Catherine Tate (born Catherine Ford; 12 May 1968) is an English comedian, actress, and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and seven BAFTA Awards. Following the success of The Catherine Tate Show, Tate played Donna Noble in the 2006 Christmas special of Doctor Who and later reprised her role, becoming the Tenth Doctor's regular companion for the fourth series in 2008. In 2011, she began a recurring role as Nellie Bertram in the U.S. version of The Office and was a regular until the series ended. She now provides the voice of Magica De Spell in the 2017 reboot of Disney's DuckTales animated series.
Tate was born Catherine Ford on 12 May 1968 in Bloomsbury, where she was raised in the Brunswick Centre. Her mother, Josephine, was a florist. Tate has said that the character of Margaret in The Catherine Tate Show, who shrieks at the slightest of disturbances, is based largely on her mother. Tate never knew her father as he left very early on in her life and, consequently, she was brought up in a female-dominated environment, being cared for by her mother, grandmother, and godparents. As a child, Tate suffered from OCD and was obsessed with word association. For example, she was not able to leave a jumper on the floor because it might have brought misfortune to her mother, whose name began with the letter "J" like "jumper".