Donna Preston (born 6 June 1986) is an English actress, comedian and writer, notable for appearances in ''Apocalypse Wow'', ''Hey Tracey!'' and ''

Michael McIntyre's Big Show ''Michael McIntyre's Big Show'' (adapted from ''Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show'') is a British variety and stand-up comedy television series, presented by British comedian Michael McIntyre. The show was originally a one-off Christmas spe ...

''. She appears as Despair in

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

's ''

The Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character in European folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The Sandman is a traditional charact ...

'' released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in 2022.

Early life and education

Preston was born on 6 June 1986 in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

and went to

Fulford School Fulford School is a coeducational comprehensive school on Fulfordgate near Heslington Lane in Fulford, York, England. History Fulford School was founded in 1963 and has been a comprehensive school since 1970. The site is close to the former ...

in York. She attended York college and went on to train at Rose Bruford in London.

Career

Preston has appeared in a number of films and television series. Film work includes ''

Set the Thames on Fire ''Set the Thames on Fire'' is a 2015 British science fiction fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Ben Charles Edwards in his directorial debut, based on characters created by Al Joshua. The film stars Michael Winder and Max Bennett, alongside ...

'' (starring

Noel Fielding Noel Fielding (; (born 21 May 1973) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with The Mighty Boosh comedy troupe alongside Julian Barratt in the 2000s, and more recently as a co-presenter of ''The Great British Bake Off'' ...

), ''Grimsby'' (starring

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...

), ''

The Hitman's Bodyguard ''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' is a 2017 American action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, and Salma Hayek. The film follows a bodyguard (Reynolds) who must protect a convicted hitman ( ...

'' (starring

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian-American actor. He is one of the highest-grossing film actors of all time, with a worldwide box-office gross of over billion. He began his career starring in the Canadian teen ...

and

Samuel L. Jackson Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him ...

) and ''

Holmes & Watson ''Holmes & Watson'' is a 2018 American-Canadian mystery-comedy film written and directed by Etan Cohen. The film stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as the eponymous characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively; with Rebecca Hall, R ...

'' (starring

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...

and

John C. Reilly John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. After his film debut in ''Casualties of War'' (1989), he gained exposure through his supporting roles in ''Days of Thunder'' (1990), ''Wh ...

). She has also regularly lent her voice to the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, E4,

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. In 2018, she appeared in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'', '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'', and took a lead role in ''

'' executing pranks involving improvisation on the general public. In 2019, she appeared on '' Pants on Fire'' on E4. Preston wrote and co-produced the series ''Fully Blown'' for BBC Three's Comedy Threesomes, transmitted in 2019, which was nominated for a Broadcast Digital Award 2020. From 2019 to 2020, Preston starred as Tracey in ''Hey Tracey!'' on

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

, alongside

Joel Dommett Joel Patrick Dommett (born 8 June 1985) is an English actor, author, comedian, and television presenter. He is known for his television roles in '' Live in Chelsea'', ''Impractical Jokers UK'', '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!,'' ''Joel ...

, and appeared in episodes of ''

The Mash Report ''Late Night Mash'' is a British satirical comedy broadcast on Dave, as a continuation of ''The Mash Report'' on BBC Two. It is hosted by Rachel Parris, formerly by Nish Kumar, and features an array of comedians satirising the week's news. First ...

'' on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

. She has appeared in a number of online comedy sketches for Channel 4. In 2020, she appeared in episodes of BBC Three's ''

Famalam ''Famalam'' is a British Sketch comedy, sketch show starring primarily black British comedians. The Television pilot, pilot first aired in September 2017, with the first series starting in April 2018. A second and third series were then released ...

'' and the feature film ''Loves Spell''. That year she was also shortlisted for the Funny Women Awards 2020, and was a guest on ''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' is a British comedy panel show broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister networks, airing since 3 June 2005. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr; the current team captains are Rob Beckett and Katherine Ryan. The show is based on ...

'' on Channel 4. In 2021, she guest starred on ''

Inside No. 9 ''Inside No. 9'' is a British black comedy anthology television programme that first aired in 2014. It is written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton and produced by the BBC. Each 30-minute episode is a self-contained story with new chara ...

'', and co-hosted ITV's ''Apocalypse Wow!''. She appeared as herself on Sky One's ''

Dating NoFilter Dating #NoFilter is an American dating reality television series that premiered on E! on January 21, 2019. Background The show was produced by Lime Pictures and All3Media America. The series features a panel of comedians watching and making h ...

'', ''

CelebAbility ''CelebAbility'' is a British game show. It began airing on 15 June 2017 on ITV2 and is presented by Iain Stirling. Format ''CelebAbility'' features two teams, one consisting of celebrities and the other, a group of challengers which feature ...

'', and '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.'' During the same year, she was nominated for two

National Comedy Awards, for Outstanding Female Comedy Entertainment Performance and the Comedy Breakthrough Award. In 2022, she appeared as Despair in

fantasy drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

'' and as Pat in

Catherine Tate Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007), ...

's six-part

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

sitcom ''

Hard Cell ''Hard Cell'' is a British mockumentary sitcom streaming television series developed by Catherine Tate, who also plays six of the main characters. The series premiered on 12 April 2022 on Netflix, and consists of six episodes. The series was ca ...

'', both released on

. In 2023, she played Mrs Sandwich in another Gaiman project, ''

Good Omens ''Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'' is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration between the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan and the c ...

,'' alongside fellow ''The Sandman'' cast member

Crystal Yu Crystal Yu is a Hong Kong-born television, film and stage actress. She played Lily Chao on the British BBC medical drama ''Casualty'' from 2013 to 2017. Life and career Yu, born in Hong Kong, came to London at the age of 11 when she was offere ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Donna Living people 21st-century British comedians 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English comedians Actresses from York English film actresses English television actresses English women comedians 1986 births Comedians from York