Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City,^[2] is a 2005 crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. It is a neo-noir based on Miller's graphic novel series of the same name.

The film is primarily based on three of Miller's works: The Hard Goodbye, about a man who embarks on a brutal rampage in search of his one-time sweetheart's killer; The Big Fat Kill, which focuses on a street war between a group of prostitutes and a group of mercenaries; and That Yellow Bastard, which follows an aging police officer who protects a young woman from a grotesquely disfigured serial killer. The film stars Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Elijah Wood, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King, Rutger Hauer, Carla Gugino, Michael Madsen and Nick Stahl, among others.

Sin City opened to wide critical and commercial success, gathering particular recognition for the film's unique color processing, which rendered most of the film in black and white but retained or added coloring for select objects. The film was screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival in-competition and won the Technical Grand Prize for the film's "visual shaping".^[3][4]

Plot[link]

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (November 2011)

The Customer Is Always Right (Part 1)[link]

The Salesman (Josh Hartnett) walks onto a penthouse balcony where The Customer (Marley Shelton) looks out over Basin City. He offers her a cigarette and says that she looks like someone who is tired of running and that he will save her. The two share a kiss and he shoots her; she dies in his arms. He says he’ll never know what she was running from but that he’ll cash her check in the morning.

That Yellow Bastard (Part 1)[link]

On the docks of Sin City, aging police officer John Hartigan (Bruce Willis) tries to stop serial child-killer Roark Junior (Nick Stahl) from raping and killing eleven-year-old Nancy Callahan (Makenzie Vega). Junior is the son of Senator Roark (Powers Boothe), who has bribed the police to cover up his son's crimes. Hartigan's partner, Bob (Michael Madsen) tries to convince Hartigan to walk away. Hartigan knocks him out.

Hartigan heads into the warehouse where Junior is holding Nancy, fighting off the pain caused by his bad heart, as well as several henchmen. Junior shoots Hartigan in the shoulder and tries to escape. Hartigan catches up and shoots off Junior's ear, hand, and genitals. Bob, now recovered, shoots Hartigan in the back; he has been paid off by Roark Sr. As the sirens approach, Bob leaves and Nancy lies down in Hartigan's lap. Hartigan passes out, reasoning his death is a fair trade for the girl's life.

The Hard Goodbye[link]

After a one-night stand, Marv (Mickey Rourke) awakens to find Goldie (Jaime King) has been killed while he slept. He flees the frame-up as the police arrive, vowing to avenge her death. His parole officer, Lucille (Carla Gugino), warns him to give up on this mission. Marv interrogates several informants, working up to a corrupt priest (Frank Miller), who reveals that the Roark family was behind the murder. Marv kills the priest after he insults Goldie but is attacked by a woman who looks like Goldie, which he dismisses as a hallucination.

Marv goes to the Roark family farm and is subdued by the silent stalker who killed Goldie. He awakens in the basement to find Lucille has been captured after looking into his story. She tells Marv that the killer is a cannibal and that Goldie was a prostitute. He learns that the killer's name is Kevin (Elijah Wood) and escapes. Lucille is gunned down by the leader of an arriving squad of cops, who, after the squad is killed, is interrogated by Marv. Marv finds out that Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark (Rutger Hauer) arranged for Goldie's murder.

Marv goes to Old Town, Sin City's prostitute-run red-light district, to learn more about Goldie and is captured by her twin sister, Wendy, who had been stalking him and was the attacker Marv previously dismissed as a hallucination. He eventually convinces her that he is not the killer. She and Marv return to the farm where Marv kills Kevin. He confronts Cardinal Roark, who confesses his part in the murders. Kevin was the cardinal's ward; the two men ate the prostitutes to 'consume their souls'. Marv kills the cardinal but is then shot and captured by his guards.

Marv is taken to a hospital where cops threaten to kill his mother to get him to confess to killing Roark, Kevin, and their victims. He is sentenced to death in the electric chair. Wendy visits him on death row and thanks him for avenging her sister. Marv is executed the next day.

The Big Fat Kill[link]

Shellie (Brittany Murphy) is being harassed by her abusive ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro). Her current boyfriend, Dwight (Clive Owen) violently warns him to leave Shellie alone. Jackie Boy flees to Old Town. Dwight follows and sees them harass Becky (Alexis Bledel), a young prostitute. Gail (Rosario Dawson), the prostitutes' leader and Dwight's on-and-off lover, also witnesses the scene. When Jackie Boy threatens Becky with a gun, Miho (Devon Aoki), a martial arts expert, kills Jackie Boy and his friends. They realize Jackie Boy is actually Detective Lieutenant Jonathan "Iron Jack" Rafferty of the Basin City police, considered a "hero cop" by the press. If the cops learn how he died, their truce with the prostitutes would end and the mob would be free to wage war on Old Town.

Dwight takes the bodies to a tar pit, where he is attacked by an ex-IRA mercenary hired by mob boss Wallenquist. He nearly drowns in the tar before Miho saves him. The mercenary runs away in the sewer with Jackie Boy's severed head but Dwight and Miho are able to retrieve it and return to Old Town. Meanwhile, the head mercenary, Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan), kidnaps Gail. Becky has been threatened with the death of her mother by the mob and has betrayed the prostitutes. The mob is moving to invade with Manute leading. Dwight trades Jackie Boy’s head in exchange for Gail, but activates an explosive he placed inside the head, destroying it before it can be taken to the cops for evidence. The other prostitutes gun down the mercenaries while an injured Becky escapes.

That Yellow Bastard (Part 2)[link]

Hartigan is recovering in a hospital when Senator Roark informs him that Junior is in a coma and the Roark legacy is in serious jeopardy. Hartigan will be framed for Junior's crimes; if he tells anyone the truth, they will die. A grateful Nancy promises to write letters every week while he is in prison. Hartigan goes to jail, though he refuses to confess. He receives a weekly letter from Nancy, as promised. After eight years, the letters stop and he receives a severed finger instead. Hartigan confesses to all charges leading to his parole and searches for an adult Nancy (Jessica Alba), not knowing he is being followed by a deformed, yellow man. He eventually finds her at Kadie's Bar, where she has become an erotic dancer.

He realizes he was set up to lead the yellow man to Nancy and the two escape in Nancy's car. Hiding at a hotel, the deformed man returns, revealing himself as Junior Roark, disfigured by years of surgery to regenerate his body parts. Junior attacks Hartigan and takes Nancy to the Roark farm to finish what he started eight years before. Hartigan follows and fakes a heart attack, giving him a chance to kill Junior. Knowing that Senator Roark will never stop hunting them, Hartigan commits suicide to ensure Nancy's safety. Again, he justifies his life for Nancy's as a fair trade.

The Customer Is Always Right (Part 2)[link]

An injured Becky departs from a hospital, talking on a cell phone with her mother. In the elevator she encounters The Salesman, dressed as a doctor. He offers her a cigarette, calling her by name, as she abruptly ends the call with her mother. Her fate is never revealed.

Cast[link]

• Josh Hartnett as The Salesman, known in the screenplay as "The Man".
• Marley Shelton as The Customer
• Mickey Rourke as Marv
• Jaime King as Goldie/Wendy
• Carla Gugino as Lucille
• Rutger Hauer as Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark
• Jason Douglas as Hitman
• Frank Miller as Priest
• Brittany Murphy as Shellie
• Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan
• Alexis Bledel as Becky
• Clive Owen as Dwight McCarthy
• Benicio del Toro as Det. Lt. Jack "Jackie Boy" Rafferty
• Rosario Dawson as Gail
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute
• Devon Aoki as Miho
• Patricia Vonne as Dallas
• Nicky Katt as Stuka
• Bruce Willis as Det. John Hartigan
• Nick Stahl as Roark Junior/Yellow Bastard
• Powers Boothe as Senator Roark
• Michael Madsen as Bob
• Makenzie Vega as Young Nancy Callahan
• Jude Ciccolella as Liebowitz
• Rick Gomez as Klump
• Nick Offerman as Shlubb
• Tommy Flanagan as Brian
• Elijah Wood as Kevin

Production[link]

Proof of concept[link]

After his experience with Hollywood on the RoboCop sequels, Miller did not want to release the film rights, fearing a similar result. Rodriguez, a long-time fan of the graphic novels, was eager to adapt Sin City for the screen. His plan was to make a fully faithful adaptation, follow the source material closely, and make a "translation, not an adaptation".^[5] In hopes of convincing Miller to give the project his blessing, Rodriguez shot a "proof of concept" adaptation of the Sin City story "The Customer is Always Right" (starring Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton). Rodriguez flew Miller into Austin to be present at this test shooting, and Miller was very happy with the results. This footage was later used as the opening scene for the completed project.

Digital backlot[link]

This is one of the first films—along with Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Casshern, and Immortel (Ad Vitam)—to be shot primarily on a digital backlot. The film employed the Sony HDC-950 high-definition digital camera, having the actors work in front of a green screen, that allowed for the artificial backgrounds (as well as some major foreground elements, such as cars) to be added later during the post-production stage. Three sets were constructed by hand:

• Kadie's Bar, where all of the major characters make an appearance at least once and also the only location in which all objects are in color.
• Shellie's apartment. The front door and kitchen are real, while bathroom and corridors are artificial.
• The hospital corridor in the epilogue. Although the first shot of walking feet was done on greenscreen, the corridor in the next shot is real. The background becomes artificial again when the interior of the elevator is shown.

While the use of a green screen is standard for special effects filming, the use of high-definition digital cameras is quite noteworthy in the production of this film. The combination of these two techniques made Sin City at the time (along with Sky Captain, which was produced the same way) one of the few fully digital, live-action motion pictures (since then, digital has grown in popularity). This technique also means that the whole film was initially shot in full color, and was converted to black-and-white. Colorization is used on certain subjects in a scene, such as Devon Aoki's red-and-blue clothing; Alexis Bledel's blue eyes and red blood; Michael Clarke Duncan's golden eye; Rutger Hauer's green eyes; Jaime King's red dress and blonde hair; Clive Owen's red Converse shoes and Cadillac; Mickey Rourke's red blood and orange prescription pill container; Marley Shelton's green eyes, red dress, and red lips; Nick Stahl's yellow face and body; and Elijah Wood's white glasses. Much of the blood in the film also has a striking glow to it. The film was color-corrected digitally and, as in film noir tradition, treated for heightened contrast so as to more clearly separate blacks and whites. This was done not only to give a more film-noir look, but also to make it appear more like the original comic. This technique was used again on another Frank Miller adaptation, 300, which was shot on film.

Principal shooting[link]

Principal photography began on March 29, 2004. Several of the scenes were shot before every actor had signed on; as a result, several stand-ins were used before the actual actors were digitally added into the film during post-production.^[5] Rodriguez, an aficionado of cinematic technology, has used similar techniques in the past. In critic Roger Ebert's review of the film,^[6] he recalled Rodriguez's speech during production of Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams: "This is the future! You don't wait six hours for a scene to be lighted. You want a light over here, you grab a light and put it over here. You want a nuclear submarine, you make one out of thin air and put your characters into it."

The film was noted throughout production for Rodriguez's plan to stay faithful to the source material, unlike most other comic book adaptations. Rodriguez stated that he considered the film to be "less of an adaptation than a translation".^[5] As a result, there is no screenwriting in the credits; simply "Based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller". There were several minor changes, such as dialogue trimming, new colorized objects, removal of some nudity, slightly edited violence, and minor deleted scenes. These scenes were later added in the release of the Sin City Collectors DVD, which also split the books into the 4 separate stories.

Credits[link]

Three directors received credit for Sin City: Miller, Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, the last for directing one scene in the film. Miller and Rodriguez worked as a team directing the rest of the film. Despite having no previous directorial background, Miller was substantially involved in the direction of the film, providing direction to the actors on their motivations and what they needed to bring to each scene. Because of this (and the fact that Miller's original books were used as storyboards), Rodriguez felt that they should both be credited as directors on the film.^{[citation needed]}

When the Directors Guild of America refused to allow two directors that were not an established team to be credited (especially since Miller had never directed before), Rodriguez first planned to give Miller full credit. Miller would not accept this, as he certainly could not have done it without Rodriguez. Rodriguez, also refusing to take full credit, decided to resign from the Guild so that the joint credit could remain.^[7]

Reception[link]

[edit] Critical response

The film opened on April 1, 2005, being acclaimed by reviews, receiving a 78% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes.^[8]

Roger Ebert awarded the film four out of four stars, describing it as "a visualization of the pulp noir imagination, uncompromising and extreme. Yes, and brilliant."^[6] Online critical reaction was particularly strong: James Berardinelli placed the film on his list of the ten best films of 2005.^[9] Several critics including Ebert compared the film favorably to other comic book adaptations, particularly Batman^[10] and Hulk.^[11] Critic Chauncey Mabe of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wrote, "Really, there will be no reason for anyone to make a comic-book film ever again. Miller and Rodriguez have pushed the form as far as it can possibly go."^[12]

There were several reviews predominantly focused on the film's more graphic content, criticizing it for a lack of "humanity". William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described it as a celebration of "helpless people being tortured... I kept thinking of those clean-cut young American guards at Abu Ghraib. That is exactly the mentality Rodriguez is celebrating here. Sin City is their movie."^[13] Other critics focused on especially negative elements: "scenes depicting castration, murder, torture, decapitation, rape and misogyny."^[14]

New York Times critic Manohla Dargis claimed that the directors' "commitment to absolute unreality and the absence of the human factor" made it "hard to get pulled into the story on any level other than the visceral". Credit is given for Rodriguez's "scrupulous care and obvious love for its genre influences" but Dargis notes "it's a shame the movie is kind of a bore" where the private experience of reading a graphic novel does not translate, stating that "the problem is, this is his private experience, not ours".^[15]

In a more lighthearted piece focusing on the progression of movies and the origins of Sin City, fellow Times critic A. O. Scott, identifying Who Framed Roger Rabbit as its chief cinematic predecessor, argued that "Something is missing – something human. Don't let the movies fool you: Roger Rabbit was guilty," with regard to the increasing use of digitisation within movies to replace the human elements. He applauds the fact Rodriguez "has rendered a gorgeous world of silvery shadows that updates the expressionist cinematography of postwar noir" but bemoans that several elements of "old film noirs has been digitally broomed away", resulting instead in a movie that "offers sensation without feeling, death without grief, sin without guilt and, ultimately, novelty without surprise".^[16]

Box office[link]

Sin City grossed $29.1 million on its opening weekend, defeating fellow opener Beauty Shop by more than twice its opening take. The film saw a sharp decline in its second weekend, dropping over fifty percent. Ultimately, the film ended its North American run with a gross of $74.1 million against its $40 million negative cost. Overseas, the film grossed $84.6 million, for a worldwide total from theater receipts of $158.7 million.^[1]

Awards and honors[link]

Mickey Rourke won awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, Online Film Critics Society, Chicago Film Critics Association, and the Irish Film and Television Awards for his performance. The film was in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and Rodriguez won the Technical Grand Prize for the visual shaping of the film.^[3]

[edit] Home media

The Region 1 DVD was released on August 16, 2005. The single-disc edition was released with four different slipcovers to choose from and featured a "Behind-the-Scenes" documentary. Then, on December 13, 2005, the special edition DVD was released, known as the "Recut, Extended, Unrated" edition. On October 21, 2008 a Blu-ray edition, which is region free, was released by Alliance in Canada. On January 29, 2009 a US Blu-ray Disc release was confirmed for April 23, 2009. It is a 2-disc edition featuring both the Theatrical and the "Recut, Unrated, Extended" versions of the film.

The Special Edition was a two-disc set, featuring both the 124-minute theatrical release, along with the 147-minute "Recut, Unrated, Extended" edition (this edition restored edited and deleted scenes that were missing from the theatrical edition). Bonus material included an audio commentary with director Rodriguez and Miller, a commentary with Rodriguez and Tarantino, and a third commentary featuring the recorded audience reaction at the Austin, Texas Premiere. Also included were various behind-the-scenes documentaries and features, as well as a pocket-sized version of the graphic novel "The Hard Goodbye". Shortly after, the same DVD/book package was released in a limited edition giftbox with a set of Sin City playing cards and a small stack of Sin City poker chips not available anywhere else.

The initial Region 2 release only features a 7-minute featurette on the movie. HMV stores had limited quantities of the four slipcases. Amazon.co.uk released another limited edition which housed the film, and the three books it is based on, in a hard case. In October 2007, the Recut, Extended, and Unrated edition was finally released in the UK. Although it does not feature the reproduction of "The Hard Goodbye" book, it does come in Steelbook packaging. This version of the movie was initially exclusive to HMV stores, but is now available at most retailers in the UK.

Soundtrack[link]

Original music was composed by Rodriguez as well as John Debney and Graeme Revell. The three main stories in the film ("The Hard Goodbye", "The Big Fat Kill", and "That Yellow Bastard") were each scored by an individual composer: Revell scored "Goodbye", Debney scored "Kill", and Rodriguez scored "Bastard". Additionally, Rodriguez co-scored with the other two composers on several tracks.

Another notable piece of music used was the instrumental version of the song "Cells" by the London-based alternative group The Servant. The song was heavily featured in the film's publicity, including the promotional trailers and television spots, as well as being featured on the film's DVD menus.

"Sensemayá" by Silvestre Revueltas is also used on the end sequence of "That Yellow Bastard". Fluke's track "Absurd" is also used when Hartigan first enters Kadie's.

Sequel[link]

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

	United States portal
	Film portal
	Comics portal

See also[link]

• List of films based on crime books

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sin City (film)

• Official website
• Sin City at the Internet Movie Database
• Sin City at AllRovi
• Sin City at Box Office Mojo
• Sin City at Metacritic

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

Jack Rafferty is a fictional character in Frank Miller's Sin City, and an antagonist of The Big Fat Kill. He is mainly referred to by his nickname Jackie Boy. In the 2005 film adaptation of the comic books, he was portrayed by Benicio del Toro.

Background[link]

In the commentaries on the Sin City DVD, Miller has stated that at one time, Jack Rafferty was, in fact, a decent cop. However, after years on the force, he seemingly ended up being corrupted and worn down from the job. He specifically said how the Jack Rafferty we see in the movie is at rock bottom. Miller has confirmed there will be a graphic novel coming soon showing the rise and fall of Rafferty.

This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (December 2007)

At the beginning of The Big Fat Kill, a drunken Rafferty is paying a visit to his old girlfriend Shellie. She wants nothing to do with him, but when he threatens to break down the door to her apartment, she lets him in out of fear, along with his pack of equally drunk friends. He wants her to call some stripper and waitress friends of hers and hit the town with him and his 'troops'. After she refuses, Rafferty strikes Shellie in the face after claiming he had never hit a woman in his life. While relieving himself in the bathroom, he is accosted by Dwight McCarthy, Shellie's new boyfriend, who had been hiding behind the shower curtain the whole time. Dwight threatens that if he does "ever so much as think [Shellie's] name... I'll cut you in ways that [would] make you useless to a woman." Dwight then shoves his head in the unflushed toilet.

Humiliated, Rafferty and his friends run off to Old Town, the prostitute quarter of Basin City, pursued by Dwight. After evading a police squad car by entering Old Town, where the cops are forbidden entrance while they are on duty, Rafferty tries to pick up a young hooker named Becky, who rebuffs him. He finally loses what patience he has and pulls what seems to be a M1911 Colt pistol (similar to Marv's.) on her. This cues Miho, Old Town's resident assassin, to cut off his hand with a Manji-shaped shuriken. She slices up his gang, then comes for him. While the wounded Rafferty is distracted by Dwight, Miho throws a metal rod into his gun's barrel. When he tries to shoot Dwight, the gun backfires causing the slide to lodge itself in his skull. Finishing the job, Miho purposely botches the decapitation, causing blood to spew from his neck, similar to "a Pez dispenser".

Dwight and the Old Town girls then discover that Rafferty is actually a 'hero cop', 'Iron Jack' Rafferty. If the cops find out that the Old Town girls killed him, the truce between them will be shattered, leaving them open to a hostile takeover by the mob. Realising this, Dwight offers to get rid of the bodies. Unfortunately, since there isn't enough room in the trunk of the scrapheap car they supply him with, Jack sits in the front with Dwight, 'where anyone who cares to look will see him'. As his frustration rises and the instinctive bottling of his rage and fear that is his weakness begins afresh, Dwight begins to hallucinate and imagines that Rafferty is talking to him, mocking him at every turn. This interferes with Dwight's driving and he attracts the attention of a motorcycle cop. At the mocking suggestion of Jack, Dwight slams on the brakes, driving the gun barrel further into Rafferty's head as he slams against the dashboard. The cop, believing Jack is merely stone drunk, tells Dwight that he's simply driving with a busted tail-light, and lets him go with a warning.

As Dwight is about to dispose of the bodies at the Santa Yolanda Tar Pits, an abandoned theme park of sorts, Irish mercenaries attack and cut off Jack's head to give to the mob. Miho pulls him out of the tarpits, where the car had landed after a grenade blew it up, and he then finds out that Gail has been captured and held hostage by Manute, one of the mob's enforcers. Dwight and Miho pursue and kill the mercenaries, retrieving the head. He calls the mobsters, offering to exchange the head for Gail. They agree, and the exchange is made. However, Dwight has packed the head with a dead mercenary's grenades and detonates it. The head explodes, eliminating Rafferty's head. The Old Town girls hiding on the rooftops shower the mobsters with bullets, killing them all.

Film appearances[link]

During the making of the film, del Toro told makeup artist Gregory Nicotero that he felt that he needed to have some minor prosthetic work so that he could look even more like the character. In response, Nicotero squared off his chin and gave him a longer, thinner nose. The resulting look was not only strikingly similar, but was also subtle enough to not be obtrusive, given the make-up used for Mickey Rourke's Marv and Nick Stahl's Yellow Bastard; in guest director Quentin Tarantino's words, "you forget that that's not what [Benicio del Toro] looks like."

Quentin Tarantino directed the scene in which Dwight hallucinates that Jackie-Boy's corpse is talking. One notable suggestion Tarantino brought to the character was that his voice be affected by his partially severed neck and vocal cords, ranging from a throaty yet sibilant gurgle to a hoarse, guttural whisper.

Possible new Sin City appearance[link]

Due generally to good reception to character Jack Rafferty (both in comic and film), Frank Miller has stated that he wouldn't mind doing a novel on the "rise and fall of Jack Rafferty". This novel would showcase Rafferty's slow but steady descent into alcoholism, womanizing and the formation of somewhat of a Messiah complex.

Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig, 2009
Born	Kristen Carroll Wiig (1973-08-22) August 22, 1973 (age 38) Canandaigua, New York, U.S.[1]
Occupation	Actress, comedienne
Years active	2000–present
Spouse	Hayes Hargrove (2005–09)[2]
Website
kristenwiig.com

Kristen Carroll Wiig (pronounced /ˈwiːɡ/; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedienne, and writer. She is best known for her work as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012. Wiig was a member of the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings,^[1][3] and has appeared in several films and television series, including Bridesmaids, MacGruber, Flight of the Conchords, Adventureland, and Paul. Her voice acting credits include "Ruffnut" in How to Train Your Dragon, "Miss Hattie" in Despicable Me and "Lola Bunny" in the series The Looney Tunes Show.

In 2011, Wiig co-wrote and starred in Bridesmaids, receiving nominations for her acting from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild and for her writing from the Academy and from BAFTA.^[4]

Early life[link]

Wiig was born in Canandaigua, New York, the daughter of Laurie J. (née Johnston), an artist, and Jon J. Wiig, who ran a lake marina in Upstate New York.^[5][6] Her father is of Norwegian and Irish ancestry and her mother is of English and Scottish descent.^[7] The name "Wiig" hails from the area of Sogn og Fjordane in Norway.^[8] She moved with her family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the age of three. Wiig later moved to Rochester, New York, where she attended and graduated from Brighton High School.^[9] After a short stint at Roanoke College, Wiig went on to attend the University of Arizona with a major in art.^[10] She took an acting class in university to fulfill a course requirement; her teacher suggested she continue to act.^[10] She dropped out and relocated to Los Angeles, where she joined The Groundlings while working odd jobs to support herself.^[10]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Wiig's work has mostly been in comedy, including performing at the Empty Stage Comedy Theatre.^[11] In 2003, she appeared in the Spike TV show The Joe Schmo Show, a spoof of reality television, in which she played "Dr. Pat", the quack marriage counselor.^[11]