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Jane Horrocks is celebrating her 59th birthday this week, so we're making her our latest British Icon. Here are 10 things we admire, appreciate, and find interesting about this distinctive actress and singer.

1. She was Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous.

Horrocks was one of the "five Js" who starred in this beloved British sitcom – alongside Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, June Whitfield, and Julia Sawalha. She is consistently hilarious as Bubble, the kooky but useless personal assistant who Edina (Saunders) never quite manages to give the sack. Bubble may appear daffy, but she can still deliver a cutting put-down when she needs to.

2. She was also in Chicken Run.

A big hit in 2000, this stop-motion animated movie follows a flock of hens trying to flee their farm so they don't get turned into meat pies. Horrocks provides the voice of Babs, a chicken who loves knitting and has a habit of saying daft things. She'll reprise the role in this year's sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

3. You can also hear her in Teletubbies.

Horrocks is the voice of the show's "Tubby phone." What a dream job!

4. She is determinedly down-to-earth.

Horrocks knows exactly who she is and has no intention whatsoever of changing. "People are surprised I’ve still got my [Northern English] accent," she told The Guardian. "I am attached to where I’m from. The strength of the Lancashire people is within me. You get on and do it. There are no airs and graces. My family have never allowed me to get above my station."

5. She starred in some fondly remembered TV adverts.

For around a decade, from 1994 to 2004, Horrocks and Prunella Scales played mother and daughter in a series of commercials for U.K. supermarket chain Tesco. As The Guardian reports, Horrocks has credited the long-running campaign with giving her financial stability. "Tesco commercials have given me licence to avoid crap [jobs], and I'm eternally grateful to them," she said in 2011. "I see friends having to do shows on television, which 10 or 15 years ago they wouldn't have considered. Now they have to do them for financial reasons, because TV just isn't investing in drama in the same way."

6. She has the best attitude toward getting older.

Horrocks told The Times recently that she has never had "a wobble" about ageing. "I never wanted to go down the Botox or filler route. I want to see my face as it’s supposed to age," she said. "Sometimes when I see myself on camera and the lighting hasn’t helped, I think, ‘Bloody hell!’ And you can see those lines. But it still doesn’t push me into that Botox world. I don’t want to look in the mirror and think, ‘Who’s that?’ As an actor, when expression is the key, how are you supposed to emote when none of your face moves?"

7. She earned BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Little Voice.

Horrocks starred in this acclaimed British movie as "LV" a.k.a. Little Voice, a painfully shy young woman with an incredible ability to imitate larger-than-life singers like Shirley Bassey and Judy Garland. Horrocks' vocal performances are superb, but she also really captures her character's lack of confidence and the way she is dominated by her mother Mari (Brenda Blethyn). It's an uplifting but also quite poignant watch.

8. However, Horrocks' own music taste skews kind of punky.

Horrocks is a big fan of British pop-punk and new-wave music from the late 1970s and 1980s. In 2013, she recorded a cover of Joy Division's "Isolation" because it's one of her favorite songs; then in 2016 she covered hits by The Smiths, The Fall, and The Buzzcocks in a dance-based stage show called If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me. When it comes to singing, she most certainly has the range.

9. She has a blissful-sounding life in Brighton, one of the U.K.'s most liberal towns.

This seaside town is known for its progressive attitudes and quirky bars and restaurants – it's a little like a British Portland, OR. Horrocks moved there last May and told The Guardian recently: "I had a lovely summer. I rode my bike, swam in the sea, and played chess with a guy who hangs out by the beach. It was idyllic."

10. She is also a prolific stage actress.

Among her many West End credits is the well-received 1993 revival of Cabaret. She played Sally Bowles opposite Alan Cumming as the Emcee, and as you can see below, they really made the iconic roles their own.

Do you have a favorite Jane Horrocks role?