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Christine Ebersole

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Christine Ebersole
Ebersole on February 7, 2005
Born (1953-02-21) February 21, 1953 (age 71)
Occupation(s)Actress, singer
Years active1972-present
Spouse(s)Peter Bergman (1976–1981)
Bill Moloney (1988–2015)

Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in film, television, and the stage. She appeared on Broadway in the musical 42nd Street, winning a Tony Award, and appeared both Off-Broadway and on Broadway in the musical Grey Gardens, winning her second Tony Award. She has co-starred on the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son, where she played Carol Walsh.

Early life

Ebersole was born in Winnetka, Illinois, the daughter of Marian Esther (née Goodley) and Robert "Bob" Ebersole.[1][2] Her father was the president of a steel company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[3] She has Swiss-German and Irish ancestry.[4] Ebersole graduated from New Trier High School in 1971. She attended MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois,[5] Class of 1975, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.[6]

Career

She met Marc Shaiman when he was 19 and the musical director of her first club act.[7] She appeared in Ryan's Hope in 1977 and 1980, and was part of the cast of Saturday Night Live in the 1981–1982 season, the first full season under new producer Dick Ebersol (the similar names being a coincidence),[8] acting as Weekend Update co-anchor with Brian Doyle-Murray and at times impersonating Mary Travers, Cheryl Tiegs, Barbara Mandrell, Diana, Princess of Wales and Rona Barrett. Following SNL, she appeared in One Life to Live and Valerie. She costarred with Barnard Hughes on the sitcom The Cavanaughs, played the title role in the short-lived sitcom Rachel Gunn, R.N., and guest-starred on Will & Grace, The Nanny, Dolly!, Just Shoot Me, Murphy Brown, Ally McBeal, Samantha Who, Boston Legal, The Colbert Report and Royal Pains. She appeared in the 1993 television movie adaptation of Gypsy starring Bette Midler, and in the 2000 ABC-TV movie Mary and Rhoda starring Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper.

In 2011, she had a recurring role on the TV Land sitcom Retired at 35.[9] In 2014, she played Carol Walsh on the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son.[10] She has a recurring role on the USA network television show Royal Pains as Ms. Newberg.[11][12]

Ebersole's films have included Tootsie (1982), Amadeus (1984), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Mac and Me (1988), My Girl 2 (1994), Richie Rich (1994), Black Sheep (1996), and My Favorite Martian (1999).

Ebersole has found considerable success on stage. She was in Going Hollywood, a musical by David Zippel and Jeremy Shaeffer. She was in the chorus in 1983 with Jerry Mitchell. They were both excited about the possibility of going to Broadway, but it never made it.[7] She was featured in Paper Moon by Larry Grossman and Ellen Fitzhugh and Carol Hall, which ran at the Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, New Jersey) in September 1993.[13] Off-Broadway, she has appeared in Three Sisters and Talking Heads, and her Broadway credits include On the Twentieth Century, the 1979 revival of Oklahoma! (as Ado Annie), the 1980 revival of Camelot and the 2000 revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man.

In 2001 she appeared in the Broadway revival of 42nd Street as Dorothy Brock, for which she won her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical,[14] She next appeared in the 2002 Broadway revival of Dinner at Eight as Millicent Jordan for which she was nominated for the Tony Award, Featured Actress in a Play.[15] In 2005 she played M'Lynn in the Broadway production of Steel Magnolias.[16]

In 2006, Ebersole took the dual roles of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") in Grey Gardens, a musical based upon the film of the same name. After a sold-out Off-Broadway run, Ebersole remained with the roles when the production moved to Broadway in November 2006, and remained with the show through its closing in July 2007. For this role, she won her second Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.[17] She appeared as Elvira in the 2009 Broadway revival of the Noël Coward comedy Blithe Spirit.[18] In December 2011, for their annual birthday celebration to "The Master", The Noel Coward Society invited Ebersole as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 112th birthday of Sir Noel.

Concerts

Ebersole appears in concerts and cabaret engagements at venues such as the Cinegrill and Cafe Carlyle. She won the 2010 Nightlife Award for Outstanding Cabaret Vocalist in a Major Engagement for her 2009 Café Carlyle cabaret.[19] In 2009 she performed with Michael Feinstein at his club, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, (New York City) in a cabaret titled "Good Friends".[20] She was one of the performers on the Playbill Cruise in September 2011.[21] In November 2011 she performed for two sold-out nights at Birdland in New York City with jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein and his trio.[22]

Recording

She also has appeared on several albums. She was featured on the Bright Lights, Big City concept album.[7] She also released an album of Noël Coward songs after browsing through them for scene change music for Blithe Spirit.[23]

Personal life

Ebersole has been married twice: to Peter Bergman, and to her present spouse, Bill Moloney, with whom she has adopted three children, Elijah, Mae Mae and Aron. She is the aunt of actress Janel Moloney through marriage. She lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with her family.[24]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1982 Tootsie Linda
1984 Amadeus Katerina Cavalieri
1984 Thief of Hearts Janie Pointer
1988 Mac and Me Janet Cruise
1990 Ghost Dad Carol
1991 Dead Again Lydia Larsen
1992 Folks! Arlene Aldrich
1992 The Lounge People Cynthia Lewis
1994 My Girl 2 Rose Zsigmond
1994 Richie Rich Regina Rich
1996 Black Sheep Governor Tracy
1996 Pie in the Sky Mom Dunlap
1997 'Til There Was You Beebee Moss
1999 My Favorite Martian Mrs. Brown
1999 True Crime Bridget Rossiter
2009 Confessions of a Shopaholic TV Show Host
2013 The Big Wedding Muffin
2013 The Wolf of Wall Street Leah Belfort

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1977–80 Ryan's Hope Lily Darnell 12 episodes
1981–82 Saturday Night Live Various 20 episodes
1982 Love, Sidney Nurse Loring Episode: "The Accident"
1983–85 One Life to Live Maxie McDermott Unknown episodes
Nominated—Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
1984 The Dollmaker Miss Vashinski Television movie
1986 Valerie Barbara Goodwin 6 episodes
1986 Acceptable Risks Lee Snyder Television movie
1986-89 The Cavanaughs Kit Cavanaugh 26 episodes
1990 American Dreamer Kathleen 2 episodes
1990 Murphy Brown Maddy Episode: "The Bummer of 42"
1991 Empty Nest Laura Episode: "All About Harry"
1992 Rachel Gunn, R.N. Rachel Gunn 13 episodes
1993 Dying to Love You Cheryl New Television movie
1993 Gypsy Tessie Tura Television movie
1996 Hey Arnold! Lana Vail Episode: "Heat/Snow"
1998 Ally McBeal Marie Stokes Episode: "Just Looking"
1996 An Unexpected Family Ruth Whitney Television movie
1998 Just Shoot Me! Margo Langhorne Episode: "How Nina Got Her Groove Back"
1999 Double Platinum Peggy Television movie
2001 Will & Grace Candy Pruitt Episode: "Poker? I Don't Even Like Her"
2004 Crossing Jordan Mrs. Maguire Episode: "Fire in the Sky"
2005–06 Related Renee 10 episodes
2008 Cashmere Mafia Lily Parrish 2 episodes
2008 Boston Legal Sunny Fields Episode: "Indecent Proposals"
2008 Lipstick Jungle Maureen Episode: "Chapter Fifteen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Prada"
2008 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Hilary Regnier Episode: "Smut"
2009 Samantha Who? Amy Episode: "The Sister"
2009–15 Royal Pains Ms. Newberg recurring
2010 Ugly Betty Frances Episode: "The Passion of the Betty"
2011 Retired at 35 Susan 4 episodes
2012–14 Sullivan & Son Carol Walsh 33 episodes
2013 American Horror Story: Coven Anna-Lee Leighton 2 episodes
2015 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Helene Episode "Kimmy's in a Love Triangle!"
2015 Madam Secretary First Lady Lydia Dalton Episode "Waiting For Taleju"

References

  1. ^ Zwecker, Bill (February 16, 1997). "Good 'Ink'". Chicago Sun-Times.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Witchel, Alex (June 3, 2007). "Between a Mother and a Daughter". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Ebersole Hoping A Bit O'luck Falls On 'Cavanaughs'". Chicago Tribune. August 21, 1988.
  5. ^ LeVasseur, Andrea."Christine Ebersole biography" The New York Times (Rovi), accessed November 27, 2011
  6. ^ Timberg, Scott."Influences: Actress and singer Christine Ebersole"Los Angeles Times (latimesblogs), October 26, 2011
  7. ^ a b c Cerasaro, Pat."InDepth InterView: Christine Ebersole" broadwayworld.com, October 22, 2010
  8. ^ Hamlin, Jesse."Christine Ebersole wraps up S.F. cabaret" sfgate.com, April 22, 2010
  9. ^ Gans, Andrew. "New Comedy "Retired at 35," With Christine Ebersole, George Segal, Jessica Walter, Debuts Jan. 19" playbill.com, January 19, 2011
  10. ^ Christine Ebersole at IMDb
  11. ^ Gans, Andrew. ""Royal Pains" TV Series, with Tony Winner Ebersole, Debuts June 4" Playbill, June 4, 2009
  12. ^ Abrams, Natalie. "First Look: NBA star Muggsy Bogues cameos on 'Royal Pains'" ew.com, May 28, 2015
  13. ^ Klein, Alvin."THEATER; 'Paper Moon' Changes Its Outlook as a Musical"The New York Times, September 26, 1993
  14. ^ Jones, Kenneth and Simonson, Robert. "Tony-Winner Ebersole Returns to '42nd Street' March 12" playbill.com, March 12, 2002
  15. ^ Gans, Andrew."Christine Ebersole Surprised By 2003 Tony Nomination" playbill.com, May 17, 2003
  16. ^ Jones, Kenneth. "Still Teasing: 'Steel Magnolias' Plays Its 100th Performance June 30" playbill.com, June 30, 2005
  17. ^ Gans, Andrew and Jones, Kenneth."'Grey Gardens 'Will Close on Broadway July 29" playbill.com, July 2, 2007
  18. ^ Gans, Andrew."'Blithe Spirit' Revival, with Lansbury, Ebersole and Everett, Opens on Broadway March 15" playbill.com, March 15, 2009
  19. ^ Gans, Andrew. "Tony Winner Christine Ebersole Begins Carlyle Engagement Jan. 11" playbill.com, January 11, 2011
  20. ^ Holden, Stephen. "Channeling a Chummier Time, in Tandem" The New York Times, September 11, 2009
  21. ^ Rudetsky, Seth. "Onstage & Backstage: A Playbill Cruise With Christine Ebersole, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Andrea Martin and Debra Monk" playbill.com, Sep 26, 2011
  22. ^ Gans, Andrew. "Christine Ebersole Will Offer Strings Attached Concerts at Birdland" playbill.com, November 22, 2011
  23. ^ Jones, Kenneth. "Someday I'll Find You": Ebersole Will Record Blithe Spirit Interlude Songs for CD" playbill.com, March 31, 2009
  24. ^ Tammy La Gorce (14 October 2007). "For Future Teachers, a New Look on the Runway". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
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