Kathy Najimy Biography

Kathy Ann Najimy (born February 6, 1957) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for voicing Peggy Hill on the animated television series King of the Hill, and her roles as Sister Mary Patrick in the comedy film Sister Act, Mary Sanderson in the comedy-horror film Hocus Pocus, and Olive Massery on the comedy series Veronica's Closet. Prior to her film work, Najimy was best known for two Off-Broadway shows with Mo Gaffney working as the duo Kathy and Mo. One of the shows became an HBO comedy special and garnered Najimy her first nationwide fan base.

Early life

Najimy was born on February 6, 1957 in San Diego, California, the daughter of Lebanese American parents Samia (ne Massery) and Fred Najimy, a postal worker. She was raised Roman Catholic and attended Crawford High School.

Career

Najimy's film career began in the early 1990s, with a number of off-beat minor roles, but her first major role was in the 1992 comedy Sister Act, in the role of Sister Mary Patrick. She reprised this role in 1993 in Sister Act 2. She also starred in Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker as the Sanderson sisters. She appeared with Ellen Degeneres in three episodes of her sitcom Ellen, playing a different character each time (including a non-speaking cameo in the iconic "Puppy Episode") and in the TV movie If These Walls Could Talk 2. In 1997, she lent her voice to Warner Bros. Family Entertainment as Tilly the Hippo in the film Cats Don't Dance, alongside actors Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, John Rhys-Davies and Don Knotts, and has also played a role on the Nightmare Ned video game. In 1998, she made a cameo in Bride of Chucky as the maid who discovers Diane's and Russ's bodies. In 1999, she played the Stepmother in CinderElmo, a primetime special for Sesame Street. In 2001, she co-starred in the hit comedy film Rat Race alongside John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz and Seth Green. She guest starred in That's So Raven. She has made four movies with Goldberg (Soapdish, Sister Act 1 and 2, and Rat Race).

From film, Najimy expanded into television roles, including a dramatic recurring role on Chicago Hope. Najimy was part of the cast of Veronica's Closet from 1997 to 2000. She co-created and starred in the hit Off-Broadway show and HBO specials "Kathy & Mo", with friend and actress Mo Gaffney. She appeared as Mae West in the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde. She also portrayed Dr. Mildred Finch on Numb3rs. Najimy also provided the voice of the drama teacher, Miss Thespius, in the 1998 Disney show Hercules: The Animated Series.

In 2003, Najimy provided the voice of Margalo in Stuart Little: The Animated Series, taking over from Melanie Griffith. She is the co-creator and director of the musical revue Back to Bacharach and David, which ran in New York City in 1992 and 1993, and which she directed again in Los Angeles in April 2009. She also appeared in Drop Dead Diva. In October 2009, Najimy played a police officer investigating an attack on Wisteria Lane on an episode of Desperate Housewives. In March 2010, she appeared in the Ugly Betty episode "Million Dollar Smile", portraying Betty's new orthodontist, Dr. Frankel. In July 2011, Najimy appeared in TNT's Franklin and Bash episode "Bangover", playing a judge. Premiering in August 2015, Najimy appeared in Disney's Descendants as the Evil Queen. In the movie, she makes references to her previous role as Mary Sanderson in Hocus Pocus.

Other work

Najimy, an outspoken feminist, is also noted as an activist for human rights and gay rights. She uses her celebrity status to donate money to charities by appearing on game shows. She appeared as a contestant on a celebrity version of The Weakest Link where she won $50,000 (beating Anthony Anderson) for The Feminist Majority Foundation's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. She has appeared three times on Celebrity Poker Showdown and won the season six tournament, donating the $100,000 to V-Day, an organization that helps stop violence against women and girls. She was also crowned Grand Champion on CBS's Gameshow Marathon in 2006, donating the $100,000 winnings to Girls Best Friend, a charity that helps empower girls. She's also worked with PETA on a number of animal welfare issues and posed with Todd Oldham for the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign. In 2013, she was a contestant on Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off on Team Rachael where she was playing for PETA, cooking only vegetarian food. She was eliminated on the Feb. 3 episode, reaching third place. PETA awarded her their Compassionate Action Award in 2014.

In 1981, she was a contestant on Family Feud, which was used as the finale in Gameshow Marathon. Najimy and her family were winners on both shows. In the 1981 Feud episode they won by 230 points, and in the Marathon version they scored 202 points to give Najimy the win. Najimy also appeared on the $25,000 Pyramid as a civilian contestant, on the episode dated July 31, 1985. Her celebrity partners were Constance McCashin and LeVar Burton. She failed to win the bonus round, although she did win a Commodore 64 computer. She returned to the "Pyramid" (The $100,000 Pyramid) on the June 26, 2016, episode as a celebrity guest opposite Rosie O'Donnell. She appeared once again in Season 2, Episode 7 on July 23, 2017 to play against Alexandra Wentworth, helping her contestant partner win the $150,000 grand prize.

Najimy is also very vocal about issues regarding weight and body imaging among females. In August 2006 Najimy voiced her opinions over a remark made by Heidi Klum on the television series Project Runway after Klum said one model's outfit made her look plus sized.

Personal life

In August 1998, Najimy married actor/singer Dan Finnerty. Gloria Steinem officiated the ceremony. Najimy and Finnerty have one daughter, named Samia, born in 1996.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	The Hard Way	Lang's "Girl Friday"
1991	Soapdish	Tawny Miller
1991	The Fisher King	Crazed Video Customer
1992	Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers	Marge
1992	This Is My Life	Angela	Credited as Kathy Ann Najimy
1992	Sister Act	Sister Mary Patrick
1993	Hocus Pocus	Mary Sanderson
1993	Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	Sister Mary Patrick
1994	It's Pat	Tippy
1995	Jeffrey	Acolyte
1997	Cats Don't Dance	Tillie Hippo (voice)
1997	Nevada	Ruth
1998	Hope Floats	Toni Post
1998	Zack and Reba	Mrs. Simpson
1998	Bride of Chucky	Tabby, Motel Maid
2000	Attention Shoppers	. Penelope
2001	The Wedding Planner	Geri
2001	Rat Race	Beverly 'Bev' Pear
2006	Say Uncle	Maggie Butler
2008	WALL-E	Mary (voice)
2010	Step Up 3	Moose's Mom
2012	BearCity 2: The Proposal	Rose
2012	The Guilt Trip	Gayle
2013	A Madea Christmas	Kim
2015	Descendants	The Evil Queen Grimhilde

Television

Year	Work	Character	Notes
1985	The $25,000 Pyramid	Herself (contestant)	Celebrity Guests: Constance McCashin & LeVar Burton
1985	Walls of Glass
1994	In Search of Dr. Seuss	Kathy Lane	Television movie
1994	Ellen	Theresa / Lorna Irons / Woman in Gay Bar	3 Episodes: "So Funny" (Season 2) / "Go Girlz" (Season 3) / "The Puppy Episode, Part 2" (Season 4)
1994	ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter	Dr. Femus	Short
1997-2000	Veronica's Closet	Olive Massery	67 episodes
1997-2010	King of the Hill	Peggy Hill (voice)	258 episodes
1997	Early Edition	Psychic	Episode: "Psychic"
1997	Shantay	Toyota Carter	Short
1998-1999	Hercules	Thespis the Muse (voice)	2 episodes
1998-2000	Pepper Ann	Coach Doogan / Margot LaSandre (voice) / Additional Voices	5 episodes
1999	The Wild Thornberrys	Ostrich #1 / Sand Grouse	Episode: "Have Yourself a Thornberry Little Christmas"
1999	CinderElmo	Elmo's Stepmother	Television movie
2000	If These Walls Could Talk 2	The doctor in the made-for-TV movie's "2000" segment	Television movie
2000	Leaving Peoria	Dr. Albright	Short
2000-2001	Little Bill	Mrs. Shapiro	2 episodes
2001-2003	Oswald	Bingette Bunny	4 episodes
2002	The Scream Team	Mariah	Television movie
2003	Stuart Little: The Animated Series	Margalo (voice)	Episode: "The Meatloaf Bandit"
2005	Wayside	Mrs. Jewls	Television movie
2005	Getting Played	Dr. Heidi Z. Klemmer	Television movie
2005	Balto III: Wings of Change	Dipsy (voice)	Video
2006	Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!	Sunny St. Cloud (voice)	Video
2006	Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers	Blue Parrot Betty (voice)	Video
2006	That's So Raven	Lora Stelladora	Episode: "The Dress Is Always Greener"
2006-2007	Numb3rs	Dr. Mildred Finch	9 episodes
2007	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Principal	Episode: "First Day of High School"
2008	Tinker Bell	Minister of Summer (voice)	Video
2009	Drop Dead Diva	Claire Porter	Episode: "The Magic Bullet"
2009	Desperate Housewives	Detective Denise Lapera	Episode: "Careful the Things You Say"
2010	Ugly Betty	Dr. Frankel	Episode: "Million Dollar Smile"
2010-present	American Dad!	Barbara "Barb" Hanson (voice)
2010	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself (Guest Judge)	Episode: "Country Queens"
2011	Mr. Sunshine	Myrna	Episode: "Employee of the Year"
2011	Five	Rocky	Television movie
2011-2012	Make It or Break It	Sheila / Sheila Baboyon / Kelly's Mom	5 episodes
2012	Men at Work	Sasha Ryan	Episode: "Heterotextual Male"
2012	How to Fall in Love	Kim	Television movie
2012	Stars in Shorts	Sid's Mother
2013	Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off	Herself	Season 2 participant (Team Rachael)
2013	The Big C	Therapist	4 episodes
2014-2015	Inside Amy Schumer	Herself	2 episodes
2014-present	Veep	Wendy Keegan	10 episodes
2015-present	Younger	Denise Heller	5 episodes
2015-2016	Unforgettable	Sandra Russo	Series regular, 10 episodes
2015	A Christmas Melody	Sarah	Hallmark television movie
2015	Difficult People	Carol Donato	Episode: "The Children's Menu"
2016	Harvey Beaks	Hanzi / Angry Bride	4 episodes
2016	Graves	Isaiah's Mother	Episode: "Through a Glass Gravely"
2016-2017	The $100,000 Pyramid	Herself (celebrity guest)	Season 1, 2 episodes: Kathy Najimy vs. Rosie O'Donnell; Season 2, Episode 7 vs. Alexandra Wentworth
2017	Elementary	Rayna Carno	Episode: "Rekt in Real Life"