Fran Drescher

Fran Drescher is an Emmy-nominated actress, comedian and television producer best known for starring as Fran Fine on the hit sitcom The Nanny. Born in Queens, New York, Drescher grew up in Flushing, where she attended Hillcrest High School. She later briefly enrolled at Queens College, City University of New York, where she studied drama but did not graduate before leaving to attend cosmetology school.

Drescher began her career in the late 1970s with small film and television roles while working various jobs to support herself. She made early appearances in projects including Saturday Night Fever (1977) and This Is Spinal Tap (1984). Her breakthrough came in the early 1990s when she cocreated The Nanny with then-husband Peter Marc Jacobson, developing the character around her signature voice and Queens background. The series premiered in 1993 and ran for six seasons, making Drescher a household name and earning her two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Following the success of The Nanny, Drescher starred in films such as The Beautician and the Beast (1997) and After Class (2019). She continued working in television with projects including Living with Fran and Happily Divorced, and has lent her voice to the Hotel Transylvania franchise. In 2021, Drescher was elected president of SAG-AFTRA, marking a major milestone in her career as a labor leader. In 2025, she appeared in Marty Supreme, sharing the screen with Timothée Chalamet and Josh Safdie.

Drescher married Peter Marc Jacobson in 1978, and the couple divorced in 1999. She later moved on with Shiva Ayyadurai in 2014, and the two split in 2016.