Sister Act

Background:

An American character actress of Lebanese heritage who specializes in quirky, theatrical characters, Kathy Najimy has covered stage, television and feature films. She won an Obie Award for her off-Broadway performance in1988's “The Kathy and Mo Show,” along side Mo Gaffney, and later picked up a CableACE Award after reprising the play for the HBO special “The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives” (1991). A year later, Najimy acquired international recognition with her scene-stealing role as Sister Mary Patrick on the box office hit “Sister Act” (1992), for which she took home an American Comedy Award and an MTV Movie nomination. She received a Saturn nomination for her work in the Disney movie “Hocus Pocus” (1993). However, Najimy's film career experienced a setback after she recreated her religious role for the 1993 installment “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.” Since then, she has acted mostly in small/cameo roles in films like “Jeffrey” (1995), “Nevada” (1997), “Hope Floats” (1998), “Zack and Reba” (1998), “The Wedding Planner” (2001), “Rat Race” (2001), “Say Uncle” (2005) and “Getting Played” (2005).

A solid and energetic woman with typical curly hair and exotic features, Najimy, nevertheless, has experienced success on the small screen. She delivered a three-episode notable turn as an unstable psychiatrist suffering manic depression on CBS's “Chicago Hope” (1996) and was popular for portraying Olive Massery on the NBC comedy series “Veronica's Closet” from 1997 to 2000. She is the voice of Peggy Hill on the hit animated television series “King of the Hill” (1997-present), from which she received an Annie Award in 2001. Najimy also has guested in numerous TV series and acted in many TV films.

Outside her work as an actress, Najimy is a prideful feminist and is known for supporting human rights and gay rights. She has benefited her celebrity status to donate money to charities by participating on game shows. She won $50,000 at a celebrity version of “The Weakest Link” and gave the money to The Feminist Majority Foundation's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. In addition, she has competed three times on Celebrity Poker Showdown and won the season six tournament and donated $100,000 for V-Day, an organization that helps stop violence against women. In CBS's Gameshow Marathon in 2006, she crowned Grand Champion and won $100,000 for Girls Best Friend, a charity that helps empower girls. Najimy is also very outspoken about topics considering weight and body imaging among women. As a longterm AIDS activist, she has supported numerous worthy organizations, including APLA, GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign Fund, Project Angel Food, Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS, AMFAR, Planned Parenthood, Voters for Choice, and NARAL.

For her charity efforts, Najimy has been honored with the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center's Distinguished Achievement award and the L.A. Shanti’s Founder award. She also has nabbed awards from the ACC and The ADC, and has been the recipient of PETA’s Humanitarian of the Year Award, thanks to her contributions to the Ethical Treatment of Animals popular campaign, “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur,” for which she posed twice for People.

San Diego native Najimy currently divides her time between Los Angeles and New York. She and her husband singer/actor Dan Finnerty, whom she married in 1995, have a young daughter named Samia. The family keep two dogs, Happy and Blondie, as their pets. Before the marriage, Najimy had a nine-year romance with John Boswell (together in the 1980s and 90s).

Lebanese Roots

Childhood and Family:

Kathy Ann Najimy was born on February 6, 1957, in San Diego, California, to Lebanese immigrants parents Samia and Fred Najimy, a postal worker who died in 1971. She has two sisters, Ramona (born in 1950) and Elaine (born in 1953), and a brother, Thomas Paul (born in 1954). She and her three older siblings were raised Catholic. Kathy was educated at Crawford High School.

An openly bisexual, Kathy married comedic actor/singer Dan Finnerty on August 8, 1995. They welcomed their first child together, daughter Samia Najimy Finnerty, on December 12, 1996.

King of the Hill

Career:

Before entering TV and film, Kathy Najimy already had an extensive stage experience and has continued adding her stage credits until recently. She was a member of the feminist theater group Sisters On Stage for five years and soloed in “It's My Party,” her one-woman show. She also was a four year resident of director of the Emmy Award-winning New Image Teen Theater, and has directed the Off-Off Broadway plays “Don't Get Me Started” and “I Can Put My Fist in My Mouth” as well as the Off-Broadway productions of the critically hit “Back to Bacharach and David.”

In 1988, Najimy for the first time performed “The Kathy and Mo Show” on Off-Broadway, which she co-penned and co-starred with Maureen 'Mo' Gaffney. For her outstanding acting, she was handed an Obie Award. Led by this success, she reprised her award-winning performance for the HBO comedy special “The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives” in 1991, based on her 1988 Off-Broadway show. Najimy and Gaffney jointly nabbed a CableACE for Performance in a Comedy Special and a nomination for Writing an Entertainment Special. “The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives” marked Najimy's TV debut performance.

Shortly afterwards, Najimy made her feature film debut when she landed the part of Michael J. Fox's girl Friday on the action movie “The Hard Way” (1991), which also starred James Woods. She went on to have off-beat minor roles in films like the Sally Field vehicle “Soapdish” (1991, as an observing costume mistress named Tawny Miller), Terry Gilliam's “The Fisher King” (1991, as a crazed video store customer) and the based-on-novel “This Is My Life” (1992), but she did not enjoy international recognition until she was cast in the supporting role of the rounded, maniacally sunny-bouncing Sister Mary Patrick on the surprise blockbuster hit “Sister Act” (1992), starring Whoopi Goldberg. The role brought Najimy an American Comedy for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture and a nomination at the MTV Movie awards for Best Breakthrough Performance.

After the breakthrough performance, Najimy was tapped to star along side Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker as the Sanderson sisters on Disney's comedy “Hocus Pocus” (1993) and was nominated for a Saturn for Best Supporting Actress for her fine acting in the film. Later that same year, she recreating her coveted role of Sister Mary Patrick for the inevitable sequel, “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.” Reportedly, Najimy demanded and earned $1 million for the installment. Nevertheless, she found difficulty in finding other film roles and was entirely disappeared from the wide screen until “Jeffrey” (1995), in which she had a cameo turn as Acolyte, and the independent drama “Nevada” (1997), opposite Amy Brenneman and Kirstie Alley.

When her film career stalled, Najimy turned to television. She starred as Kathy Lane in the Emmy award winning TNT musical special “In Search of Dr. Seuss” (1994) and again worked with Mo Gaffney co-starring and co-writing the HBO special “The Kathy and Mo Show: The Dark Side” (1995). In 1996, she offered a memorable recurring role as Barbara 'Bix' Konstadt, a precarious psychiatrist battling manic depression, on three episode of the CBS popular medical drama “Chicago Hope,” for which she had to sheet some 100 pounds. She also made guest appearances in shows like “Clueless” (1996), “Early Edition” (1997) and the hit sitcom “Ellen” (1994-1997).

The next year, Najimy began her long-running gig on the Michael Judge animated series “King of the Hill” (Fox, 1997-present), providing the voice of the long-suffering wife, Peggy Hill. Her efforts paid off when she finally won one out of two Annie nominations in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production (2001). It was also in 1997 that Najimy landed the regular role of Olive Massery on the NBC sitcom “Veronica's Closet,” starring her “Nevada” co-star Kirstie Alley. She left the show in 2000 to focus on her film career.

Back to the big screen, Najimy found herself appearing with Sandra Bullock, Harry Connick Jr. and Gena Rowlands in the Forest Whitaker-directed drama “Hope Floats,” portrayed Mrs. Simpson on the indie-comedy “Zack and Reba,”starring Sean Patrick Flanery and Brittany Murphy, and appeared as a Motel Maid in the horror “Bride of Chucky” (all 1998). Following a series of TV assignments during 1999, including voicing Mother Duck 1 in the HBO animated film “The Sissy Duckling” and playing the stepmother of Elmo on Fox’s special “Cinderelmo,” she had a supporting role in the independent film “Attention Shoppers” (2000) and was cast as Sharon Stones' gynecologist on the HBO film “If These Walls Could Talk 2” (also 2000), helmed and penned by Anne Heche. Still in 2000, she also assumed the starring role of Mae West in the Broadway hit “Dirty Blonde,” from which she earned positive reviews.

Najimy next could be seen playing supporting roles in films like the hit “The Wedding Planner” (2001), with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, the ensemble comedy “Rat Race” (2001), “Say Uncle” (2005), opposite Peter Paigi, “Bam Bam and Celeste” (2005), and “Getting Played” (2005), starring Vivica A. Fox. In November 2006, she joined the cast of the CBS crime series “Numbers” in the recurring role of Dr. Mildred French, a role she held until April 2007. On August of 2007, she guested as Mrs. Militich on the “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” episode of “First Day of High School.”

The 50-year-old multi-faceted performer will have a part in the animated film “Tinker Bell” (2008), directed by Bradley Raymond. She is also set to costar with Kal Penn, Elaine Hendrix, Yunjin Kim and Tamlyn Tomita in the upcoming made-for-TV film “Two Sisters” (2008).

Awards:

• Annie: Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production, “King of the Hill,” 2001

• American Comedy: Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, “Sister Act,” 1993

• CableACE: Performance in a Comedy Special, “The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives,” 1993