Fran Drescher Biography

Born on September 30, 1957, in Flushing, Queens, New York, to Sylvia, a bridal consultant, and Morty Drescher, a naval systems analyst, Dreshcher was raised in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens.

Her family originates from Southeast and Central Europe. Her maternal grandmother, Yetta, was born in Focsani, Romania. Her father’s family was from Poland. Her older sister Nadine’s family is Jewish.

In 1973, she became the first runner-up at the ‘Miss New York Teenager’ contest. After attending Flushing’s ‘Parsons Junior High,’ which has since been dissolved, she attended ‘Hillcrest High School’ in Jamaica, Queens. There, she met her future husband, Peter Marc Jacobson. They got married in 1978, when Drescher was 21, and divorced in 1999. Already aware of her passion for acting, she joined the school’s drama department to develop her talent further.

Ray Romano, who became a comedian later, also attended ‘Hillcrest High School’ and was her classmate. It is interesting to note that Drescher’s character ‘Fran Fine-Sheffield’ (from ‘The Nanny) and Romano’s character ‘Ray Barone’ (from ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’) met at a high-school reunion in an episode of ‘The Nanny.’

After graduating high school, she and Jacobson attended ‘Queens College,’ under the ‘City University of New York,’ only to drop out after completing freshman year. They then joined a cosmetology school, which was more aligned with their career aspirations.

In 1977, Drescher had her first break, with a small role as a dancer named ‘Connie’ in the movie ‘Saturday Night Fever,’ in which she delivered the line “So, are you as good in bed as you are on the dance floor?” to John Travolta’s character. She gained more attention the following year, with films such as ‘American Hot Wax’ and ‘Summer of Fear.’

In the 1980s, she found moderate success as a character actor, with unforgettable roles in films such as ‘Gorp,’ ‘The Hollywood Knights,’ ‘Doctor Detroit,’ ‘The Big Picture,’ ‘UHF,’ ‘Cadillac Man,’ and ‘This is Spinal Tap.’ The last one featured her as publicist ‘Bobbi Flekman,’ her most memorable role in that decade. In 1985, she appeared as an interior decorator in a second-season episode of ‘Who’s the Boss?’ The same year, she appeared in the sitcom ‘Night Court.’ Her role was that of a woman with a dissociative identity disorder who switches from being a prude to a sexually charged woman, eventually ending up in a hotel with ‘ADA Dan Fielding.’

In 1990, Drescher appeared as ‘Roxanne’ in an episode of ‘ALF’, titled ‘Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades,’ playing the clueless wife of ‘Brian,’ who is unaware that her husband is a mob boss.

Following her role in the short-lived ‘CBS’ sitcom ‘Princesses’, she went on to voice ‘Peggy’ (the woman with the flower on her hat) in ‘The P Pals’ on ‘PBS’ till the mid-1990s.

Following this, she appeared in the comedy-drama ‘Jack,’ directed by Francis Ford Coppola. She then appeared in ‘The Beautician and the Beast’ the following year. She also worked as an executive producer for the movie. She was also seen in ‘Picking up the Pieces,’ co-starring Woody Allen.

In the 2000s, she marked her return to TV, with both guest and lead roles. After appearing as ‘Roberta Diaz’ in the short-lived ‘Good Morning, Miami’ in 2003, she returned 2 years later, with the sitcom ‘Living with Fran,’ which featured her as ‘Fran Reeves,’ a middle-aged mother of two living with a man half her age.

Later, in 2006, she lent her voice to ‘Pearl’ in ‘Shark Bait’, guest-starred in an episode of ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent,’ and voiced a female golem in ‘The Simpsons’ episode ‘Treehouse of Horror XVII.’ The following year, she appeared in the US version of an Australian improvisational comedy series named ‘Thank God You’re Here.’

After some failed projects, namely, ‘The New Thirty’ (which did not materialize), ‘The Fran Drescher Tawk Show,’ and ‘Happily Divorced’ (which got canceled after 2 years), Drescher made her ‘Broadway’ debut in 2014, with the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘Cinderella.’ She replaced Harriet Harris as the stepmother. The 10-week engagement lasted till April 2015.

She has written the books ‘Enter Whining’ (1996), ‘Cancer Schmancer’ (2002), and ‘Being Wendy’ (2011).

She has written a number of episodes of ‘Happily Divorced,’ ‘Dadi,’ and ‘The Nanny.’

She has directed a few episodes of ‘The Nanny’ and an episode of ‘Strong Medicine.’

In 2012, she voiced ‘Eunice’ in the animated monster comedy film ‘Hotel Transylvania’ directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. The film, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, was a major commercial success and grossed over $358.4 million on a $85 million budget.

She also starred in films such as ‘Skum Rocks!,’ ‘Brave Miss World,’ ‘Hotel Transylvania 2,’ ‘The Creatress,’ ‘Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation,’ and ‘After Class.’

She reprised her voice role as ‘Eunice’ in the 2022 animated adventure comedy film ‘Hotel Transylvania: Transformania.’ It was the fourth and final installment in the Hotel Transylvania series and received a mixed response from critics.

In 2023, she portrayed ‘Agnes Morris’ in the thriller series ‘V.C. Andrews' Dawn.’ The series was inspired by the eponymous novel by V. C. Andrews and included four films named ‘Dawn,’ ‘Secrets of the Morning,’ ‘Twilight's Child,’ and ‘Midnight Whispers.’

She created her own TV show along with Jacobson. The show, named ‘The Nanny,’ aired on ‘CBS’ from 1993 to 1999. It catapulted Drescher to instant stardom and was about a woman, ‘Fran Fine-Sheffield,’ the nanny of ‘Margaret,’ ‘Brighton,’ and ‘Grace Sheffield,’ the children of a widowed father.

Drescher has been endowed with the ‘John Wayne Institute’s Woman of Achievement Award,’ the ‘City of Hope Woman of the Year Award,’ the ‘Gilda Award,’ the ‘Hebrew University Humanitarian Award,’ and the ‘Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Spirit of Achievement Award.’

In 2006, she was honored with the ‘City of Hope Spirit of Life Award,’ which she received from Hillary Clinton.

On April 10, 2010, she was made the guest of honor at the ‘Dancer against Cancer’ charity ball held at the ‘Imperial Palace’ in Vienna, Austria. There, she received her first ‘My Aid Award,’ for her achievements in support of cancer prevention and rehabilitation.

In 1985, Drescher and a friend were raped at gunpoint by two robbers who broke into her home, while Jacobson was tied and forced to watch.

Drescher was married twice. She was initially married to Jacobson. They remained married from 1978 to 1999. She then got married to controversial scientist/politician Shiva Ayyadurai in 2014. They divorced in 2016. She remained friends with Jacobson even after they parted ways when he came out as gay. They continued to work together. To show her support, she advocated for LGBT rights.

A cancer survivor, she had been misdiagnosed by eight doctors in 2 years, before she got treated for uterine cancer. She later recounted her experiences in her book ‘Cancer Schmancer,’ to bring attention to early warning signs of cancer for both men and women.

Drescher pitched her idea for ‘The Nanny’ to ‘CBS’ president Jeff Sagansky while sitting next to him on a flight to Paris.