Dawn O'Porter

Dawn O'Porter
Born Dawn Porter
(1979-01-23) 23 January 1979
Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Nationality British
Occupation Television presenter, journalist, writer
Years active 2005–present
Television Dawn...
Extreme Wife
My Breasts Could Kill Me
Balls of Steel
This Old Thing
Spouse(s)
Chris O'Dowd (m. 2012)
Children 2
Website www.dawnoporter.co.uk

Dawn O'Porter (born Dawn Porter; born 23 January 1979) is a Scottish writer, director and television presenter. She was born in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland but raised in Guernsey.[1]

Early life

On 21 January 1986, two days before Porter's seventh birthday, her mother, Carol Rix, died of breast cancer aged 36.[2] She and her elder sister Jane were raised by their aunt and uncle in Guernsey.[2]

She studied acting at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts but in her third year decided that acting was not for her and did work experience on the television series Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned rather than participate in a school production.[3] Porter's father lives in Scotland.[4]

Television career

Having established her credentials as a writer and journalist, Porter first came to widespread public attention when she attempted to slim down to a size zero by using drastic dieting regimes for the BBC documentary Super Slim Me. Porter also presented the product-testing section of How to Look Good Naked on Channel 4.[5]

In 2008, Porter presented a BBC Three series of four documentary films, Dawn... (14 February–6 March), exploring attitudes to nudity, lesbianism, dating and pregnancy (including childbirth).[6][7][8] Porter also appeared in Seriously Dirty Dancing, a tribute to her favourite film, Dirty Dancing, for Channel 5.[9]

Later that year, she made a four-part series called Extreme Wife for Channel 4. In the first programme, Dawn Porter: Free Lover (30 September 2008), Dawn travelled to San Diego, California to investigate polyamory, then she travelled to former East Germany to visit ZEGG in Belzig, a German free love commune. The programme highlighted the world of free love, such as ritual sensuous oil sessions with naked people covered in warm olive oil, and included discussions with the people who lived in the commune. It premiered with 1.75m viewers (10.7% share).[10]

In the second programme, Dawn Porter: Mail Order Bride (7 October 2008), Dawn travelled to Odessa, Ukraine with a group of American men in their search for a partner. The third programme, Dawn Porter: Geisha Girl (14 October 2008), saw Dawn travel to Kyoto, Japan and spend a week in a geisha house. In the fourth and final programme, Dawn Porter: Polygamist's Wife (21 October 2008), Dawn investigated women who are prepared to share their husbands with other women. This included a stay in Centennial Park, Arizona.[11]

In February 2009, Porter narrated the BBC Three series Undercover Princes.[12]

In May 2009, it was announced that Dawn Porter would present a documentary, The Booby Trap, exploring breast cancer, for Sky1.[13] The show aired on 6–7 July 2009 – under the title My Breasts Could Kill Me.[14] It premiered with 181,000 viewers (0.9% share).[15] Porter appeared topless in the documentary to undergo a breast examination and breast screening.

Porter has her own television production company Hot Patootie TV.[16] [17]

On 11 November 2011, Porter made an appearance in Derren Brown - The Experiments entitled "The Secret of Luck"[18] and later filmed six episodic advertisements for Andrex Washlets. Porter appeared in E4 drama Skins and has appeared on the television show Balls of Steel.

In 2012, Dawn Porter organised an Oxfam "get together" alongside friend Gemma Cairney, and raised money for Oxfam by selling clothing previously owned by celebrities.[19]

Porter recently hosted and co-produced a series for Channel 4 called This Old Thing, the six-part series was about her love of vintage clothing. Porter hosts Soul Food on Munchies for Vice.

Writing career

Porter writes for many publications, on feminism and aspects of women's lifestyle.

In 2006, she published Diaries of an Internet Lover.[20] In May 2013, she released her first novel, Paper Aeroplanes, the fictional tale of an intense female friendship loosely inspired by her own childhood in Guernsey.[21]

Personal life

In August 2012, Porter married Chris O'Dowd[22] and changed her name to Dawn O'Porter.[23][24]

In January 2015, O'Porter gave birth to a son, Art, in Los Angeles, where they live.[25] In 2017, O'Porter gave birth to a second son, Valentine.[26]

References

  1. ↑ Porter, Dawn. 25 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ME… Archived 15 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.. The Dawn Report, 2009, pg. 1.
  2. 1 2 Dawn Porter (6 July 2009). "DawnO'Porter found out if she had inherited the gene". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "Dawn Porter interview | Emma Knock". Emmaknock.wordpress.com. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  4. ↑ 8 Out of 10 Cats, 17 February 2014
  5. ↑ Dawn Porter: Extreme Wife Channel4.com
  6. ↑ BBC Three's new programming, new look and huge move forward into multiplatform BBC Press Office,
  7. ↑ "Record share and reach figures for BBC Three". BBC Press Office. 19 February 2008.
  8. ↑ "Dawn..." BBC Three. BBC. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  9. ↑ "Seriously Dirty Dancing - Blink Films". Blinkfilmsuk.com. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  10. ↑ "Jamie Oliver's Ministry welcomes 3m". Digital Spy. 1 October 2008.
  11. ↑ Radio Times, 18–24 October 2008, p89
  12. ↑ "Network TV BBC Week 2". BBC Press Office. January 2009.
  13. ↑ Booby Trap heads to Sky1 Digital Spy, 14 May 2009
  14. ↑ Dawn Porter: My breasts could kill me Sky1 HD
  15. ↑ 5.9m tune in for new Torchwood Digital Spy, 7 July 2009
  16. ↑ Companies House Listing; accessed March 17, 2017
  17. ↑ "DAWN O'PORTER - LONDON". Checkcompany.co.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  18. ↑ "Derren Brown: The Experiments - Series 1 - Episode 4 - Derren Brown: The Secret of Luck". Channel 4. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  19. ↑ "Rumble in the jumble for International Women's Day – Now. Here. This. – Time Out London". Now-here-this.timeout.com. 25 February 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  20. ↑ Porter, Dawn (2006). Diaries of an internet lover. Virgin Books.
  21. ↑ Williams, Andrew (2 May 2013). "Dawn Porter: I was sick of making TV documentaries all about me". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  22. ↑ Husband, Stuart (20 June 2011). "Chris O'Dowd Interview". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  23. ↑ Milton, Stephen (27 April 2013). "I was never going to be Mrs O'Dowd" (PDF). Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  24. ↑ chris o'dowd [@BigBoyler] (26 August 2012). "Just married!!!!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  25. ↑ "It's a boy: Chris O'Dowd and Dawn O'Porter announce birth of son Art and joke 'I think we'll keep him'".
  26. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd and Dawn O'Porter welcome baby boy'". Rte.ie. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
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