Name	Delta Burke
Caption	Burke at the 1990 Emmy Awards
Birth name	Delta Ramona Leah Burke
Birth date	July 30, 1956
Years active	1974-present
Birth place	Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Spouse

Delta Ramona Leah Burke (born July 30, 1956) is an American television and film actress. Her television work includes a leading role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women. Also known for her role as Eve in the 2000 blockbuster What Women Want, Burke has also starred in several made-for-TV movies and has had supporting roles in dozens of films and television shows.

Early life and Miss Florida

Burke was born in Orlando, Florida to a single mother, Jean. Frederick Burke, an Orlando realtor, adopted her after marrying her mother; she has never met her biological father. In her senior year of high school, she won the Miss Florida title for 1974; she was the youngest Miss Florida titleholder in pageant history. She was subsequently paired with Miss Georgia, Gail Nelson, in the 1975 Miss America pageant. Burke won a talent scholarship from the Miss America Organization, allowing her to attend a two-year study program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Early career

In 1974, as part of winning Miss Florida, Burke appeared on the ABC TV show Bozo the Clown, filmed in Orlando Florida. She worked as the magical assistant to Herbert L. Becker. The two worked together for 6 months.

In 1980, Burke portrayed the role of the second Bonnie Sue Chisholm in the CBS western miniseries, The Chisholms. Her best-known role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in Designing Women was created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. Before Designing Women, Burke spent a year on Filthy Rich in 1982 playing the wily young widow, Kathleen Beck. After that, she played female football team owner Diane Barrow on 1st & Ten.

Designing Women fallout

Burke was slender when she started on Designing Women in 1986, but as the show gained in fame, she gained weight. She earned two consecutive "Best Actress" nominations from the Emmys in 1990 and 1991. In 1990, Burke publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the show's creators on a televised interview with Barbara Walters and other media outlets. She also said that castmate Dixie Carter, who had once been her close friend and maid of honor at her wedding to Gerald McRaney, wasn't speaking to her as she sided with her bosses. At the end of the fifth season of Designing Women, in 1991, she was let go from her contract due to her contentious relations with Carter and the Thomasons.

Burke became a blond for the short-lived TV sitcom Delta (1992), where she played an aspiring country singer. When the ratings plummeted, she became a brunette again. In 1995, she and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason reconciled their differences, and Burke returned as Suzanne Sugarbaker in Women of the House (1995), but that show also met an early demise.

It took more than a decade for Burke and Carter to reconcile, but they did so when Burke guest-starred in an episode of Family Law, on which Carter was a regular cast member.

Weight gain

Ever since the early 1990s, Burke's weight has been a subject of discussion in the tabloid press. In reality, her struggles with weight, depression, and eating disorders stretch back to her pageant days in the early 1970s. She became a much-parodied figure in the press due to her seesawing weight, including a skit on Saturday Night Live, wherein Leon Phelps from The Ladies Man has a sexual fixation on her. In 1989, Burke asked Thomason to write an episode addressing her weight. The episode, "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?", had Suzanne Sugarbaker going to her 15-year high school reunion and getting her feelings hurt after hearing disparaging remarks about her weight. This episode is said to have earned Burke her first Emmy nomination as Best Actress. She earned a second nomination the following year.

Recent weight loss

Burke recently lost about 60 pounds, due to her nearly 10-year battle with type-2 diabetes. She says she plans to keep on losing weight to remain healthy, as well as to improve her prospects for playing "Truvy" in the Broadway production of Steel Magnolias, a role that required her to be more slender.

Recent career

Burke has most recently appeared in a film for Hallmark Channel, titled Bridal Fever, which aired February 2, 2008.

Burke has been a leading actress in a number of television films and had a supporting role in the Mel Gibson film What Women Want (2000).

In the early 2000s, she co-starred with David Alan Grier on the sitcom DAG; she had lost much of her excess weight for the role after being diagnosed with diabetes. She had a recurring role on Popular as Cherry Cherry.

She recently starred as Mrs. Meers in the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. She was succeeded in that role by her Designing Women co-star Dixie Carter.

She also played Bella Horowitz during a five-episode arc on Boston Legal as a former flame of William Shatner's character, Denny Crane in season three.

Personal life

Burke has been married to actor Gerald McRaney since May 28, 1989. They have no children together, although McRaney has adult children from his prior marriages. Burke and McRaney's primary residence is in Los Angeles, California; they also own a house in Telluride, Colorado and one in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Burke is a very successful designer and manager of the clothing company Delta Burke Design, headquartered in New York City.

She and her husband are also the owners of an antique store in Collins, Mississippi.

Miscellaneous

Burke has compulsive hoarding syndrome, for which she received therapy. "At one time I had 27 storage units. I don't have a big enough house!" she said. "My mom had it, it's my mother's fault. She saved the diaper I came home from the hospital in!"

Filmography

Drop Dead Diva (2009)

Southern Baptist Sissies (2007) (post production)

Good Boy! (2003)

Going for Broke (2003)

Hansel and Gretel (2002)

Dangerous Child (2001)

Sordid Lives (2001)

What Women Want (2000)

Popular (TV series) (1999)

Melanie Darrow (1997)

A Promise To Carolyn (1996)

Maternal Instincts (1996)

Women of the House (1995)

Delta (1992)

Where The Hells' That Gold? (1988)

Designing Women (1986)

1st & Ten (1984)

Murder Me, Murder You (1983)

Filthy Rich (1982)

Rooster (1982)

Nonfiction

Delta Style: Eve Wasn't a Size 6 and Neither am I (1998, St. Martin's Press ;ISBN 0-312-15454-2 )

References

External links

Category:1956 births Category:Actors from Florida Category:Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:Miss America delegates Category:People from New Orleans, Louisiana Category:People from Orlando, Florida

Name	Margaret Cho
Caption	Cho in 2009
Birth name	Margaret Cho
Birth date	December 05, 1968
Birth place	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up comedy, television, film
Nationality	American
Active	1994–present
Genre	Liberal/Political Humor, LGBT Humor
Subject	Gay rights, race, liberal issues
Influences	Bill Hicks
Spouse	Al Ridenour (2003–present)
Notable work	, I'm the One That I Want
Website	www.MargaretCho.comwww.MySpace.com/MargaretCho

Margaret Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, fashion designer, actress, author, and recording artist. Cho is best known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially those pertaining to race, sexuality, and sex. She has also directed and appeared in music videos and has her own clothing line. She has frequently supported LGBT rights and has won awards for her humanitarian efforts on behalf of women, the transgender community, Asians, and the LGBT community.

As an actress she has played more serious parts, such as that of John Travolta's long-suffering FBI colleague in the action movie Face/Off. She is part of the hit TV series Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime Television, playing the role of Terri, a paralegal assistant.

Early life

Cho was born into a Korean family in San Francisco, California. She grew up in a racially diverse neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s, which she described as a community of "old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag queens, Chinese people, and Koreans. To say it was a melting pot—that's the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time."

Cho's parents, Young-Hie and Seung-Hoon Cho, ran Paperback Traffic, a bookstore on Polk Street at California Street in San Francisco. Her father writes joke books as well as a newspaper column in Seoul, South Korea. After Cho expressed an interest in performance, she auditioned and was accepted into the San Francisco School of the Arts, a performing-arts high school. While at the school, she became involved with the school's improvisational comedy group alongside actor Sam Rockwell.

Career

Early career

After doing several shows in a club adjacent to her parents' bookstore, Cho launched a stand-up career and spent several years developing her material in clubs. Cho's career began to build after appearances on television and university campuses. In 1992, she appeared on the unsuccessful Golden Girls spin-off The Golden Palace in a small role. In 2010, on The View, she discussed her nervousness about doing The Golden Palace and thanked the late Rue McClanahan for her help practicing the part following the announcement of McClanahan's death. Also in the early years of her career, she secured a coveted spot as opening act for Jerry Seinfeld and was featured on a Bob Hope special. She was also a frequent visitor to The Arsenio Hall Show. In 1994, Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian.

All American Girl

That same year, ABC developed and aired a sitcom based on Cho's stand-up routine. The show, All American Girl, was initially feted as the first show prominently featuring an East Asian family, although the short lived sitcom Mr. T and Tina preceded it by nearly two decades.

Cho has expressed subsequent regret for much of what transpired during the production of the show.

After network executives criticized her appearance and the roundness of her face, Cho starved herself for several weeks; her rapid weight loss, done to modify her appearance by the time the pilot episode was filmed, caused serious kidney failure.

The show suffered criticism from within the U.S. East Asian community over its perception of stereotyping. Producers told Cho at different times during production both that she was "too Asian" and that she was "not Asian enough." At one point during the course of the show, producers hired a coach to teach Cho how to "be more Asian."

After the show's 1995 cancellation, Cho became addicted to drugs, including alcohol. As detailed in her 2002 autobiography, I'm the One That I Want, in 1995, her substance abuse was evident during a performance in Monroe, Louisiana, where she was booed off the stage by 800 college students.

New Year's Rockin' Eve

At the same time All American Girl underwent a difficult period, Margaret Cho hosted the New Year's Rockin' Eve 95 show with Steve Harvey

I'm the One That I Want

Cho's career and personal life were challenging after the cancellation of the show, but Cho eventually sobered, refocused her energy, and developed new material. In 1999, she wrote about her struggles with the show in her first one-woman show, I'm the One That I Want. Cho then released her book of the same name, and the show was filmed and released as a concert film in 2000. Her material dealt with her difficulties breaking into show business because of her ethnicity and weight and her resulting struggle with and triumph over body image issues and drug and alcohol addiction.

Concerts, shows, books

Cho appeared in an episode of the HBO comedy Sex and the City's fourth season. The episode, titled "The Real Me", first aired on June 3, 2001, and also guest-starred supermodel Heidi Klum.

In 2002, the show Notorious C.H.O. (the title derived from slain rapper The Notorious B.I.G.) dealt with the comedian having been raised in 1970s San Francisco and her bisexuality.

In 2003, Cho made another stand-up film, Revolution, which was released in 2004.

In late 2004, Cho began work on her first self-written film, in which she starred. Bam Bam and Celeste, a low-budget comedy about a "fag hag" and her gay best friend, co-starred Cho's friend and co-touring act Bruce Daniels. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005. On Valentine's Day of 2004, Cho spoke at the Marriage Equality Rally at the California State Capitol. Her speech can be seen in the documentary Freedom to Marry.

In 2005, Cho started promoting and touring with her new show, Assassin. The show became her fourth live concert film and premiered on the gay and lesbian premium cable network Here! TV in September 2005. In this DVD, she notably includes herself when talking about gays, saying, "we," and, "our community." Posters for Assassin featured Cho in paratrooper gear, holding a microphone in the style of an automatic rifle, a reference to the infamous 1974 photo of heiress Patty Hearst.

Also in 2005, Cho released her second book, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, a compilation of essays and prose about global politics, human rights, and other topical issues. Cho launched a national book tour in support of the collection. An audio reading of the book was also released. A DVD of a live taping of the Assassin tour was released in conjunction with the book.

Cho launched "The Sensuous Woman" burlesque-style variety show tour in Los Angeles, California on August 10, 2007, with tour dates scheduled through November 3, as of October 10. Past and scheduled tour stops after Los Angeles are Chicago, Illinois and New York, New York.

The premiere performance of Cho's "Beautiful" tour was on February 28, 2008, in Sydney, Australia as part of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. Cho was also the Chief of Parade for the festival's annual parade along Oxford Street on March 1. During her stay in Sydney, Cho was filmed shopping for parade outfits in a drag store with Kathy Griffin and Cyndi Lauper for Griffin's reality series . The episode featuring Cho aired on June 26, 2008.

After same-sex marriage became legal in California in May 2008, Cho was deputized by the City of San Francisco to perform marriages there.

Cho and her family and friends appeared in an episode of NBC's series Celebrity Family Feud, which premiered on June 24, 2008.

Later that summer, Cho had her own reality show, The Cho Show, which premiered on VH1 on August 21, 2008.

Cho began work on a new series for Lifetime in 2009 in Atlanta entitled “Drop Dead Diva.” The show debuted in July, 2009.

In May 2010, Cho guest appeared in and directed the music video for "I Wanna be a Bear," by Jill Sobule (performing under the name "Pixie Herculon".)

In August 2010, Cho was confirmed by E! Online that she'll appear as a contestant on the 11th season of Dancing with the Stars and her professional Partner is Louis Van Amstel.

Music

In September 2008, Cho released her single, "I Cho Am A Woman", on iTunes. The song, produced by Desmond Child, was featured on her VH1 series.

Throughout 2010, she set work on a full length album, going through the titles "Guitarded" and "Banjovi" before finally settling on Cho Dependent. The album was released on August 24, 2010. Two music videos ("I'm Sorry" and "Eat Shit and Die" - directed by Liam Kyle Sullivan) were released to accompany the release of the album. Additionally, a third video ("My Lil' Wayne") was made and released but is not on the album.

The album was nominated for a 2010 Grammy award for Best Comedy Album.

Nature of material & Political advocacy

at the 2006 Miss Exotic World Pageant.]] Cho is also well known for discussing her relationship with her mother, particularly in imitating her mother's heavily accented speech. Her depictions of "Mommy" have become a popular part of her routine. Cho's comedy routines are often explicit. She has covered substance abuse, eating disorders, her bisexuality and obsession with gay men, and Asian-American stereotypes, among other subjects, in her stand up.

A substantial segment of her material and advocacy addresses gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. In addition to her shows, Cho also developed an additional outlet for her advocacy with the advent of Margaretcho.com and her daily weblog. When San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom directed that San Francisco's city hall issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in San Francisco in 2004 (until reversed by the state supreme court), Cho started Love is Love is Love, a website promoting the legalization of gay marriage in the United States.

Cho's material often features commentary on politics and contemporary American culture. She has also been outspoken about her dislike of former President George W. Bush. She began to draw intense fire from conservatives over her fiercely anti-Bush commentary; a live performance in Houston, Texas was threatened with picketing. Although protesters never showed up, she held a counter protest outside the club until security told her she had to go inside.

In 2004, Cho was performing at a corporate event in a hotel when, after ten minutes, her microphone was cut off and a band was instructed to begin playing. Cho claims this was because the manager of the hotel was offended by anti-Bush-administration comments. Cho's payment, which was issued by way of check directly to a non-profit organization, a defense fund for the West Memphis Three, initially bounced but was eventually honored.

In July 2004, during the Democratic National Convention, Cho was disinvited to speak at a Human Rights Campaign/National Stonewall Democrats fundraiser out of fear that her comments might cause controversy. In November 2005, she campaigned to pardon Stanley Tookie Williams, an early Crips gang leader, for his death sentence for four murders. On December 13, 2005, after exhausting all forms of appeal, Williams was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison, California.

She emceed the multi-artist True Colors Tour, which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada. The tour, sponsored by the Logo channel, began on June 8, 2007. Headlined by Cyndi Lauper, the tour also included Debbie Harry, Erasure, The Gossip, Rufus Wainwright, The Dresden Dolls, The MisShapes, Rosie O'Donnell, Indigo Girls, The Cliks and other special guests. Profits from the tour helped to benefit the Human Rights Campaign as well as PFLAG and The Matthew Shepard Foundation.

On January 25, 2008, Cho officially gave her support to Illinois Senator Barack Obama for the nomination on the Democratic ticket for the 2008 U.S. presidential race. After Republican Presidential candidate John McCain announced his running-mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, Cho said of Palin, "I think [Palin] is the worst thing to happen to America since 9/11."

Other projects

In 2002, Cho founded a clothing line with friend and fashion designer Ava Stander called High Class Cho. The company eventually went defunct.

In 2004, Cho took up bellydancing and in 2006 started her own line of bellydancing belts and accessories called Hip Wear (sold through her website). She also had extensive tattooing done to cover the majority of her back. She co-wrote and starred in a sitcom pilot based around the "Mommy" character of her stand-up, but it was not picked up. She began releasing comedic rap animated videos on her website under the moniker "M.C. M.C." (MC Margaret Cho) including the tracks "Finger" and "Roofies."

In November 2006, Cho joined the board of Good Vibrations. She co-wrote a rap song with fellow comedian Diana Yanez entitled "My Puss," which was recorded by the duo as "Maureen and Angela;" she then appeared in and directed the music video for the song. In December 2006, Cho appeared on the Sci-Fi Channel's miniseries The Lost Room as Suzie Kang, a tough, chain-smoking independent operator who will sell information to anyone — for the right price.

In 2007, Cho appeared in The Dresden Dolls' video of their song "Shores of California", which was MCed by Amanda Palmer and in The Cliks' video for "Eyes in the Back of My Head", in which she played Lucas Silveira's lover. She also voiced a character, Condie Ling, on the Logo animated series . Her episodes began airing in 2007.

Recently on an episode of The Hour with host George Stroumboulopoulos, actress/comedian Cho mentioned that she loved Broken Social Scene and wishes to be a part of the band (offering to play the rainstick or the triangle). On air, Stroumboulopoulos called Kevin Drew from his cellphone and Cho made her request to join the band via his voicemail.

In April 2009, Cho appeared in a Bettie Page-inspired "Heaven Bound" art show.

In September 2010 she competed in the eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars partnered by Louis van Amstel. She was the third star to be eliminated on week three of the show, landing her in 10th place.

Personal life

Cho married Al Ridenour, an artist involved in the production of Cacophony Society and the Art of Bleeding, in 2003. Margaret was featured in an Art of Bleeding performance in March 2006. In a Bond interview, she reveals that her marriage is "very conventional and conservative, I think. I mean we're such weird people that people just can't imagine that we would have a conventional marriage. But, yeah, we are very conventional."

Cho began getting major tattoo work done in 2006 and has become an enthusiast; as of March 2007 she estimates that 15-20% of her body is currently tattooed.

Cho lives in Peachtree City, Georgia.

She is openly bisexual.

Commendations

In 1994, Skankin' Pickle released their album Sing Along With Skankin' Pickle featuring a song entitled "It's Margaret Cho."

In 1999, I'm The One That I Want won New York magazine's Performance of the Year award and was named one of the Great Performances of the year by Entertainment Weekly. In 2000, her "E! Celebrity Profile" won a Gracie Allen Award from the American Women in Radio and Television organization acknowledging its "superior quality and effective portrayal of the changing roles and concerns of women." In 2001, she was given a Lambda Liberty Award by Lambda Legal for "pressing us to see how false constructions of race, sexuality, and gender operate similarly to obscure and demean identity." In 2003, she received a "Justice in Action" award from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. In 2003, she was given an Intrepid Award by the National Organization for Women. In 2004, she was awarded with the First Amendment Award from the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2007, she won for Outstanding Comedy Performance in AZN's Asian Excellence Awards. April 30, 2008 was declared "Margaret Cho Day" in San Francisco, CA.

Filmography

The Golden Palace (1992) - Television (Episode: One Old Lady to Go)

All American Girl (1994–1995) - Television (all episodes)

Angie (1994)

The Doom Generation (1995)

Sweethearts (1996)

It's My Party (1996)

Pink as the Day She Was Born (1997)

Fakin' Da Funk (1997)

Face/Off (1997)

The Thin Pink Line (1998)

Ground Control (1998)

The Rugrats Movie (1998)

The Tavern (1999)

I'm the One That I Want (2000)

Notorious C.H.O. (2001)

Sex and the City (2001) - Television

Revolution (2003)

(2005)

Bam Bam and Celeste (2005)

The Lost Room (2006)

Falling for Grace (2007)

Celebrity Family Feud (2008)

One Missed Call (2008)

The Cho Show (2008)

Beautiful (2009)

17 Again (2009)

Miss Oriented (2009)

Drop Dead Diva (2009-present) - Television

Ghost Whisperer (2010) - Television

Dancing With The Stars (2010) - Television

Don't Forget The Lyrics Celebrity Edition (2010) - Television

Bibliography

I'm the One That I Want (2000)

I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight (2005)

Discography

Comedy

Drunk with Power (1997)

Live in Houston (1998)

I'm the One That I Want (2000)

Notorious C.H.O.: Live at Carnegie Hall (2001)

Revolution (2003)

Assassin (2005)

Music

Cho Dependent (2010)

Tours

"I'm the One That I Want" (2000)

"Notorious C.H.O." (2002)

"Revolution" (2003)

"State of Emergency" (2004)

"Assassin" (2005)

"True Colors" (2007)

"Beautiful" (2008)

"True Colors" (2008)

"Cho Dependent" (2010)

References

External links

Official website

Comedienne Margaret Cho: Watching the Brady Bunch Made Me Realize I Wasn't White

Category:1968 births Category:American actors Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American actors of Asian descent Category:Actors from California Category:Feminist artists Category:American people of Korean descent Category:LGBT Asian Americans Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:Living people Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:San Francisco State University alumni Category:Women comedians Category:LGBT comedians Category:Dancing with the Stars (US TV series) participants

Name	Dolly Rebecca Parton
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Dolly Rebecca Parton
Born	January 19, 1946
Birth place	Sevierville, Tennessee
Genre	Country, country pop, bluegrass
Voice type	Soprano) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music.
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Further reading

. . .

External links

dollypartonmusic.net, (official music website)

dollyparton.com, (official website - not fully launched as of December 23, 2009 and requires Adobe Flash)

(UK Website run by Uberfan Joe Skelly)

"Dolly Parton", inductee page at countrymusichalloffame.com Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's official website

"Dolly Parton" biography at legacyrecordings.com, Legacy Recordings's official website

"Dolly Parton – Interview", posted November 18, 2008, at countrymusicpride.com

"A Conversation with Singer and Actress Dolly Parton", a June 5, 2009, video interview (requires Adobe Flash) from the Charlie Rose (talk show), a PBS television program, at charlierose.com, Rose's official website

Dolly Parton video interview from the talk show 'Parkinson' at BBC

Category:American buskers Category:American entertainment industry businesspeople Category:American country singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female singers Category:American female guitarists Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American memoirists Category:Appalachian culture Category:American Pentecostals Category:American philanthropists Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:People from Sevier County, Tennessee Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:1946 births Category:American television personalities Category:American sopranos Category:Living people Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American musical theatre lyricists

Birth place	Fridley, Minnesota, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Yearsactive	2000–present

Brooke Elliott (born November 16, 1974) is an American television, film, and stage actress, as well as a singer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Jane Bingum on Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva.

Life and career

Elliott was born in Minnesota. Due to a job opportunity for her father, Bob, she moved to Riverview, Michigan, in her junior year and graduated from Gabriel Richard Catholic High School in 1993. Elliott then went on to Western Michigan University, where she graduated and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Performance.

She is a trained singer and has appeared in many Broadway shows, such as: Beauty and the Beast, The Pirate Queen, Taboo and Wicked.

Her sister, Jamie Alexander, teaches Psychology at Bishop Kelley High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Brooke's father, Robert "Bob" Elliott, passed away on Saturday, November 20, 2010. He had lived and worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Filmography

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Television

References

External links

Category:1974 births Category:American television actors Category:American singers Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:Living people Category:Actors from Minnesota Category:People from Minnesota Category:Western Michigan University alumni

Name	Bill Engvall
Caption	Bill Engvall (2010)
Birth name	William Ray Engvall, Jr.
Birth date	July 27, 1957
Birth place	Galveston, Texas, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	American
Active	1990–present
Genre	Country Comedy, Observational comedy, Satire
Subject	Everyday life, Culture of the Southern United States, marriage, parenting, self-deprecation
Spouse	Mary Gail Watson (1982-present) 2 children
Notable work	Blue Collar Comedy Tour Bill Pelton onThe Jeff Foxworthy ShowHost ofCountry Fried Home VideosBill Little in Delta FarceBill Pearson onThe Bill Engvall Show
Children	1 son (Travis), 1 daughter (Emily)
Website	www.billengvall.com

William Ray "Bill" Engvall, Jr. (born July 27, 1957) is an American comedian best known for his work as a stand-up comic and as a member of the Blue Collar Comedy group. In 2007 TBS began airing his sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. He has released multiple comedy albums on Warner Bros. Records as well.

Biography

Early life

Engvall was born in Galveston, Texas. He attended Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas. He attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where he was a member of Xi Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. A staff member confirmed that Bill Engvall worked there at Inner Space Caverns many years ago when he was attending college, quickly mentioned in Engvall's autobiography, "Just A Guy." He also briefly mentioned this in one of the Blue Collar Comedy Tours. He left college, though, to pursue a career in the world of comedy.

Personal life

Bill and Gail Engvall (born August 1960) have been married since December 18, 1982. They have a daughter named Emily (born 1986), a recent graduate from the University of Puget Sound, as well as a son, Travis (born 1991), a sophomore at Northern Arizona University, who both appear regularly in his humor.

Career

Engvall began his career on the sitcom Designing Women. He hit his first big break when he went on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and from there won the American Comedy Awards Comic of the Year. He then joined the cast of Delta Burke's self-titled series Delta, which lasted for one year. He then began producing his own albums. Before becoming a well-known comedian, Engvall joined the popular talent show Star Search.

Engvall toiled in relative obscurity for several years until he turned his most famous routine, "Here's Your Sign," into a song by country music star Travis Tritt. The routine involves Bill offering signs (Which read "I'm stupid") to people to identify them as foolish upon them asking a redundant or obvious question. This song was later redone as a Christmas version.

He has appeared on The Jeff Foxworthy Show alongside best friend and fellow comic Jeff Foxworthy, with whom he starred in the hit film Blue Collar Comedy Tour (as well as its sequels and spin-off TV show). In the films and TV shows, Engvall performed his standup alongside Foxworthy, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy. He has also guest starred on the TNT series Leverage.

Engvall will host the 2011 revival of GSN's ;;Lingo''.

Comedy

Overall, Engvall has released eight comedy albums, seven on Warner Bros. Records and one on BNA Records. His debut, Here's Your Sign, is certified platinum by the RIAA, while 1998's Dorkfish is certified gold.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other charted songs

Music videos

List of works

Bibliography

Just a Guy: Notes from a Blue Collar Life St. Martin's Press ISBN 0312362676 (2007)

Filmography

Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again (2004)

Blue Collar TV (2004)

Mobile Home Disaster (2005)

Country Fried Home Videos (Host) (2006-Present)

(2006)

The Bill Engvall Show (2007-2009)

Delta Farce (2007)

Bait Shop (2008)

Country Fried Planet (2008)

Celebrity Family Feud (2008)

Strawberry Wine (2009)

Leverage (2010) (guest star) as Duke Penzer

References

External links

Official website

Bill Engvall cast bio on The WB

Category:1957 births Category:Living people Category:American film actors Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:Southwestern University alumni Category:Warner Bros. Records artists Category:People from Galveston, Texas

Name	Betty Thomas
Caption	Thomas at the Emmy Awards Governors Ball, 1994
Birthname	Betty Thomas Nienhauser
Birth date	July 27, 1948
Birth place	St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Actress/Director
Years active	1975–present

Betty Thomas (born July 27, 1948) is an American actress and director in television and motion pictures.

Life and career

Born Betty Thomas Nienhauser in St. Louis, Missouri, Thomas graduated from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She worked as an artist and taught school in Chicago before deciding to pursue a career in show business.

Thomas joined The Second City comedy group and appeared in the films Tunnel Vision (1975), Chesty Anderson, USN (1976), Used Cars (1980) and Loose Shoes (1980) and on the TV series The Fun Factory (1976). Later, she appeared as a guest performer on the British comedy program Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 1988.

While Thomas had been building her career in comedy, her breakthrough role as an actress came when she was cast in the dramatic role of police officer (later Sergeant) Lucille Bates on the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981–1987). She was nominated for six Emmy Awards for this role and won one for Best Supporting Actress in 1985. Thomas' character was paired with Officer Joe Coffey, portrayed by Ed Marinaro.

Following the end of the series, Thomas moved into directing. She first worked in TV, directing episodes of series such as Doogie Howser, M.D., Dream On, Hooperman, Mancuso, F.B.I., Midnight Caller, On the Air, Parenthood, Shannon's Deal and Sons and Daughters, and TV movies such as Couples (1994), My Breast (1994), and The Late Shift (1996). She won Emmys for her direction of Dream On in 1990 and My Breast in 1994.

Thomas made her feature film directorial debut in 1992 with Only You. She went on to direct several films, including The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), Private Parts (1997), Dr. Dolittle (1998), 28 Days (2000), and I Spy (2002). She has also produced several films, including Can't Hardly Wait (1998), Charlie's Angels (2000), and Surviving Christmas (2004).

In 2009, Thomas directed .

External links

Category:1948 births Category:Actors from Missouri Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American television actors Category:American television directors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Female film directors Category:Female television directors Category:Living people Category:Ohio University alumni Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri Category:Second City alumni