Laraine N Newman

Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.

Newman was born on March 2, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, the granddaughter of a cattle rancher from Arizona. Her family is Jewish. 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 in Beverly Hills, California. Newman married actor-writer-director Chad Einbinder in 1991. They have two daughters, Lena (born 1991) and Hannah (born 1995).

She took her first improv classes when she was 15. After finishing high school she auditioned for four acting schools in England including Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and Bristol Old Vic. After failing the second round of auditions for all four schools, she went to Paris to study mime with Marcel Marceau for a year.

She was a founding member of The Groundlings and is best known for being an original cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing on the show from its inception in 1975 through 1980. She originated the characters of Sheri the Valley Girl and Connie Conehead, among others:

" ...my favorite character that I created at Saturday Night Live, which, I think, only pleased me and no one else, was Lina Wertmüller."

During her five years on SNL she became a close friend of co-star Gilda Radner (although there was also a degree of rivalry between them). However, by her own account, she was unhappy for much of her time with the show - she disliked living in New York, and as the series progressed she increasingly came to feel that she was not receiving enough airtime. By the fifth season (1979–80) she had developed serious eating disorders and was using heroin regularly; she left the show at the end of that season, along with all other original cast members.

Newman's post-SNL film career has been in both leading and supporting roles, as well as a voice artist on television and features.

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, The Believer, and McSweeney's. She wrote the foreword to the book version of the UCB Production "Worst Laid Plans".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laraine_Newman