Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC sketch comedy series French and Saunders (1987–2007) with her friend and comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and for starring in the BBC comedy series Murder Most Horrid (1991–1999) and The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007). She has been nominated for seven British Academy Television Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.

Dawn Roma French was born in Holyhead on 11 October 1957, the daughter of English parents Felicity Roma (née O'Brien; 1934–2012) and Denys Vernon French (1932–1977). Her parents were from Plymouth. She has an older brother named Gary. She was born in the Welsh town of Holyhead because her father, who was in the Royal Air Force, was stationed at nearby RAF Valley. He was later stationed at RAF Leconfield in the East Riding of Yorkshire, where Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had tea at the family's home when French was three years old. RAF archive footage of this event was later included in French's comedy tour video Thirty Million Minutes.

French was privately educated, which was partly funded by the RAF. When her father was stationed at RAF Faldingworth in Lincolnshire, she attended Caistor Grammar School for one year. She later attended boarding school at St Dunstan's Abbey in Plymouth, where she was a member of Downton house, then spent a year studying abroad at the Spence School in New York City on a debating scholarship she had won at school.

French has said that her confidence and belief in herself stem from her father, who told her how beautiful she was every day. She said, "He taught me to value myself. He told me that I was beautiful and the most precious thing in his life." He had a history of depression and made two suicide attempts, but managed to conceal his struggles from his children before eventually taking his own life when French was 19 years old.

In 1977, French began studying drama at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she met her future comedy partner Jennifer Saunders. Both came from RAF backgrounds and had grown up on the same camps, and later discovered that they shared the same best friend despite never meeting each other. Saunders recalled that her first impression of French was as a "cocky little upstart", while French considered Saunders to be "snooty and aloof". They originally did not like each other as French wanted to become a drama teacher, with Saunders loathing the idea and thus disliking French for being enthusiastic and confident about it.

French and Saunders shared a flat while at college and were influenced to pursue comedy by their flatmates as part of their projects for college. After talking in depth for the first time, they became friends. While at college, French broke up with her fiancé, a former Royal Navy officer. After French and Saunders graduated from the Royal Central School, they decided to form a double act (involving wearing tampons in their ears) called the Menopause Sisters, which Saunders later described as cringeworthy. According to the manager of the club where they first performed, "They didn't seem to give a damn. There was no star quality about them at all."

French has had an extensive career on television, debuting on Channel 4's The Comic Strip Presents series in an episode called "Five Go Mad in Dorset" in 1982. Each episode presented a self-contained story and, in addition to French and Saunders, showcased Comic Strip performers Peter Richardson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Robbie Coltrane and Adrian Edmondson. She acted in 27 of the 37 episodes and wrote two of them. One episode featured a parody of spaghetti westerns and another a black and white film about a hopelessly goofy boy. Some of French's first exposure to a wider audience occurred when comedy producer Martin Lewis recorded a Comic Strip record album in 1981 which featured sketches by French & Saunders. The album was released on Springtime!/Island Records in September 1981 and presented French and Jennifer Saunders to an audience outside London. In 1985, French starred with Saunders, Tracey Ullman, Ruby Wax and Joan Greenwood in Girls on Top, which portrayed four eccentric women sharing a flat in London.

French has co-written and starred in her and Saunders' comedy series, French & Saunders, which debuted in 1987. On their show, the duo have spoofed many celebrities such as Madonna, Cher, Catherine Zeta-Jones and the Spice Girls. They have also parodied films such as The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. After 20 years being on television together, their sketch series A Bucket o' French & Saunders, began airing on 8 September 2007.