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Amy Sedaris

 
Who2 Biography: Amy Sedaris, Actor / Comedian
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  • Born: 29 March 1961
  • Birthplace: Endicott, New York
  • Best Known As: The star the oddball TV comedy Strangers With Candy

Amy Sedaris is a prolific comedian and actress and the younger sister of humorist David Sedaris. She was a member of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe before moving to New York to write plays with her brother. Along with Stephen Colbert and others, she helped create the short-lived sketch comedy show Exit 57 (1995-96) for Comedy Central. A few years later she hit it bigger with the cable TV series Strangers With Candy (1999-2000). The spoof starred Sedaris as Jerri Blank, a rather hideous 46-year-old drug addict who returns to high school and tries to fit in. A petite blonde, Sedaris often plays against type as characters who are ironic, severe, or just plain squirrely. She had parts in the movies Maid in Manhattan (2002, with Jennifer Lopez), The School of Rock (2003, with Jack Black) and Shrek the Third (2007, as the voice of Cinderella), among others. Her books include I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence (2006) and The Book of Liz (2002, with her brother David Sedaris).

A feature film version of Strangers With Candy was released in 2006... It's true: Sedaris bakes and sells cupcakes on a sporadic basis in New York City, under the business name Amy's Cupcakes.

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Actor: Amy Sedaris
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Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Mar 26, 1961 in New York, New York
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer
  • Active: '90s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Strangers With Candy, Strangers With Candy, Chicken Little
  • First Major Screen Credit: Strangers With Candy (1999)

Biography

Comedianne Amy Sedaris confronts vulgarity with a daring innocence to create her wickedly absurd characters. You may best remember her as America's most lovable skank, Jerri Blank, from the hyper-irreverent series Strangers With Candy. Raised in North Carolina, Sedaris got her start at Second City in Chicago before moving to N.Y.C. to write plays with her brother, author David Sedaris, who has hilariously documented their family's history in many of his novels. Calling themselves "The Talent Family," they wrote, directed, and starred in numerous plays in N.Y.C., winning some Obie and Drama Desk awards. Along with fellow Second City vets Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello, she wrote and starred in the sketch show Exit 57, which ran on Comedy Central.

Sedaris has made a few small appearances on the big screen, from minor roles in major studio releases like Six Days, Seven Nights and Maid in Manhattan to short films like Bad Bosses Go to Hell; however, her breakthrough performance was in the TV series Strangers With Candy. An absurdist satire of afterschool specials, the show only ran from April 1999 to October 2000 on Comedy Central. Sedaris wrote it with her old cohorts from Second City, and also birthed the character of Jerri Blank, the ex-junkie and former prostitute who goes back to high school at age 46. In its 30-episode run, the show gained her a devoted following and several other television appearances. Though cancelled, sales of the show's DVD sets proved profitable enough to warrant a feature, and in 2006 Sedaris and company transferred their skewed worldview to the big screen, with a feature-length installment of Strangers With Candy. Packed with star cameos and even-cruder-than-cable-allows humor, the movie seemed destined to become a cult hit.

Sedaris continues to work in the theater, while also running a cupcake and cheeseball business out of her West Village home, collecting taxidermied animals, and sometimes appearing on Sex and the City and Just Shoot Me. In collaboration with Dinello and Colbert, she is also co-author of the book Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Amy Sedaris
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Amy Sedaris

Sedaris at BlogHer, 2007
Born March 29, 1961 (1961-03-29) (age 48)
Endicott, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress, Author, Comedienne
Years active 1993–present

Amy Sedaris (born March 29, 1961) is an American actress, author and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris. She is recognized as a frequent guest on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Contents

Personal life

Sedaris was born in Endicott, New York, daughter of Sharon and Lou Sedaris,[1][2] and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is of half Greek descent;[3] her father was Greek Orthodox and her mother was Protestant, and she remains Greek Orthodox.[4][5]

Sedaris lives in Greenwich Village, New York City, with her Mini Rex rabbit Dusty and is very involved with the House Rabbit Society. As part of a running joke during public appearances, she frequently alludes to her imaginary boyfriend, Ricky. During an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman (October 6, 2006), she claimed Ricky had been murdered[6] and she now lives with Ricky's ghost. In an appearance on May 21, 2009, she spoke of a recent marriage to her husband, Glenn.[7]

Career

Television

A former member of Chicago-based Second City and Annoyance Theatre comedy troupes, her first major foray into television began in 1995 on the Comedy Central sketch show, Exit 57, which also starred Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello.[8] The show was cancelled after three seasons.[8]

Beginning in 1999, Sedaris portrayed Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central series Strangers with Candy.[9] The show, which she co-wrote with Dinello and Colbert, was based on Sedaris's impression of 1970s motivational speaker Florrie Fisher.[10] The show ran for three seasons and would later inspire a full-length movie.[11]

Sedaris has made numerous guest appearances on a number of different TV programs, including Rescue Me, Monk, Wonder Showzen, Just Shoot Me!, Sex and the City, My Name Is Earl, The Closer, and Sesame Street.[11] Sedaris also hosted the series Film Fanatic on Trio.[11]

Sedaris has appeared on many talk shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.[11] In 2008 Sedaris appearared on Chelsea Lately during which she gave host Chelsea Handler a presentation concerning vaginal hygiene with the aid of a plush vagina created by fashion designer Todd Oldham.

In 2007, Sedaris was featured in Dolly Parton's first mainstream country music video in 17 years, "Better Get to Livin'."[12]

It was announced in October 2008 that Sedaris would be getting her own sitcom, produced by 20th Century Fox, which she will be creating, writing and starring in.[13] Also in late 2008, Sedaris did voiceovers in several commercials for the discount hair salon SuperCuts.[14][15]

In January of 2009, Sedaris narrated the PBS Special, Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, a six hour documentary highlighting some of the best comedians and comedy in American history.

Film

Sedaris has had small roles in a number of films, including Elf, School of Rock, Maid in Manhattan, Bewitched, Full Grown Men, Shrek the Third, and Chicken Little.[11] She also starred in the 2006 film adaptation of Strangers with Candy.[11]

Sedaris entertaining the audience and fellow author David Rakoff as she gives direction on making brownies at the 2006 Texas Book Festival.

In 2008, Sedaris starred as principal Abby Hofman in Nickelodeon TV's Gym Teacher: The Movie, directed by her Strangers with Candy co-star Paul Dinello.[11]

Print and other work

She coauthored the text-and-picture novel Wigfield with Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, published in 2003. As of 2005, Sedaris writes a monthly advice column in The Believer. She has written a guide to entertaining titled I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, published in October 2006 by Warner Books. That light-hearted approach to cooking stayed on the New York Times best-sellers list for over 12 weeks, and currently has over 350,000 copies in print.

Along with her brother, author and essayist David Sedaris, Amy has co-authored several plays under the name "The Talent Family": Stump the Host (1993), Stitches (1994), One Woman Shoe (1995), Incident at Cobblers Knob (1997) and The Little Frieda Mysteries. She co-authored the play The Book of Liz with her brother. She played the stage manager in Paul Rudnick's play The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.

In addition to acting and writing, she runs a cupcake and cheese ball business, Dusty Food Cupcakes, out of her home kitchen.[16]

Bibliography

Filmography

References

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amy Sedaris
  1. ^ "TNR". http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070319&s=heard031907. 
  2. ^ "TNR". http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070319&s=heard031907&c=2. 
  3. ^ ": : A N T O N E L L A G A M B O T T O - B U R K E W E B : : C R I T I Q U E : :". http://www.antonellagambotto.com/NonfictionReviewSedaris.htm. 
  4. ^ "Amazon.com: Me Talk Pretty One Day: Books: David Sedaris". http://www.amazon.com/Me-Talk-Pretty-One-Day/dp/0316776963. 
  5. ^ "Amy Sedaris Interview". http://www.amysedarisrocks.com/transletapr05.htm. 
  6. ^ "jerriblank.com". http://www.jerriblank.com/dave.html#011405. 
  7. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/22/amy-sedaris-david-letterm_n_206664.html
  8. ^ a b IMDB entry for Exit 57
  9. ^ IMDB entry for Strangers With Candy
  10. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0194624/trivia
  11. ^ a b c d e f g IMDB entry for Amy Sedaris
  12. ^ http://www.buzzsugar.com/843202
  13. ^ "Amy Sedaris Inks Sitcom Deal, Guest Gig on The Closer". TV Guide. October 15, 2008. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Amy-Sedaris-sitcom-26544.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
  14. ^ http://siresays.blogspot.com/2008/09/as-if-today-couldnt-get-any-more-weird.html
  15. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXHoJ3eku2c&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsiresays.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F09%2Fas-if-today-couldnt-get-any-more-weird.html&feature=player_embedded
  16. ^ TV Guide: Amy Sedaris Sells Movie "Candy"

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