Caroline Gilchrist Rhea (born April 13, 1964) is a Canadian stand-up comedian and actress who was the original host of the reality television show The Biggest Loser on NBC until she was replaced by Alison Sweeney after the end of the third season. She is also known for her role as Hilda Spellman from Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and for replacing Rosie O'Donnell as the hostess of her syndicated talk show, renamed The Caroline Rhea Show. Rhea provides the voice for Linda Flynn-Fletcher, the mother of Phineas and Candace Flynn, on the Disney Channel series Phineas and Ferb.

Early life

Rhea was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, the daughter of Marjorie, an antiques dealer, and David Rhea, an obstetrician and gynecologist. She has two sisters, Cynthia and Celia. She attended The Study, an all-girls private school in Westmount, Quebec and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

Career

Her film debut was as a bikini-clad extra in the film Meatballs III, shot on location near Montreal. She moved to New York in 1989 to study stand-up comedy at the New School for Social Research.

Rhea has said that her true training came from her first gigs at the comedy club, Catch a Rising Star. Performing around New York City, she quickly gained a reputation in the city's competitive comedy scene. These performances were augmented with appearances on MTV's Half-Hour Comedy Hour, Comic Strip Live and Caroline's Comedy Hour. She decided to move to Los Angeles for a career in Hollywood, debuting in NBC television series Pride & Joy co-starring with Jeremy Piven. She gained fame for her role as Aunt Hilda on the ABC (and later, The WB network) television show, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, as well as being a regular on the latest incarnation of Hollywood Squares.

In 2002, Rhea landed her own syndicated daytime talk show, The Caroline Rhea Show. Rosie O'Donnell hand-picked Rhea as her replacement. In 2004, Rhea became the first host of the series, The Biggest Loser on NBC, a weight loss reality show in which overweight members of two teams try to lose the most weight. After her 3rd season, Rhea was replaced by Alison Sweeney. In 2005, Rhea was in the movie The Perfect Man, playing a co-worker of Jean (Heather Locklear).

She has appeared in Comic Relief 8, as well as the Ms. Foundation's "Women of Comedy from Caroline's Comedy Club" (no relation to Rhea). She appeared as a contestant in 2001 on a special edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, winning $125,000 for charity. She had her own stand-up special as part of Bravo's three-part Funny Ladies series, along with Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone. Rhea has had a recurring role on the hit Disney Channel Original Series, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as Ilsa Shickelgubermeiger-Von Helsing der Keppelugerhofer, an inspector turned manager of the rival hotel. In the series, she is well known for a large mole on her cheek. She has appeared on Disney's Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire as the mother and also Christmas with the Kranks in 2004. She has competed on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown and GSN's World Series of Blackjack.

She now does the voice of Linda Flynn in Phineas and Ferb, an animated show with Ashley Tisdale, Mitchel Musso, and Alyson Stoner. Rhea will next appear on the upcoming Fox animated series Two Dreadful Children. Caroline Rhea also plays Noleta Nethercott on the TV series Sordid Lives: The Series. She has also been in the original Lifetime Television movie To Be Fat Like Me with Kaley Cuoco. Rhea stars as a down on her luck waitress alongside Justin Guarini and Mircea Monroe in the Marvista Entertainment production of Fast Girl. Rhea has also done a live webcast with author, Meg Cabot.

Rhea currently hosts the Canadian television series Cake Walk: Wedding Cake Edition on Slice, which premiered September 7, 2011. She is also frequently a guest on the revival of Match Game on Canada's The Comedy Network.

In 2013, Rhea hosted a travelling live stage show version of the game show Family Feud which toured fairs in the US and Canada, including the Calgary Stampede.

Personal life

Rhea and Comedian Costaki Economopoulos have a daughter Ava, who was born in New York on Thursday, October 23, 2008.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Meatballs III: Summer Job	Beach Girl #4 (uncredited)
1996	'	Casting Director
1999	Man on the Moon	'Fridays' Melanie
2000	Ready to Rumble	Eugenia King
2001	Happy Birthday	Monica
2004	Christmas with the Kranks	Candi
2005	'	Gloria	2007 Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire
2008	Fast Girl	Maddie
2009	Love N' Dancing	Bonnie
2011	Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension	Linda Flynn (voice)	Direct-to-DVD movie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Fools for Love	Caroline Rhea	TV movie
1995	Pride & Joy	Carol Green	6 episodes
1996	'	Bonnie	Episode: "What the Zoning Inspector Saw" Episode: "Drew's the Other Man"
1996-2003	Sabrina, the Teenage Witch	Hilda Spellman	142 episodes
1997	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Caroline (voice)	Episode: "Big Fat Slug"
1999	Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm	Herself	HBO Special
2000	Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire	Lynette Hansen	TV movie
2001	'	Mrs. Claus	TV movie
2002	Fillmore!	Mrs. Konquist (voice)	Episode: "Nappers Never Sleep"
2004-2006	The Biggest Loser	Herself	Host
2005-2006	'	Ilsa	Episode: "Hotel Inspector", "Cookin' with Romeo and Juliet" & "Bowling"
2007	Two Dreadful Children	(voice)	TV movie
2007	To Be Fat Like Me	Madelyn	TV movie
2007"present	Phineas and Ferb	Linda Flynn (voice)	82 episodes
2008	Sordid Lives: The Series	Noleta Nethercott	13 episodes
2009	Larry the Cable Guy's Hula-Palooza Christmas Luau	Shopper #1 / Grandma / Mrs Claus	TV movie
2011	Cake Walk: Wedding Edition	Herself	Host
2012	Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town	Mrs. Diston	TV movie, post-production
2012	The Christmas Consultant	Maya Fletcher	TV movie
2013	Baby Daddy	Jennifer Perrin	Episode: "On The Lamb-y"

See also

• List of Quebec comedians
• List of Canadian comedians

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