Catherine Tate

Born: May 12 1968
Where: London, UK

The actress has graduated to movies after achieving a major success with her TV comedy series The Catherine Tate show.

Big screen outings have included the British comedies Starter for Ten and Sixty Six.

Born in Bloomsbury's Brunswick Centre, she was raised by her florist mother after her parents split before she was born.

As a youngster she attended a Catholic primary school and the Notre Dame high School for Girls before landing a place at London's Central School of Speech and Drama.

She left three years later with a job in The Bill which was followed by enough employment in the first year, including jobs with the RSC and the National Theatre, to prevent any regrets about quitting her A-levels.

TV work began in 1998 with a part in the ensemble comedy series Big Train alongside Simon Pegg and Julia Davis.

In 2000, after persevering with a stand-up routine, she had a small part in comedian Lee Mack's Perrier-nominated Edinburgh show New Bits followed by her own show a year later.

A part in Dawn French's sitcom Wild West followed and then she was offered her own series - The Catherine Tate Show - in 2004.

Hit characters included teenage delinquent Lauren "Am I bovvered" Taylor and Nan Taylor, the foul-mouthed grandmother.

In 2005, she appeared in Neil LaBute's Some Girls with David Schwimmer in London's West End and also had a brief role in Doctor Who, as a runaway bride.

Recent roles include the part of a Jewish aunt in the period comedy Sixty Six and a soon-to-be-divorcee in Scenes of a Sexual Nature.

Other appearances include the comedy Starter for Ten with James McAvoy.