Josie Lawrence (born Wendy Lawrence, 6 June 1959) is an English comedian and actress.
Lawrence has been a member of the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe since 1987 and came to public attention as a regular guest on the Channel 4 improvisational comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway? on its launch in 1988. She went on have her own short-lived television series Josie in 1991, also on Channel 4. Her other television work includes the comedy series Not with a Bang and Downwardly Mobile, and she is remembered for her performances as Maggie Costello in the cricketing comedy drama Outside Edge alongside Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn.
In 1995 Lawrence played Katharine in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Taming of the Shrew at Stratford-upon-Avon, also appearing in Faust and The Cherry Orchard. She later took over the lead role of Anna in the stage musical The King and I in London's West End, replacing Elaine Paige. In 2005, she appeared with Victoria Wood, Julie Walters and Celia Imrie in the cult West End production of Wood's Acorn Antiques: The Musical.
Lawrence starred in the 1992 film Enchanted April alongside Joan Plowright, Miranda Richardson and Alfred Molina.
In the 1990s, Lawrence was among the regular cast of another improvisational comedy programme, The Masterson Inheritance on BBC Radio 4 as well as the later scripted series Married (radio series).
A talented singer, Lawrence's speciality on Whose Line... was her ability to improvise songs on the spot. She has appeared as a guest on panel games including QI and Never Mind the Buzzcocks and in comedies including Absolutely Fabulous, The Comic Strip and Alas Smith & Jones. In 1999, she appeared on two installments of the American version of Whose Line....
Lawrence is from in Old Hill in the West Midlands. She trained at Dartington College which later awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Arts.
Despite her many successes, Lawrence also has a place in The Guinness Book of Records for an unfortunate distinction; she was once in a play called BAG which opened to an entirely empty house. Not one ticket had been sold.
