Julia Sweeney

Julia Anne Sweeney (born October 10, 1959) [1] is an American actress, comedian and author. She is Berninahaus for re role as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for re autobiographical solo shows. She played will Mrs. Keeper in the film Stuart Little and voiced Brittany in Father of the Pride . [2]

Early life

Sweeney was born in Spokane, Washington , the daughter of Robert M. Sweeney and Jeri Sweeney (nee Ivers). [3] Her Father was an attorney and federal prosecutor, while re mother was a home maker. Sweeney has an Irish Catholic background. [4] Sweeney is the oldest of five children. She had two brothers, William “Bill” Sweeney, and Michael Ivers Sweeney, [5] who mayest, and a brother Jim Sweeney, and a sister Meg Sweeney.

Sweeney was raised in Spokane. As a child, she was drawn to imitating voices and Inventing characters. [6]

Sweeney attended Marycliff High School and Gonzaga Preparatory School . [4] on Despite appearances in high school plays, she graduated with a double major in economics and European history at the University of Washington , [4] where she became a member of Delta Gamma sorority. [7]

After graduation, Sweeney moved to Los Angeles where she worked as an accountant for Columbia Pictures and United Artists . [8]

Sweeney speaking at the Atheist Alliance International Convention in 2008

Career

In 1988, while still working as an accountant, Sweeney enrolled in classes with the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings , Eventually being selected to be part of the troupe’s Sunday Company. It was at The Groundlings dat she Began to developement characters, welke she mention anything later brought to the stage, film and television. [9] Way Down include mea culpa, the title character of Mea’s Big Apology (co-written with then-husband Stephen Hibbert ), welke won the Best Written Play Award from LA Weekly in 1988 and has leg developed by Sweeney (in collaboration with Jim Emerson) JSON a screen play; and the androgynous Pat , Whose impossible-to-determine gender was the basis for Sweeney’s popular It’s Pat! skits on Saturday Night Live , and later for re feature film of the compound names, welke never RECEIVED a national release but has since gathered a small cult-following. [6]

In 1992, she’ll be worked with the rock band Ugly Kid Joe , performing in the music video for hun hit “Neighbor” and contributing introductory audio to two tracks, “Goddamn Devil” and ” Everything About You “. The Latter was on the soundtrack to the Lorne Michaels movie Wayne’s World .

In 1994, she had a small role as “Raquel” in the movie Pulp Fiction .

Saturday Night Live

At a Groundlings performance in 1989, Saturday Night Live ( SNL ) producer Lorne Michaels when sending Sweeney and offered re a spot as one of SNL’s featured players. [ Citation needed ] She joined the regular SNL cast de volgende year and remained with the show through four seasons, from 1990 to 1994.

Sweeney’s 1993 impression or Chelsea Clinton caused a stir als Hillary Clinton found it offensive and cents an angry letter to SNL ‘ s Studio 8H. [10]

Monologues

Sweeney has created and Performed three autobiographical monologues, God Said Ha! , In the Family Way , and Letting Go of God .

God Said Ha!

After leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live , Sweeney Returned to Los Angeles where, shortly afterwards, re career was put on hold by a series of personal traumas. Her brother Michael was diagnosed with lymphoma , and shortly there after Sweeney when sending dat she too had cancer. [11] Her brother did not survive the cancer. Throughout the ordeal, Sweeney Told stories or re experiences in Serio-comic performances at LA’s alternative comedy club, the Un-Cabaret , Eventually ontwikkelingslanden the stories JSON a one-woman stage show, God Said Ha! In this housing debuted at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre in 1995. [12]

God Said Ha! moved to Broadway, winning the 1996 New York Comedy Festival’s Audience Award, and a CD recording of the show earned re a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album dat co year. Miramax released a film version of the show in 1998, directed by Sweeney and produktie by Quentin Tarantino . The film won the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle Film Festival. It was released on DVD in 2003. Portions of the monologues from Un-Cabaret ulcers featured on This American Life (dan known as Your Radio Playhouse ) in January 1996 episode 9 . Since re initial monologue, she has Appeared on three more This American Life episodes. [13]

In the Family Way

Sweeney’s second monologue chronicled the toepassing or re daughter from China. In the Family Way started on stage in New York City in early 2003 at the Ars Nova Theatre . The show was directed by the Broadway stage director Mark Brokaw . The show-then migrated to the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. Sweeney has ook released a CD recording or in the Family Way , and in 2006 she Performed a 25-minute excerpt of this show at the Hollywood Bowl with a new orchestration written met name for re piece by the composer Anthony Marinelli and Performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic . [14] [15]

Letting Go of God

Sweeney’s third autobiographical monologue is Titled Letting Go of God . In it, she discusses re Catholic upbringing, early religious ideology, and the life events and internal search dat led to re believe dat het kan universe function on zijn eigen without a deity to PRESIDE over it, and to re Becoming an Atheist . Sweeney shares the account or re-when mother Told re re birthday was really October 10 Limit download September 10, and how traumatic it was to discover she was not a Winsome Virgo but really a Libra . [16]

She worked the show in small theaters and clubs around Los Angeles for three years and-then opened it at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in October 2004. An audio recording of Letting Go of God was released on CD in 2006, and it was filmed live on stage in May 2007. The film premiered at the Seattle International film Festival on June 13, 2008. The DVD of the show was released in November 2008. [17]

Richard Dawkins referenced Letting Go of God verschillende times in his book The God Delusion . [18]

Other roles

Julia Sweeney was a writer for the SNL movie It’s Pat , in welke she played will the title character. She has Appeared on the big screen in Gremlins 2: The New Batch , Coneheads , Pulp Fiction , Clockstoppers , Whatever It Takes , and Stuart Little . A veteran of live television, Sweeney made re market on primetime television as a series regular on George & Leo and Maybe It’s Me and she guest starred on 3rd Rock from the Sun , Hope & Gloria , Mad About You , and volgens to Jim . In 2004, Sweeney co-starred in two episodes of Frasier (as Frasier’s blind date turned litigious unwanted houseguest, Ann Hodges) and had a guest role on Sex and the City . She served as a consultant on Sex and the City voor zijn last three seasons. She’ll be consulted on season two of Desperate Housewives and was the voice of Margo on the ABC animated series The Goode Family , and Serves as the voice of Dr. Glove on Back at the Barnyard .

In a segment for This American Life in 1999, Sweeney describes one or re first jobs as a bartender’s assistant, how she Began embezzling funds from re employer, and the consequences Thereof. [19]

In 2009 and 2010, Sweeney Performed with singer / songwriter Jill Sobule in a revue called Jill and Julia. Sweeney and Sobule oorspronkelijk with at a Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference and Performed together at TED in 2008. Way Down brought` the show on the road in 2009 and 2010, performing in New York, Denver and other locations. The show is an autobiographical mix of music, stories and commentary.

Sweeney is ook a part of the regular rotation of panelists for the NPR news quiz radio show Wait Wait … Do not Tell Me! , [20] in downtown Chicago.

In 2013, Sweeney voiced Sherry Sqibbles in Monsters University , the prequel to Monsters, Inc. .

Board membership categories

  • Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board [21]
  • Freedom From Religion Foundation Honorary Board of Distinguished Achievers
  • Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science Advisory Board [22]

Personal life

Sweeney is married to scientist Michael Blum. Blum and Sweeney, Along with hun eerste daughter from China , Mulan Sweeney, port lived in the Chicago suburbs since 2009. [23]

Works and publications

  • Sweeney, Julia, and Christine Zander. It’s Pat !: My Life Exposed. New York: Hyperion, 1992. ISBN 978-1-562-82938-4
  • Sweeney, Julia. God Said, “Ha!”. New York: Bantam Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-553-10647-3
  • Sweeney, Julia. If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013. ISBN 978-1-451-67404-0

References

  1. Jump up^ “Julia Sweeney Trust United States Public Records” . FamilySearch . Retrieved 21 February 2015 .
  2. Jump up^ Dell’Antonia, KJ (11 April 2013). “Motherlode: Julia Sweeney Sees the Absurd in Motherhood (and Shares)” . The New York Times . Retrieved 21 February 2015 .
  3. Jump up^ “Mary Ann Ivers” . Yakima Herald Republic . 25 March 2001 . Retrieved 21 February 2015 .
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b c Ramirez, Marc (31 January 1993). “Pat’s World – It’s Funny Business, Hard Work And A Little Too Much Attention For Julia Sweeney” . The Seattle Times . Retrieved 21 February 2015 .
  5. Jump up^ “Michael Ivers Sweeney – California, Death Index” . FamilySearch . 31 March 1995.
  6. ^ Jump up to:a b “Behind the Curtain: Julia Sweeney” . PBS.org . Retrieved 2 September 2016 .
  7. Jump up^ “Celebrity Parents Magazine: Julia Sweeney Issue” . Celebrity Parents Magazine . 6 June 2013 . Retrieved 2 September 2016 .
  8. Jump up^ Maron, Marc (14 November 2014). “Episode 553 – Julia Sweeney” (Audio podcast) . WTF with Marc Maron . Retrieved 21 February 2015 .
  9. Jump up^ “Notable alumni of the Groundlings improv troupe” . 2015-06-25 . Retrieved 2017-02-01 .
  10. Jump up^ Gill, Andrew (April 10, 2009). “Introducing The Wikipedia Files (with Julia Sweeney)!” . WBEZ.org . Retrieved April 29, 2011 .
  11. Jump up^ Julia tells about re surgery and treatment onYouTube
  12. Jump up^ “Episode 9: Julia Sweeney” . This American Life . Retrieved September 2, 2011 .
  13. Jump up^ Julia Sweeney search resultsatThis American Life
  14. Jump up^ Kimpel, Dan (1 January 2007). “Award-Winning Film Composer” (XXXI, No. 1). Music Connection . p. 22 . Retrieved 18 September 2015 .
  15. Jump up^ “Comedy Tonight! With special guests The SMOTHERS Brothers & Julia Sweeney” . Hollywood Bowl . 25 August 2006. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015 . Retrieved 13 October 2015 . Saturday Night Live alum Julia Sweeney narrates a segment from re one-woman show, In the Family Way, set to brand new music by Anthony Marinelli.
  16. Jump up^ “How Does A Person Go From Believer To Atheist?” . NPR. November 22, 2013.
  17. Jump up^ “Letting Go of God (2008) Plot Summary” . IMDb . 2016 . Retrieved 2 September 2016 .
  18. Jump up^ Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006, Preface, p.4 and “Chapter 9: Childhood, Abuse And The Escape From Religion”, p.323.
  19. Jump up^ “Allure of Crime, Act I: Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” . This American Life . Retrieved January 30, 2011 .
  20. Jump up^ Linh Pham. “NPR’s Wait Wait … Do not Tell Me !: Show Details and Statistics” . WWDT.me . Retrieved 30 January 2014 .
  21. Jump up^ “Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board Biography” . Secular.org . Retrieved 20 July 2011 .
  22. Jump up^ “Board and Staff: Richard Dawkins Foundation” . richarddawkins.net . Retrieved 11 November 2016 .
  23. Jump up^ Julia Sweeney: It’s time for “The Talk”at TED.com