Laraine Newman is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comedienne, actress, and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

cast.

Personal life

Newman was born on March 2, 1952, in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, the granddaughter of a Jewish cattle rancher from Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. She is the youngest of four children and a twin. Her sister, Tracy Newman is an Emmy Award winning Television writer. Newman attended Beverly Hills High School

Beverly Hills High School

Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...

 in Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

. Newman married actor-writer-director, Chad Einbinder in 1991. They have two daughters, Lena (born 1991) and Hannah (born 1995).

Career

She began her comedy career as a founding member of The Groundlings

The Groundlings

The Groundlings are an improvisational comedy troupe based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin to produce sketches and improvised scenes...

 and is best known for being an original cast member on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

, appearing on the show from its inception in 1975 through 1980. She originated the characters of Sheri The Valley Girl and Connie Conehead

Coneheads

The Coneheads is a sketch on Saturday Night Live which originated on the January 15, 1977 episode, and starred Dan Aykroyd as father Beldar, Jane Curtin as mother Prymaat, and Laraine Newman as daughter Connie.-Summary:...

, among others.

Newman's post-SNL film career has been in supporting roles and as a voice artist on television and features. She made appearances on such programs as Laverne & Shirley

Laverne & Shirley

Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...

, as Donut Rooter in Devo

Devo

Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...

's We're All Devo

We're All Devo

We're All Devo! is the second home video release by new wave band Devo. Released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1984, We're All Devo! is a collection of Devo music videos from 1976 to 1983.-Synopsis:...

VHS, According to Jim

According to Jim

According to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...

, St. Elsewhere

St. Elsewhere

St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...

, Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories (TV series)

Amazing Stories is a fantasy, horror, and science fiction television anthology series created by Steven Spielberg. It ran on NBC from 1985 to 1987, and was somewhat erratically screened in Britain by BBC1 and BBC2 - billed in the Radio Times as "Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories" - with episodes...

, Friends

Friends

Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

, The Tick

The Tick

The Tick is a fictional character created by cartoonist Ben Edlund in 1986 as a newsletter mascot for the New England Comics chain of Boston area comic stores. He is an absurdist spoof of comic book superheroes. After its creation, the character spun off into an independent comic book series in...

, 3rd Rock from the Sun

3rd Rock from the Sun

3rd Rock from the Sun is an American sitcom that aired from 1996 to 2001 on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet...

, Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...

, Histeria!

Histeria!

Histeria! is a 1998 American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for...

, Wayside

Wayside (TV series)

Wayside is a Canadian animated television series created by Louis Sachar, developed and written by John Derevlany for Canadian television channel Teletoon. The series centers on Todd, a transfer student who attends Wayside, an offbeat educational institution based on Sachar's upbringing...

, Kid vs. Kat

Kid vs. Kat

Kid vs. Kat is a Canadian animated television series developed and produced at Studio B Productions. The show is created and co-directed by Rob Boutilier. The feature revolves around a 10-year-old boy's constant battle with his sister's Sphinx cat which, in reality, is a cybernetic alien. The...

, Danny Phantom

Danny Phantom

Danny Phantom is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon, produced by Billionfold Studios. The show was about a teenage half-ghost boy, who frequently saves his town and the world from ghost attacks, while attempting to keep his ghost half a secret...

, Catdog

CatDog

CatDog is an American animated television series which premiered on April 4, 1998, and ended with an unaired episode on September 22, 2004. The series was created for Nickelodeon by Peter Hannan. It was also shown as a sneak peek in theaters with The Rugrats Movie...

, As Told By Ginger

As Told by Ginger

As Told by Ginger is an American teen drama animated series that was produced by Klasky-Csupo and aired on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2009. The series focuses on a middle schooler Ginger Foutley who, with her friends, tries to become more than a social geek. There are many subplots that focus on...

, Rugrats

Rugrats

Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....

(in "All Growed Up", an episode which would form the basis of the spinoff All Grown Up!

All Grown Up!

All Grown Up! is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó. After the success of All Growed Up, the Rugrats 10th anniversary special, Nickelodeon commissioned All Grown Up! as a spin-off series based on the episode.The series ran from April 12, 2003 to August...

, for which she also provided voice work), 7th Heaven

7th Heaven

7th Heaven is an American family drama television series, created and produced by Brenda Hampton. The series premiered on August 26, 1996, on the WB, the first time that the network aired Monday night programming, and was originally broadcast from August 26, 1996 to May 13, 2007...

, The Flintstones

The Flintstones

The Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...

, Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...

and Metalocalypse

Metalocalypse

Metalocalypse is an American animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006 on Adult Swim...

. Most recently she appeared in an episode of Entourage

Entourage (TV series)

Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

and Brothers & Sisters, provided voice work for WALL-E

WALL-E

WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future...

, Battle for Terra, Ponyo, Jungle Junction

Jungle Junction

Jungle Junction is a current CGI animated children's television series created by Trevor Ricketts. It airs on Disney Junior in the United States, as well as Playhouse Disney in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and on Playhouse Disney in Asia. It is produced in the UK by...

, Cars

Cars (film)

Cars is a 2006 American animated family film produced by Pixar and directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Joe Ranft. It is the seventh Disney·Pixar feature film, and Pixar's final, independently-produced motion picture before its purchase by Disney...

, Up!

Up (2009 film)

Up is a 2009 American computer-animated comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures and presented in Disney Digital 3-D. The film premiered on May 29, 2009 in North America and opened the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first animated and 3D film...

, Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo is a 2003 American comi-drama animated film written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Pixar. It tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who, along with a regal tang called Dory , searches for his abducted son Nemo...

, and Monsters Inc. She made a guest voice appearance in SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...

.

Newman also works as a writer and editor. She is a contributing editor for the online magazine: One For The Table, and she is an occasional contributor to the Huffington Post. She has contributed articles for the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer and McSweeney's. She wrote the foreword to the book version of the UCB Production "Worst Laid Plans".

External links

• Writings at One For The Table