Amy Sedaris Biography

Amy Louise Sedaris (born March 29, 1961) is an American actress, author, and comedian. She is known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris.

Personal life

Sedaris was born in Endicott, New York, the daughter of Sharon (née Leonard) and Lou Sedaris, and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her siblings, David, Lisa, Gretchen, Tiffany, and Paul ("The Rooster"). She is of half Greek descent; her father was Greek Orthodox and her mother was Protestant. She remains Greek Orthodox.

As a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, she described two experiences with bosses. At age 16, she worked at the local Winn-Dixie supermarket. She would make fake announcements over the loudspeaker, which prompted the head cashier to confiscate the microphone. After work, she egged the cashier's car in protest. Later, as a cocktail waitress at Zanies, a comedy night club in Chicago, she was five minutes late for a shift with ice cream cone in hand. Fired that night, she took her revenge on her boss: "I took his keys and I threw them in the snow. I heard he found them in the spring."

Sedaris and her Strangers with Candy co-star Paul Dinello dated for eight years. Though their relationship ended, they have remained very close friends and Dinello made Sedaris godmother to his son. Sedaris has never married, and has stated in several interviews that she has never wanted to be married or have children.

Career

Television

A former member of Chicago-based Second City and Annoyance Theatre comedy troupes, her first major foray into television began in 1995 on the Comedy Central sketch show, Exit 57, which also starred Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello. The show was cancelled after three seasons.

Beginning in 1999, Sedaris portrayed Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central series Strangers with Candy. The show, which she co-wrote with Dinello and Colbert, was based on Sedaris's impression of 1970s motivational speaker Florrie Fisher. The show ran for three seasons and would later inspire a full-length movie.

Sedaris has made numerous guest appearances on a number of different TV programs, including Rescue Me, Monk, Wonder Showzen, Just Shoot Me!, Sex and the City, My Name Is Earl, The Closer, The Middle, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Raising Hope, and Sesame Street. Sedaris also hosted the series Film Fanatic on Trio.

Sedaris has appeared on many talk shows, including the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and WTF with Marc Maron. In 2008 Sedaris appeared on Chelsea Lately during which she gave host Chelsea Handler a presentation concerning vaginal hygiene with the aid of a plush vagina created by fashion designer Todd Oldham.

In 2007, Sedaris was featured in Dolly Parton's first mainstream country music video in 14 years, "Better Get to Livin'."

It was announced in October 2008 that Sedaris would be getting her own sitcom, produced by 20th Century Fox, which she will be creating, writing and starring in. Also in late 2008, Sedaris did voiceovers in several commercials for the discount hair salon SuperCuts.

In January 2009, Sedaris narrated the PBS special Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, a six-hour documentary on comedians and comedy in American history.

In 2010, she appeared as a supporting character in the Canadian comedy series The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour. She also voiced Ms. Davis, the Woodview School's debate club teacher in the WordGirl episode "Cleanup on Aisle Eleven."

Sedaris can be seen with Paul Dinello in the "Mummified Hand" episode of the Science Channel show Oddities.

In 2011, she appeared in a series of commercials for Downy.

In 2013, she played the sex crazed sister Hershe Heartshe, in the adult swim surreal comedy horror show The Heart, She Holler.

Film

Sedaris has had small roles in a number of films, including Elf, School of Rock, Maid in Manhattan, Bewitched, Snow Angels, Full Grown Men, Old Dogs, Shrek the Third, and Chicken Little. She also starred in the 2006 film adaptation of Strangers with Candy. Sedaris also had a large role in the comedy, The Best and the Brightest with Neil Patrick Harris. She voiced Cinderella in Shrek the Third and reprised her role in Shrek Forever After. In 2008, Sedaris starred as principal Abby Hofman in Nickelodeon TV's Gym Teacher: The Movie, directed by her Strangers with Candy co-star Paul Dinello.

Print and other work

She coauthored the text-and-picture novel Wigfield with Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, published in 2003. , Sedaris writes a monthly advice column in The Believer. She has written a guide to entertaining titled I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, published in October 2006 by Warner Books. That light-hearted approach to cooking stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for more than 12 weeks, and currently has over 350,000 copies in print.

Her new book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People! (2010), includes a cover which can be easily made into a hat, as demonstrated, and worn, by David Letterman during her appearance on his Late Show in October 2010.

Along with her brother David Sedaris, Amy has co-authored several plays under the name "The Talent Family": Stump the Host (1993), Stitches (1994), One Woman Shoe (1995), Incident at Cobblers Knob (1997) and The Little Frieda Mysteries. She also co-authored the play The Book of Liz with him, which has gone on to productions at such regional theatres as No Name Players.

Her theater work includes a role as the stage manager in Paul Rudnick's play The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.

In support of PETA's anti-fur campaign, Sedaris appeared as her "Strangers with Candy" character in an ad that read, "When you wear fur, people laugh at you, not with you."

In addition to acting and writing, she runs a cupcake and cheese ball business, Dusty Food Cupcakes, out of her home kitchen.

She was the host at the Annual Microsoft Company Meeting held at Safeco field in Seattle on September 28, 2010.

Bibliography

• Sedaris, Colbert, Dinello. Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not (Hyperion, May 19, 2004) ISBN 0-7868-8696-X
• I Like You : Hospitality Under The Influence (Warner Books, October 16, 2006) ISBN 0-446-57884-3
• "Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People" (Grand Central Publishing, November 2, 2010)

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1991	Big Deals (TV movie)	Topaz Radulavitch
1997	Bad Bosses Go to Hell	Trendy Boss
	Commandments	Scholar
1998	Wheels of Fury	Pepper Mills
	Strangers with Candy: Retardation, a Celebration (TV short)	Jerri Blank
	Six Days Seven Nights	Robin's Secretary
2001	Jump Tomorrow	Other Student in Class
2002	Maid in Manhattan	Rachel Hoffberg
2003	Untitled New York Pilot (TV movie)	Connie
	School of Rock	Mrs. Haynish
	Elf	Deb
2004	Neurotica	Renee
	My Baby's Daddy	Annabelle
2005	Strangers with Candy	Jerri Blank
	Bewitched	Gladys Kravitz
	Romance & Cigarettes	Frances
	Stay	Toni
	Chicken Little	Foxy Loxy	(voice)
2006	Full Grown Men	Trina
	I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With	School Therapist - Ms. Clark
2007	Snow Angels	Barb Petite
	Dedication	Cassidy's Mom
	Shrek the Third	Cinderella	(voice)
	Puberty: The Movie	Paulie the Penis	(voice)
2008	Gym Teacher: The Movie (TV movie)	Principal Hoffman
2009	Space Buddies	Gravity	(voice)
	Dance Flick	Ms. Cameltoé
	Jennifer's Body	Needy's Mom
	Tanner Hall	Mrs. Middlewood
	Old Dogs	Condo Woman
2010	Beware the Gonzo	Diane Gilman
	The Best and the Brightest	Sue Lemon
2011	Puss in Boots	Jill	(voice)

Television

Year(s)	Show	Role	Notes
1995"1996	Exit 57	Various	12 episodes
1999"2000	Strangers with Candy	Jerri Blank / Geraldine 'Jerri' Antonia Blank	30 episodes
2001	Fling	The Receptionist	2 episodes
	Just Shoot Me!	Betsy Frayne	2 episodes
2002"2003	Sex and the City	Courtney Masterson	4 episodes
	Monk	Gail Fleming	2 episodes
2004	Ed	Kate McCormick	2 episodes
	The Wrong Coast	Various Celebrity Voices
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Charlie Donato
2005	Wonder Showzen	Miss Amy
2006	The Colbert Report	Abraxxia (segment "Tek Jansen")	(voice)
	Sesame Street	Snow White
	My Name Is Earl	Judy
2007	Andy Barker, P.I.	Rita Spaulding
	Rescue Me	Beth	2 episodes
2008	Yo Gabba Gabba!	Tooth Fairy
2009	The Closer	Claire Howard	2 episodes
	American Dad!	Dr. Meg Penner
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Frances 'Frankenstein'
2010	The Middle	Abbie
2011	Royal Pains	Nan
	SpongeBob SquarePants	Ma Angler	(voice)
	Raising Hope	Delilah	2 episodes
	Bob's Burgers	Samantha	(voice)
	Hot In Cleveland	Heather / Heather Shaw	2 episodes
2012	The Good Wife	Stacie Hall	3 episodes
	American Dad!	Trish / Dr. Lizzy
	30 Rock	Visor Lady
2013	The Heart, She Holler	Hershe Heartshe