Josie Lawrence
| Josie Lawrence | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Wendy Lawrence 6 June 1959 Old Hill, Staffordshire, England |
| Occupation | Actress/Comedian |
| Years active | 1985–present |
Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence; 6 June 1959) is an English comedian and actress best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? and more recently her role as Manda Best in EastEnders. Lawrence currently plays Barbara, a synthetic marriage counsellor in the Channel 4 TV series Humans.
Josie Lawrence was born Wendy Lawrence in Old Hill. She has a brother, John, and sister, Janet, 10 years older who are twins. They were brought up in nearby Cradley Heath, where her father worked for British Leyland and her mother as a dinner lady. She says everyone in her family has a wicked, dry sense of humour. She knew she wanted to be an actress at the early age of 5 and by the time she was 16 she joined the Barlow Players in Oldbury.
She studied at Dartington College of Arts from 1978 to 1981, receiving a Bachelor of Arts honours degree.
Her first acting role was as a young boy in a production of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists at the Half Moon Theatre. During the 1980s, she was also involved in a play called Passionaria at the Newcastle Playhouse, starring Denise Black and Kate McKenzie, and they later formed the jazz group Denise Black and the Kray Sisters.
Her work in comedy began as a result of starring in a Donmar Warehouse play called Songs For Stray Cats and hearing the audience invited to supply lines and ideas for improvisers appearing in after-show cabaret.
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