- Born
- Birth nameChristine Janine Drzewicki
- Janine Drzewicki was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe to an English mother and a Polish father. She attended school in Nottingham and later moved to London to train as an actress at the E 15 theatre school. Shortly after leaving she was given a couple of small roles in television dramas but had no agent, and placed an advert in the 'Spotlight' agency catalogue with a photograph. As a result she was approached by the BBC to test for a play about incest, entitled Diane (1975). Although she was in her early 20s the part was that of a 13-year-old girl but her audition was sufficiently convincing to win her the role. The door thus opened to her for more TV and stage roles and, whilst she was appearing in 'Don Juan' at Hampstead Theatre, London, she was spotted by Mike Leigh who offered her the part of Angie in the stage production of Abigail's Party (1977), which she repeated in the television version. A familiar face in television comedy series, she has nonetheless been given very little of note in the cinema, playing typically small roles as mad women in Dracula (1979) and The Madness of King George (1994). Married to the actor Paul Bentall, she has two sons and two daughters, one being the actress Ruby Bentall, and lives in London.- IMDb Mini Biography By: don @ minifie-1
- SpousePaul Bentall(1983 - present) (4 children)
- Children
- Her stage surname Duvitski is a phonetic representation of her real surname Drzewicki which she thought no-one would know how to pronounce.
- Some sources give her birth place as Nottingham, which was where she grew up, but records show her birth was registered further north west, in the Lancashire city of Lancaster, having been born in the nearby seaside town of Morecambe.
- Before Abigail's Party I was doing kitchen-sink drama, but I have done a lot of comedy ever since. I have no idea what I do in terms of being funny or comic timing. One thing I do know is that if you're doing something with Mike [Leigh] you have to go with the process.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content