Rachel Dratch

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Rachel Dratch

Dratch at the premiere of Baby Mama in New York City, at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Born Rachel Susan Dratch
February 22, 1966 (1966-02-22) (age 43)
Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation Actress/Comedienne
Years active 1994–present

Rachel Susan Dratch (born February 22, 1966) is an American actress and comedienne, perhaps best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006.

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[edit] Early life

Dratch was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, the daughter of Elaine, a transportation director, and Paul Dratch, a radiologist.[citation needed] She is a graduate of William Diamond Middle School and Lexington High School in Massachusetts. Dratch is also an alumna of Dartmouth College (class of 1988), where she majored in drama and psychology and was a member of the improvisational comedy group, Said and Done. She attended the National Theater Institute in the fall of 1986.

[edit] Career

Dratch was a member of the mainstage cast of The Second City comedy troupe for four years. She received the Joseph Jefferson award for Best Actress in a Revue for the latter two revues in which she performed: "Paradigm Lost," and "Promisekeepers, Losers Weepers." At Second City she performed alongside future SNL head writers Adam McKay and Tina Fey, as well as future 30 Rock performer Scott Adsit. The first incarnation of her SNL "Wicked" sketch was performed in Second City's Paradigm Lost. In addition to acting, Dratch also played the cello onstage. The theater also hosted the first incarnation of Dratch & Fey (her critically praised two-woman show with Tina Fey) which was later performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, where it was dubbed "the funniest thing to be found on any New York comedy stage" by Time Out New York.

Dratch has appeared in several movies, including Martin & Orloff, The Hebrew Hammer, Down with Love, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Click, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, "Spring Breakdown" and "My Life in Ruins." She also has joined fellow SNL cast members on A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T.: Improv which aired September 7, 2005, on the Bravo channel. Dratch has also made television appearances on NBC's Third Watch and in a recurring role on King of Queens (playing Denise, the on-off girlfriend of Spence, who worked in a bowling alley). Other television appearances include "Monk", ""Frasier", "Wizards of Waverly Place", "30 Rock" and more recently, the season 3 finale of Ugly Betty.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Her career at SNL spanned from 1999-2006. Dratch's recurring characters include the Boston Teens (Sully and Denise); Sheldon, the junior high school boy from "Wake up Wakefield"; The "Lovers" with Will Ferrell as two pretentious professors; and Abe Scheinwald, Hollywood Producer. One of her best-known recurring characters was Debbie Downer, a depressed woman who creeps others out with disturbing non sequiturs. Dratch's first sketch as Downer attracted fan and media attention when her remarks about sterility, the greenhouse effect, and feline AIDS caused the guest star, Lindsay Lohan, and the rest of the cast, including Dratch, to break character.[1] She performed on SNL for seven seasons.

[edit] Saturday Night Live characters

[edit] Original characters

Debbie Downer
Saturday Night Live character
First appearance 2004-05-01
Last appearance 2006-04-15
Cause/reason Portrayer left show
Portrayed by Rachel Dratch
Episode count 7
Information
Gender Female
  • Abe Scheinwald, a sleazy movie executive who tries to stop his grandson (played by Seth Meyers) from making Scheinwald Studios' films artistic
  • A cocktail waitress in "Rialto Grande"
  • Debbie Downer
  • Denise "Zazu" McDonough, one of the Boston Teens
  • One of the dancers in the "Lundford Twins Feel Good Variety Hour"
  • Lynne Bershad from Delicious Dish (replacing Molly Shannon's character for a short time)
  • Nicole, the Girl With No Gay-Dar!
  • Phoebe, a woman who has giant pets who ruin her dates (both giant pets [a parrot and a cat, respectively] have been played by Fred Armisen)
  • Ruth Weinstock, one of the Adult Students
  • Sheldon from Wake Up Wakefield!
  • Virginia Klarvin, one of the The Lovers
  • Qterplix, a rejected X-Men character, said to be the love child of Angelina Jolie and her brother
  • Loretta, one of the space lesbians from "Gays in Space"
  • David Mack Wilson, a child Broadway star
  • Tiara Zee, one of the veejays from "Deep House Dish"
  • One of the Telemundo actresses from "Besos Y Lagrimas"
  • Alice, Michael's assistant in Click

[edit] Celebrity impersonations

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cracking up 'Live' on air, David Bianculli, New York Daily News 3 May 2004

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Dratch"
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