Kathy Kinney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kathy Kinney | |
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| Born | November 3, 1954 Stevens Point, Wisconsin |
| Occupation | Actress, Stand-Up Comedy |
Kathy Kinney (born November 3, 1954) is an American actress. She is a versatile character actress who gained considerable popularity in the late '90s for playing Mimi Bobeck, the outrageously made-up, flamboyantly vulgar, and vindictive nemesis of Drew Carey on the sitcom The Drew Carey Show. She had been involved with television, feature films, and stage work for years.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Kinney was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin to Marian and Harold Kinney, an automobile dealer.[1] She grew up in an Irish American family[2] and attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.[3] In 1976, at the age of 23, Kinney moved from the small college town of Stevens Point, Wisconsin to New York City, where she found work as a secretary at WCBS-TV. Her boss enjoyed hunting, and sometimes she would chat with him in his office about his hunting trips. She might quip "So, did you kill anything this week?" She used this experience to inspire her for the role of Mimi. During this time period at WCBS she was also working nights at various New York comedy clubs improving her improvisational comedy skills. This eventually led to a job teaching improv classes. One such class had in its attendance a director by the name of Bill Sherwood. Bill Sherwood wrote a part for her in his 1986 film, Parting Glances.
[edit] Career
Armoured with the success of Parting Glances, Kinney went to visit friends in Los Angeles, where she decided to permanently move and pursue a career in acting. In L.A., Kinney worked hard as a character actress, getting small roles in various TV series such as Seinfeld, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Grace Under Fire, Full House, The Larry Sanders Show, and My Name Is Earl. Her first memorable television role is generally considered her regular stint on Newhart as Ms. Goddard, the town librarian (1989-1990).
Kinney has avoided auditions for what she calls "the heavy-girl roles". Critics occasionally grumble that Mimi, her character on The Drew Carey Show, is a waddling fat joke, but her weight has never seemed to be the point of a fat joke. "One time I had to say to Drew, 'Aw, you're just fat,' as the ultimate put-down. I personally don't like it, but if fat jokes slip in because they're funny, I don't care". She is, however, less comfortable about being typecast because of her weight. "Once in a while I would lose some weight, just by accident, and someone would say to me, 'You're going to diet yourself out of a career,'" she says. "And I tell them, 'I'm losing weight, not my talent.' Why is it the first thing [some people] look at is the shape? It points up to me the prejudice that still exists". The Mimi Bobeck character was only written into the pilot of the Drew Carey Show. The character interviewed for a cosmetics job at Winfred-Louder and when not hired, for obvious reasons, raised a big fuss and threatened to sue. Positive public reaction prompted the Mimi storyline to continue, as the store hired her as a secretary to prevent her from suing.
In addition to her television roles, Kinney has also appeared in several movies, including Arachnophobia, Stanley and Iris, Three Fugitives, and This Boy's Life.
