (pre-production)
• 2010: The Road to Coronation Street (TV) .... Margaret Morris
• 2009: Gracie! (TV) .... Gracie Fields
• 2009: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (voice) .... Fairy Mary
• 2008: Tinker Bell (V) (voice) .... Fairy Mary
• 2008: Julio, Jhonnatam and Leonardo Go Wild!: Treehouse of Horror - Hellen, Babs, (as Jane Devil Hell Horroks)
• 2007: Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind' (TV) (voice) .... Donner
• 2006: The Amazing Mrs Pritchard .... Ros Pritchard (6 episodes, 2006)
• 2006: Little Princess .... Little Princess / ... (4 episodes, 2006)
• 2006: Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (voice) .... Meenie
• 2006: The Street (TV) .... Angela Quinn (2 episodes, 2006)
• 2005: Jericho .... Sadie Swettenham (1 episode, 2005)
• 2005: Brothers of the Head .... Roberta Howe
• 2005: Corpse Bride (voice) .... Black Widow Spider / Mrs. Plum
• 2005: Fifi and the Flowertots .... Fifi Forget-Me-Not (40 episodes, 2005)
• 2005: Look I'm Talking (V) .... Presenter
• 2005: Happy Birthday, Peter Pan (TV) (voice) .... Tinkerbell
• 2004: Wheeling Dealing .... Authentic Newsreader
• 2004: The All Star Comedy Show (TV) .... Various Roles
• 2003: Wide-Eye TV series (voice) .... Flea
• 2003: Last Rumba in Rochdale (voice) .... Gran
• 2002: Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe (TV) (voice) .... Donner / Arctic Fox
• 2002: Linda Green .... Teresa Franklin (1 episode, 2002, writer Danny Brocklehurst)
• 2001: Ivor the Invisible (TV) (voice) .... Mum
• 2001: Christmas Carol: The Movie (voice) .... Ghost of Christmas Past
• 2001: Little Big Mouth TV series (voice) .... Krystan
• 2000: Mirrorball (TV) .... Yitta Hilberstam
• 1999: Watership Down .... Hannah (14 episodes, 1999–2000)
• 2000: Born Romantic .... Mo
• 2000: Chicken Run (voice) .... Babs
• 2000: Discover Spot (V) (voice) .... Narrator (UK version)
• 2000: Lion of Oz (voice) .... Wimzik
• 1999: Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire (TV) (voice) .... Donner
• 1999: The Flint Street Nativity (TV) .... Shepherd
• 1999: Foxbusters TV series .... Jeffries
• 1999: Hunting Venus (TV) .... Cassandra
• 1999: Faeries (voice) .... Huccaby
• 1998: Little Voice .... LV (writer, Jim Cartwright)
• 1998: Absolutely Fabulous :Absolutely Not! (1998) (V) .... Bubble
• 1998: Crapston Villas TV series (voice) .... Flossie
• 1997: The Blobs TV series (voice) .... All Voices (1997)
• 1997: Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis .... Marla Dorland/Mavis Davis
• 1997: Wyrd Sisters TV mini-series .... Magrat (unknown episodes)
• 1996: Never Mind the Horrocks (TV) .... Various Roles
• 1996: Tales from the Crypt .... Cammy (1 episode, 1996)
• 1996: Nightlife (TV) .... Helen
• 1996: Combination Skin (voice)
• 1995: Performance .... Doll Tearsheet (1 episode, 1995)
• 1995: Some Kind of Life .... Alison
• 1994: Self Catering (TV) .... Marilyn
• 1994: Second Best .... Debbie
• 1994: Deadly Advice .... Jodie Greenwood
• 1994: Butter (TV) .... Beggar
• 1994: Suffer the Little Children (TV) .... Deborah Hayes
• 1993: Cabaret (TV) .... Sally Bowles
• 1992: Absolutely Fabulous .... Bubble / ... (33 episodes, 1992–2012)
• 1992: Roots (TV)
• 1987: Screenplay .... Louise / ... (2 episodes, 1987–1992)
• 1992: Red Dwarf .... Cdr. Nirvanah Crane (1 episode, 1992)
• 1991: Nona (TV)
• 1991: Screen One .... Gail (1 episode, 1991)
• 1991: Came Out, It Rained, Went Back in Again (TV) .... Learner Lesbian
• 1990: Boon .... Trisha Downey (1 episode, 1990)
• 1990: Life Is Sweet .... Nicola
• 1990: Memphis Belle .... Faith
• 1990: The Witches .... Miss Irvine
• 1989: Alas Smith & Jones (1 episode, 1989)
• 1989: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase .... Pattern
• 1989: Victoria Wood .... Cathy Warburton (1 episode, 1989)
• 1989: Getting It Right .... Jenny
• 1989: Heartland (TV) .... Pam
• 1989: The Fifteen Streets (TV) .... Christine Bracken
• 1988: Ruth Rendell Mysteries .... Pippa Bond (1 episode, 1988)
• 1988: The Storyteller .... Anja (1 episode, 1988)
• 1988: The Dressmaker .... Rita
• 1987: First Sight .... Natalie (1 episode, 1987)

Videoclip

New Order - 1963 (1994)

Awards and honours

• BAFTA Awards (1999): Nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Little Voice (1998)
• British Independent Film Awards (1999): Nomination for Best Actress for Little Voice (1998)
• Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1999): Nomination for Best Actress for Little Voice (1998)
• Golden Globes (1999): Nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -Comedy/Musical, for Little Voice (1998)
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (1991): Won Award for Best Supporting Actress for Life is Sweet (1991)
• National Society of Film Critics Awards (1992): Won Award for Best Supporting Actress for Life Is Sweet
• Satellite Awards (1999): Nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for Little Voice (1998)
• Screen Actors Guild Awards (1999): Nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast, for Little Voice (1998), shared with Annette Badland, Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Michael Caine, Philip Jackson and Ewan McGregor.
• Screen Actors Guild Awards (1999): Nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for Little Voice (1998)
• Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (1994): Won Best Actress Award for Deadly Advice (1994)

External links

• Jane Horrocks at the Internet Movie Database
• BBC interview
• Jane Horrocks on BBC Drama Faces
• The many faces of Jane Horrocks
• Jane Horrocks on Who Do You Think You Are?
• Horrocks as Shirley Bassey on YouTube