Ronni Ancona

Veronica "Ronni" Jane Ancona (born 4 July 1966) is a British actress, comedian, impressionist and writer best known for The Big Impression, which she co-wrote and starred in and was, for four years, one of BBC One's top-rated comedy programmes, winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003.

Ancona also starred in the first series of the BAFTA-winning ITV series The Sketch Show.

She won the Time Out Hackney Empire New Act of the Year in 1993.

For many years, Ancona worked extensively in radio and on television shows such as Fist of Fun, as well as performing stand-up comedy.

She co-wrote and performed in shows such as Comedy Nation, Pulp Video, and The Sketch Show alongside Lee Mack.

From 1996 to 2000, she also voiced Pennyghent on the CITV children's comedy series "Roger and the Rottentrolls", who was the smartest of the titular Rottentrolls.

Ancona's first feature role was in 1999 when she appeared in The Debt Collector alongside Billy Connolly.

In 2000, she teamed up with Alistair McGowan, with whom she had previously worked on The Staggering Stories of Ferdinand De Bargos and Standing Room Only, to create The Big Impression.

The show was one of BBC One's top-rating comedy programmes for four years, and won both a Variety Club Comedy Award and a BAFTA.

In 2003, she won "Best Actress" at the British Comedy Awards.

In 2003, she starred in the BBC One historical drama The Key.

In 2005, she played Barbara in Stephen Poliakoff's Gideon's Daughter on BBC One.

She has appeared several times on the BBC celebrity panel show QI.

In November 2006, she was a guest presenter on Have I Got News For You.

She also appeared on the Channel 4 comedy show TV Heaven, Telly Hell discussing her preferences in television shows.

In 2007, her three-episode comedy sketch series Ronni Ancona & Co was broadcast on BBC One.

She appeared as the mother of Katie and Emily Fitch in the third (2009) and fourth (2010) series of Skins.

In 2009, she had a leading role in the BBC comedy drama Hope Springs.

As part of the BBC's The Big Read, she promoted The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

In April 2010, she appeared on A Comedy Roast, celebrating Sharon Osbourne's life.

She appeared on the 2010 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special where she was paired with Anton du Beke.

Ancona also took part in Comic Relief's Desert Trek 2011 alongside Craig David, Olly Murs, Dermot O'Leary, Scott Mills and Lorraine Kelly.

Ancona has appeared in the BAFTA-winning Last Tango in Halifax since its creation in 2012.

She is a co-director, alongside Sally Phillips and Nick Hamson, of the production company Captain Dolly.

Ancona was born in Louth, Lincolnshire, but moved to Scotland when she was a few days old and was brought up in Troon.

She is of Jewish descent.

Her father was a commander in the Royal Navy and her mother was an artist who painted the sets at the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr and the Theatre Royal in Glasgow.

Ancona is the youngest of three children, with two older brothers.

In the BBC television programme Comedy Map of Britain she returned to her old school, Marr College in Troon, and talked about her earliest comedy performing experience as part of an improvisation group called Pots People.

She attended the University of Kent at Canterbury to study film and then did a degree in theatre and TV design at Saint Martin's School of Art.

At the age of 19, while she was studying at St Martin's College, the BBC's Blue Peter reported on a play about Brecht at the Riverside Studios in which she was involved as a designer and performer: her appearance was later covered on the BBC show Before They Were Famous.

Ancona then attended the Institute of Education, University College London and qualified as a teacher in art, design & technology, and drama.

Whilst working as a teacher, Ancona started a comedy career on the live circuit.

In 2012, she appeared in Last Tango in Halifax.

In January 2015, she was a guest on Room 101.

In 2016, she played the role of Mrs Fletcher, the manager of a local care home, in the seventh series of the Scottish comedy Still Game.

Later that year she made a guest appearance in an episode of the BBC television series Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, partnering with antiques expert James Braxton.

In April 2017, Ancona appeared as a guest on ITV's The Nightly Show, presented by Jason Manford, in which they each performed impersonations of famous people which the other had to identify.

On 27 December 2020, Ancona appeared as a contestant on the Christmas special of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Celebrity Special.

She won Pointless Celebrities in January 2021 with Jan Ravens.