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Though she may be forever remembered as Elaine Benes -- she of the “big wall of hair,” nipple slip, and uncomfortable dancing -- on the NBC sitcom "Seinfeld" (1990-98), actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus allowed her comedic talents to shine in a variety of film and television projects ranging from “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 1975- ) to the animated hit “A Bug’s Life” (1998). And her return to network television with “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (2006-) appeared to have (for once) broken the “'Seinfeld’ curse” that plagued her former co-stars’ subsequent projects. Premiering to strong ratings and generally positive reviews, “The New Adventures of Old Christine” was one of the first new shows of 2006 to receive a full 22-episode commitment. As icing on the cake, Dreyfus would go on to win the Emmy that year for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Despite dropping slightly in the ratings during its second season, Dreyfus was again nominated for Best Actress in 2007 for her role as Christine Campbell.
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Christina Applegate first rose to fame as a teenager, playing the angel-faced yet promiscuous halfwit, Kelly Bundy, on Fox’s gleefully trashy sitcom "Married... With Children" (1987-1997). She had been a working actress since she was an infant, but Applegate managed to escape the fate of so many child actors by steering clear of the seductive Hollywood lifestyle; instead carving out a respectable adult career with her own sitcom “Jesse” (1998-2000) and a recurring role as Rachel’s sister on “Friends” (NBC, 1994-2004), which earned her her first Emmy Award. Applegate also enjoyed a few big screen successes with comedies “The Sweetest Thing” (2002) and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (2004) and surprisingly took Broadway by storm with a Tony-nominated role in Bob Fosse’s “Sweet Charity.” In 2008, Applegate earned Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for her runway fall hit “Samantha Who?” in which she starred as an amnesia patient trying to rebuild a new life with hilarious and often poignant results.
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20%
Born on December 1, 1970, Silverman grew up one of four daughters in a middle-class home in Bedford, New Hampshire. As a young girl, she was always interested in comedy, even writing the phrase "I Love Steve Martin" on her bedroom ceiling instead of posting the requisite Shawn Cassidy or Erik Estrada pictures. Funny, irreverent, fearless, hardcore ... All were used at one time or another to describe Silverman and her unremitting style of humor. In fact, she built a career tackling controversial subjects head-on.
While most might have only scratched the surface, Silverman dove right into the murky depths of race, religion and sex. Her blasé, seemingly prejudiced outbursts served to effectively deflate taboos, while her winsome looks excused her "offenses." However, taking on these issues was not without its controversies. Silverman was fired from her regular gig on "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ), and in 2001, while appearing on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (NBC, 1993- ), Silverman uttered a racial slur against Asians and was immediately castigated for it.
But through it all, Silverman rarely checked her sharp tongue or curbed her cutting-edge comedy, making even the most hardcore male comics blush on occasion -- including on-and-off offscreen boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel, to whom she dedicated the YouTube video sensation "I'm F---ing Matt Damon." Sadly, only months later, she and Kimmel parted ways after five years together.
Not letting a sentimental thing like a broken heart stop her, Silverman was nominated for an Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy for her third appearance as Detective Adrian Monk's (Tony Shalhoub) biggest (and scariest) fan, Marci Maven, on the USA Network comedy "Monk" (2002- ). Meanwhile, she received another Emmy nod, this time for her work on "The Sarah Silverman Program," which earned her a nomination in the lead actress – comedy series category in 2009.
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A graduate of the University of Virginia and alumni of Chicago’s famed Second City improv troupe, fashionably bespectacled writer-comedienne Tina Fey proved, once and for all, that a brainy woman could be sexy. A popular crush among political junkies, cultural literates, and highbrow frat boys across America, this proud, self-described “supernerd” first came onto the scene, first, as a writer and later, as a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” (NBC, 1975- ), where she shown brightly as the sarcastic Weekend Update co-anchor to Jimmy Fallon, and later, to Amy Poehler. After proving her mettle as big screen scribe of the hit Lindsay Lohan flick, “Mean Girls” (2004), Fey spread her wings and left the “S.N.L.” nest to write and star in the hit NBC sitcom, “30 Rock” (2006- ). Based on her experiences at “Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock” received the official blessing of Lorne Michaels, who served as an executive producer. Fey served as both star and head writer/producer for a show that also starred big shot movie star and favorite “SNL” host, Alec Baldwin. By the end of 2006, “30 Rock” topped several publications’ "year’s best" lists. On Sept. 16, 2007, “30 Rock” executive producer-creator-star Fey received the ultimate vindication for a rocky, albeit ultimately successful year: an Emmy award for Outstanding Comedy Series. And for her acting talents – which she herself felt insecure about – she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series in early 2008, as well as the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series later that same year. Before the third season of “30 Rock” began in October 2008, Fey made a triumphant return to “SNL” to play Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, with whom she shared a striking resemblance. Fey first appeared as Palin next to Amy Poehler (who played Hillary Clinton), then returned for subsequent episodes during the remainder of the campaign; most notably when Palin herself made an appearance two weeks before the election and when presidential candidate John McCain showed up the following week. The day after the election, Fey confirmed that she was retiring from playing Sarah Palin in order to focus on “30 Rock,” which earned Fey her second consecutive Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series. A couple of weeks later, Fey won a Screen Actors Guild award for outstanding actress in a comedy.
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Australian actress Toni Collette was virtually unknown outside of the Sydney theater scene when she shot to international fame at age 22 with a starring role as an Abba-loving, overweight misfit who gets her revenge in the lively hit "Muriel's Wedding" (1994). Collette’s strong first impression as a frumpy sad sack from Down Under was the first of a remarkably wide range of physical and psychological transformations the actress was admired for. International filmmakers sought after Collette’s gift for totally inhabiting characters. So convincing was her palette of international accents and so thorough were her physical transformations that audiences oftentimes did not realize they were watching the same actress in “Velvet Goldmine” (1998), “The Sixth Sense” (1999), and “Little Miss Sunshine” (2007). In 2008, the Showtime original comedy series “The United States of Tara,” about a woman with multiple personalities, proved to be the perfect small-screen vehicle for a woman known for inhabiting wildly diverse characters. The highly anticipated series written by famed “Juno” (2008) scribe Diablo Cody and produced by Steven Spielberg, found Collette flip-flopping between an aggressive male biker, a promiscuous teenage girl, and a Martha Stewart-like homemaker, among other identities.
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[ EXPERT PICK ]
One of the most steadily working actresses in New York and Los Angeles, Mary-Louise Parker enjoyed a Tony-winning career in Broadway dramas like “Prelude to a Kiss” and “Proof,” before winning over TV audiences as the subversive suburban centerpiece of Showtime’s dark comedy, “Weeds” (2005- ). Her better-known forays into feature film include “Fried Green Tomatoes” (1991), “Boys on the Side” (1995), and HBO’s adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Broadway hit, “Angels in America,” for which she earned Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. Forever shifting gears between film and the stage acting that was her primary passion, the talented actress with a flair for smart dramas and complex characters also spent several seasons in a recurring role as Amy Gardner on “The West Wing” (NBC, 1999-2006) before unexpectedly landing her critically-acclaimed lead on “Weeds” – the role which, more than any other, made her a A-list star in great demand.
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