Jane Stanness

Born Jane Alison Sherman in the Welsh seaside town of Aberystwyth, Jane's performing career began in physical theatre and dance during the early 80's. Training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, she worked for years with the North Dyfed Dance company in West Wales. Moving to Bath in 1990 she joined the comedy improvisation company More Fool Us with Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones and Julia Davis. It was at this time that she began her writing collaboration with Julia Davis as they devised a two woman comedy character stage show under the name the Sisters of Percy. Jane has continued her writing partnership with Julia, contributing to the series Nighty Night, (creating the long suffering character Cath Cole), Sally4Ever and other of Julia's works. Known for her character acting Jane has appeared in numerous sitcoms, playing Mary Needham in Nick Mohammed's Intelligence, Sally's boss Deborah in Sally4Ever, Dorothy's right hand woman Biddy Ritherfoot in Hunderby as well as appearing in Nighty Night and Human Remains. Jane also plays the monstrous matron in the movie Slaughterhouse Rulez and Sheena in A Fantastic Fear Of Everything. As a singer-songwriter Jane goes under the name Jane Allison and has recorded three albums with Producer Alonza Bevan (Kula Shaker) and still performs live with her band.