fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Kathy Ann Najimy (/nəˈdʒɪmi/ nə-JIM-ee; Arabic: كاثي ان نجيمي; born February 6, 1957)[1] is an American actress and activist. She is best known for her roles in the films Soapdish (1991), Sister Act (1992), Hocus Pocus (1993), Hope Floats (1998), The Wedding Planner (2001), Rat Race (2001), and Hocus Pocus 2 (2022), as well as her portrayal of Olive Massery on the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet (1997–2000) and for voicing Peggy Hill on the animated television series King of the Hill (1997–2010).

Kathy Najimy
Najimy at the 2011 Bel Air Film Festival
Born	Kathy Ann Najimy (1957-02-06) February 6, 1957 (age 65) San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress activist
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Dan Finnerty ​ (m. 1998)​
Children	Samia
Website	www.kathynajimy.com

She also starred in Disney and Pixar's Academy Award winning film WALL-E (2008), Step Up 3D (2010), The Guilt Trip (2012), Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (2013), A Christmas Melody (2015), Dumplin' (2018), Music (2021), and Single All the Way (2021).

She was first nationally known for her feminist play The Kathy and Mo Show, which she wrote and performed with Mo Gaffney.

Early life

Najimy was born on February 6, 1957, in San Diego, California, the daughter of Lebanese-American parents Samia (née Massery; 1928–2015)[2] and Fred Najimy, a postal worker. Her mother immigrated from Lebanon to the United States in 1946.[3] She was raised Maronite Catholic[4] and attended Crawford High School. Her father died when she was 14.[5] She is a 1995 graduate of San Diego State University.[6]

Career

Najimy and Mo Gaffney's feminist comedy play The Kathy and Mo Show premiered in 1986 and had three long term New York City runs[7][8][9] and generated two HBO specials, Parallel Lives and The Dark Side.

Najimy's film career began in the early 1990s, with a number of offbeat minor roles in The Fisher King, Soapdish, This Is My Life, The Hard Way. Her first major role was as Sister Mary Patrick in the 1992 comedy Sister Act. She reprised this role in 1993 in Sister Act 2. She also starred in Hocus Pocus as Mary Sanderson, alongside Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker. In 1999, she played the Stepmother in CinderElmo, a primetime special for Sesame Street. In 2001, she co-starred in the hit comedy film Rat Race alongside John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz and Seth Green. She has made four movies with Goldberg (Soapdish, Sister Act 1 and 2, and Rat Race). Najimy starred in Disney and Pixar's Academy Award winning film WALL-E and Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas.

From film, Najimy expanded into television roles, including a dramatic recurring role on Chicago Hope, She was part of the cast of Veronica's Closet from 1997 to 2000. She played Wendy Keegan in HBO's Veep for four seasons. She appeared with Ellen DeGeneres in three episodes of her sitcom Ellen, playing a different character each time (including a non-speaking cameo in the iconic "Puppy Episode") and in the TV movie If These Walls Could Talk 2. Najimy was a series regular season 4 of Unforgettable, season 4 of The Big C, and season 3 of Numbers. She guest starred on That's So Raven, Drop Dead Diva, Desperate Housewives,[10] Ugly Betty, and Franklin & Bash. She starred in TNT's In Search of Dr. Seuss.

Najimy starred as Mae West in the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde. She appeared in V'Day's Vagina Monologues on Broadway[11] and in Nassim Soleimanpour's plays White Rabbit Red Rabbit and Nassim. She is the co-creator and director of the musical revue Back to Bacharach and David, which ran in New York City in 1992 and 1993, and which she directed again in Los Angeles in April 2009.

Najimy starred as Peggy Hill in Fox's King of the Hill from 1997 to 2010. Her voice is featured in the animated films Brother Bear 2, The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story, Cats Don't Dance, and Tinkerbell. She has also lent her voice to hundreds of animated television shows and movies, including BoJack Horseman, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, American Dad!, Hercules, Pepper Ann, and played a role in the Nightmare Ned video game. In 2003, Najimy provided the voice of Margalo in Stuart Little: The Animated Series, taking over from Melanie Griffith, and in 2000 took over from Madeline Kahn as Mrs. Shapiro in Little Bill. She stars in Disney Junior's reboot of The Rocketeer and Amy Poehler's Duncanville.

Premiering in August 2015, Najimy appeared in Disney's Descendants as the Evil Queen.[12][13] Later that year, she took part in the successful Christmas TV movie A Christmas Melody starring Mariah Carey, Brennan Elliott, Lacey Chabert and Fina Strazza. It debuted on the Hallmark Channel on December 19, 2015. The film was viewed by 3.95 million people upon its debut.[14][15]

She appeared in Netflix's 2018 film Dumplin' alongside Jennifer Aniston.[16] Dumplin' was released on December 7, 2018, on the platform.[17]

In 2021, she appeared in musical drama film Music, directed by singer-songwriter Sia. In the United States, it was released in select IMAX theatres for one night on February 10, 2021,[18] and was followed by a premium video on demand release across the country on February 12.[19][20] The same year, she starred in the Netflix Christmas romantic comedy Single All the Way alongside Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers and Jennifer Coolidge.[21] During its debut week, Single All the Way ranked at number 6 on Netflix's top 10 weekly rankings for English-language films, based on its methodology of measuring a film or TV show by the number of hours it was viewed, with 13.82 million hours watched.[22] It also ranked in the weekly top 10 on Netflix in 42 countries.[23] In the second week of release, it had a viewership of 11.14 million hours and ranked at number 5 on Netflix's chart, while remaining in the top 10 Netflix rankings in 36 countries.[24]

Other work

Najimy is an activist and frequently travels the country to speak on issues of equal rights, safety, and self esteem for women and girls, LGBTQ rights, AIDS awareness, domestic violence, body image, and civil rights.[25] She has spoken at the Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, and PFLAG. She was a surrogate speaker for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.[26] In 2004, Najimy was Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year[27] and a speaker at the March for Women's Lives.[28] She is an active member of Time's Up.[29]

Najimy has also worked with PETA on a number of animal welfare issues and posed with Todd Oldham for the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign.[30] PETA gave her their Humanitarian of the Year award in 2000[31] and their Compassionate Action Award in 2014.[32]

Najimy is a strong advocate for women's health and reproductive rights. She's a proud contributor to the groundbreaking book, The Choices We Made, which includes testimonials from women who believe in choice.[33] Najimy is vocal about issues regarding body image among women. In August 2006 she voiced her opinions over a remark made by Heidi Klum on the television series Project Runway after Klum said one model's outfit made her look plus-sized, which Najimy called "dangerous" and "irresponsible".[34]

Najimy created and produced the off-Broadway play Gloria: A Life, about the life of activist Gloria Steinem.[35] Starting in 2012, Najimy has been creating, directing, and co-writing personal monologues with actresses including Olivia Wilde, Amy Schumer, Zosia Mamet, Debra Messing, Rosie Perez, and Gabourey Sidibe. The pieces have been performed at Glamour Magazine's live evening of personal monologues titled "These Girls"[36] and at the 2017 and 2018 MAKERS conference.[37] Najimy is currently working on a documentary about the 53% of white women who voted for Donald Trump in 2016.[37] She has performed her solo show, Lift Up Your Skirt, at many venues including the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, ICONS at Fire Island, and Feinstein's at The Nikko in San Francisco.[38] She is also currently producing a television series about the women's movement.[39]

Najimy uses her celebrity status to donate money to charities by appearing on game shows.[40] She appeared as a contestant on a celebrity version of The Weakest Link where she won $50,000 for The Feminist Majority Foundation's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan.[41] She won the season 6 tournament of Celebrity Poker Showdown, donating the $100,000 to V-Day, an organization that helps stop violence against women and girls. She was also crowned Grand Champion on CBS's Gameshow Marathon in 2006, donating the $100,000 winnings to Girls Best Friend, a charity that helps empower girls.[42] In 2013, Najimy was a contestant on Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off on Team Rachael where she was playing for PETA, cooking only vegetarian food. She was eliminated on the Feb 3 episode, reaching third place.[43]

Before she became a known actress, in 1981, Najimy was a contestant on Family Feud, which was used as the finale in Gameshow Marathon. Najimy and her family were winners on both shows. Najimy also appeared on the $25,000 Pyramid as a civilian contestant, on the episode dated July 31, 1985. She claimed, on the Pyramid show, that she also had been on American Bandstand. She returned to the "Pyramid" (The $100,000 Pyramid) on the June 26, 2016, episode as a celebrity guest opposite Rosie O'Donnell.[44] She appeared once again in Season 2, Episode 7 on July 23, 2017, to play against Alexandra Wentworth, helping her contestant partner win the $150,000 grand prize.[45][46]

Personal life

When she was 18, Najimy had an abortion. She advocates for pro-choice.[47] Najimy married actor and singer Dan Finnerty[48][49] of The Dan Band in August 1998. Gloria Steinem officiated the ceremony.[48] Najimy and Finnerty have one daughter, musician Samia.[50]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	The Hard Way	Lang's "Girl Friday"
	Soapdish	Tawny Miller
	The Fisher King	Crazed Video Customer
1992	Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers	Marge
	This Is My Life	Angela	Credited as Kathy Ann Najimy
	Sister Act	Sister Mary Patrick	American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated – MTV Movie + TV Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
1993	Hocus Pocus	Mary Sanderson	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Sister Mary Patrick	Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
1994	It's Pat	Tippy
1995	Jeffrey	Acolyte
1997	Cats Don't Dance	Tillie Hippo (voice)
	Nevada	Ruth
1998	Hope Floats	Toni Post
	Zack and Reba	Ivy Simpson
	Bride of Chucky	Motel Maid
	The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story	Chil (voice)	Direct-to-video
2000	Attention Shoppers	Penelope
2001	The Wedding Planner	Geri
	Rat Race	Beverly 'Bev' Pear
2005	Bam Bam and Celeste	Legba
2006	Say Uncle	Maggie Butler	Also associate producer
	Brother Bear 2	Aunt Taqqiq (voice)	Direct-to-video
2008	WALL-E	Mary (voice)
2008	Tinker Bell	The Minister of Summer (voice)
2010	Step Up 3D	Mrs. Alexander
2012	BearCity 2: The Proposal	Rose
	Secret of the Wings	The Minster of Summer
	Stars in Shorts	Sid's Mother
	The Guilt Trip	Gayle
2013	A Madea Christmas	Kim Williams
2016	No Letting Go	Dr. Nancy Harris
2017	A Change of Heart	Ruthie
	Dating My Mother	Lisa
2018	Dumplin'	Ms. Mitchellchuk
2021	Music	Evelyn's Mom
	Single All the Way	Carole
2022	Hocus Pocus 2	Mary Sanderson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The $25,000 Pyramid	Herself (contestant)	Celebrity Guests: Constance McCashin & LeVar Burton[51]
	Walls of Glass
1991	The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives	Herself	Television special; also writer CableACE Award for Performance in a Comedy Special (shared with Mo Gaffney) (1993) Nominated – CableACE Award for Writing an Entertainment Special (shared with Mo Gaffney) (1993)
1994	In Search of Dr. Seuss	Kathy Lane	Television movie
	Ellen	Theresa / Lorna Irons / Woman in Gay Bar	3 episodes: "So Funny" (Season 2) / "Go Girlz" (Season 3) / "The Puppy Episode, Part 2" (Season 4)
	ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter	Dr. Jane Femus	Short
	She TV	—	Also writer (1 episode)
1994-1996	Duckman	Some People	Some Episodes
1995	The Kathy & Mo Show: The Dark Side	Herself	Television special; also writer CableACE Award for Comedy Special (shared with Mo Gaffney, Paula Mazur & Dean Parisot) (1995) CableACE Award for Performance in a Comedy Special (shared with Mo Gaffney) (1995)
1996	Adventures from the Book of Virtues	The Old Woman (voice)	Episode: "Self-Discipline"
	Chicago Hope	Dr. Barbara 'Bix' Konstadt	Recurring role; 3 episodes Nominated – Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Recurring Player (1996)
1997	Early Edition	Psychic	Episode: "Psychic"
	Shantay	Toyota Carter	Short
1997–1999	Hey Arnold	Madame Blanche (voice)	2 episodes
1997–2000	Veronica's Closet	Olive Massery	67 episodes OFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series (1998) OFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1998)
1997–2010	King of the Hill	Peggy Hill (voice)	258 episodes Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production (2001) OFTA Television Award for Best Voice-Over Performance (2001) Nominated – Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production (1998) Nominated – OFTA Television Award for Best Voice-Over Performance (1998, 2004, 2005)
1998–1999	Hercules	Thespis the Muse (voice)	2 episodes
1998–2000	Pepper Ann	Coach Doogan / Margot LaSandre / Additional voices	5 episodes
1999	The Wild Thornberrys	Ostrich #1 / Sand Grouse (voices)	Episode: "Have Yourself a Thornberry Little Christmas"
	The Sissy Duckling	Mother Duck #1 (voice)	Television film
	CinderElmo	Elmo's Stepmother	Television movie
2000	If These Walls Could Talk 2	Doctor	Television movie; segment: "2000"
	Leaving Peoria	Dr. Beatrice Albright	Short
2000–2003	Little Bill	Mrs. Judith Shapiro (voice)	3 episodes; succeeded Madeline Kahn, the original voice of Mrs. Shapiro, shortly after her death in 1999.
2001–2003	Oswald	Bingette Bunny (voice)	4 episodes
2001	The Legend of Tarzan	Dania (voice)	Episode: "Tarzan and the Rift"
2002	The Scream Team	Mariah	Television movie
2003	The Mummy	Calliope / Aglaophone #2 (voices)	Episode: "The Enemy of My Enemy"
	Stuart Little	Margalo (voice)	Episode: "The Meatloaf Bandit"
	Ozzy & Drix	Loretta Epstein (voice)	Episode: "The Dream Factory"
2004	Higglytown Heroes	Photographer Hero (voice)	Episode: "The Legend of Higgsquatch"
	Rocket Power	Patsy (voice)	Episode: "Sammy's Fortune"
2005	Wayside	Mrs. Peri Jewls (voice)	Television movie
	Getting Played	Dr. Heidi Z. Klemmer	Television movie
	Balto III: Wings of Change	Dipsy (voice)	Video
2006	Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!	Sunny St. Cloud (voice)	Video
	Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers	Blue Parrot Betty (voice)	Video
	Rugrats	Goosey (voice)	1 episode
	That's So Raven	Lora Stelladora	Episode: "The Dress Is Always Greener"
2006–2007	Numb3rs	Dr. Mildred Finch	9 episodes
2007	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Principal	Episode: "First Day of High School"
2008	Tinker Bell	Minister of Summer (voice)	Video
2009	Drop Dead Diva	Claire Porter	Episode: "The Magic Bullet"
	Desperate Housewives	Detective Denise Lapera	Episode: "Careful the Things You Say"
2010	Ugly Betty	Dr. Jayne Frankel	Episode: "Million Dollar Smile"
	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself (Guest Judge)	Episode: "Country Queens"
2011	Mr. Sunshine	Myrna	Episode: "Employee of the Year"
	Five	Rocky	Television movie
2011–2012	Make It or Break It	Sheila / Sheila Baboyon / Kelly's Mom	5 episodes
2012	Men at Work	Sasha Ryan	Episode: "Heterotextual Male"
	How to Fall in Love	Kim	Television movie
2013	Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off	Herself	Season 2 participant (Team Rachael)
	The Big C	Therapist	4 episodes
2014–2015	Inside Amy Schumer	Herself	2 episodes
2014–2019	Veep	Wendy Keegan	10 episodes
2015–2021	Younger	Denise Heller	8 episodes
2015–2016	Unforgettable	Sandra Russo	Series regular, 10 episodes
2015	A Christmas Melody	Sarah	Hallmark television movie
	Descendants	The Evil Queen Grimhilde	Television movie
	Difficult People	Carol Donato	Episode: "The Children's Menu"
2016	Harvey Beaks	Hanzi / Angry Bride	4 episodes
	The Jamz	Dan	4 episodes Also consulting producer
2016–2017	Graves	Sylvia Miller	4 episodes
2016–2018	The $100,000 Pyramid	Herself (celebrity guest)	5 episodes
2017	Elementary	Rayna Carno	Episode: "Rekt in Real Life"
	BoJack Horseman	Marcy Jerominek (voice)	Episode: "Commence Fracking"
	The President Show	Ivana Trump	Episode: "I Came Up with Christmas: A President Show Christmas"
2018	Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure	Mother Maud (voice)	Episode: "Freebird"
	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend	Herself	Episode: "I Am Ashamed"
2019	The Good Fight	Judge Gayle Eno	Episode: "The One Where Diane and Liz Topple Democracy"
	Good Witch[52]	Willow	Episode: "The Road Trip"
	American Dad!	Cheryl (voice)	Episode: "Pride Before the Fail"
	The Rocketeer	Sareena Second (voice)	Main role
2020–present	Duncanville	Mayor, Additional voices	Recurring role
2020	Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Mayor Mira (voice)	Episode: "Raph's Ride-Along/Donnie vs. Witch Town"
	Robot Chicken	Mary Sanderson (voice)	Episode: "Ghandi Mulholland in: Plastic Doesn't Get Cancer"
	Elena of Avalor	Peaches (voice)	Episode: "Heart of The Jaguar"
2021	The Morning Show	Sylvia Portman	Episode: "My Least Favorite Year"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2022	Warped Kart Racers	Peggy Hill

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	Ref(s)
2021	"Gummy Bear"	Ginger Minj	[53]

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Further Adventures of Kathy and Mo	Performer	Off-Broadway Also author
1989	The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives		Off-Broadway Also playwright
2000	Dirty Blonde	Various characters	Broadway
2004	Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits	Performer	Off-Broadway Also playwright
2016	White Rabbit Red Rabbit	Performer	Off-Broadway
2018	Nassim

References

External links

• Kathy Najimy at IMDb
• Kathy Najimy on Instagram
• Kathy Najimy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Kathy Najimy at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Kathy Najimy at the TCM Movie Database
• Kathy Najimy at AllMovie
• Kathy Najimy at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official website

На других языках

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[de] Kathy Najimy

Kathy Najimy (* 6. Februar 1957 in San Diego, Kalifornien als Katherine Ann Najimy[1]) ist eine US-amerikanische Schauspielerin.

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- [en] Kathy Najimy

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[es] Kathy Najimy

Kathy Ann Najimy (Santa Mónica, California, 6 de febrero de 1957) es una actriz estadounidense, que ha trabajado en el cine y la televisión. Entre sus personajes más conocidos están Olive Massery en la serie El secreto de Verónica, la hermana Mary Patrick en las películas Sister Act y Sister Act 2, y Mary Sanderson en El retorno de las brujas.

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[ru] Наджими, Кэти

Кэ́ти Энн Наджи́ми (англ. Kathy Ann Najimy; род. 6 февраля 1957 (1957-02-06)) — американская актриса, наиболее известная по ролям сестры Мэри Патрик в фильме «Действуй, сестра» и его сиквеле, а также Беверли Пир в фильме «Крысиные бега».

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