Karen Dotrice is a British former child actress, known primarily for her role as Jane Banks in Walt Disneys feature film adaptation of the Mary Poppins book series. Dotrice was born in Guernsey to two accomplished stage actors. Her career began on stage, and expanded into film and television, including starring roles as a young girl whose beloved cat magically reappears in Disneys The Three Lives of Thomasina and with Thomasina costar Matthew Garber as one of two children pining for their parents attentions in Poppins. She appeared in five television programmes between 1972 and 1978, when she made her only feature film as an adult. Her life as an actress concluded with a short run as Desdemona in the 1981 preBroadway production of Othello.
Born into a theatre family, Dotrice is the daughter of Roy and Kay Dotrice, two Shakespearean actors who met and married while performing in repertory productions in England. Her father also was born in the Channel Islands. She has two sisters, Michele and Yvette, both of whom are actresses. Her godfather was actor Charles Laughton, who was married to Elsa Lanchester, one of the costars of Mary Poppins.
Source: Wikipedia