Tracey UllmanBirth Place: Slough, Berkshire, England, UK Date of Birth: December 30, 1959 Heritage: British Famous for: BAFTA Film Award nominee for 'Plenty' (1985) Contact Tracey Ullman | 
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Tracey Takes On... Background: British chameleon-like comedienne and actress Tracey Ullman was first noticed in her home country in the comedy TV series “Three of a Kind” (1981-1983) before gaining fame in America with her Emmy and Golden Globe-winning show, “The Tracey Ullman Show” (1987-1990). From 1996 to 1999, she starred in the Emmy and SAG-winning HBO series “Tracey Takes On...,” and from 2001 to 2002, she headlined “Tracey Ullman's Visible Panty Lines” on the Oxygen cable network. The versatile performer also won an Emmy for playing the recurring role of unorthodox therapist Dr. Tracey Clark (1998-1999) on Fox's award-winning drama comedy “Ally McBeal.” Ullman broke into feature films with starring roles in "Give My Regards to Broad Street" (1984), "Plenty" (1985), "I Love You to Death" (1990), "Small Time Crooks" (2000), "A Dirty Shame" (2004) and "I Could Never Be Your Woman" (2007). Ullman, who started out as a dancer, also had a successful singing career in the U.K. with a handful of pop hits including the 1984's “Breakaway” (US #70) and the cover version of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know" (US #8). The first foreign comedienne to successfully crossover to American television audiences, Ullman became an American citizen in 2003. She has been married to British producer Allan McKeown since 1983 and has two children with him. “I had no idea I'd be doing this because of my embarrassment with saying I'm an actress. I don't like actors, especially in this town where everyone just wants to be looked at.” Tracey Ullman
Childhood and Family: In Slough, Berkshire, England, Tracey Ullman was born on December 30, 1959. Her mother is Dorin Ullman and her father is Antony Ullman. On the radio program "Fresh Air with Terry Gross," Ullman said that when she was six years old, her father died of a heart attack while reading a book to her. Ullman has one older sister named Patty. At age 12, Ullman entered the renowned Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, England, where she studied until she was 16. “As you get older, you realize its work. It's that fine line between love and companionship. But passionate love? I'd love to know how to make that last.” Tracey Ullman On December 27, 1983, Ullman married British producer Allan McKeown (born on May 21, 1946). They have one daughter named Mabel McKeown (born in April 1986), and one son named John Albert Victor McKeown (born August 6, 1991). “I want more children and perhaps I'll realize what it is I'm good at. I don't know if that will be a good or bad thing.” Tracey Ullman The first foreign comedienne to successfully crossover to American television audiences, Ullman became an American citizen in 2003. She has homes in England and Los Angeles.
Career: Having honed in on her craft at the renowned Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, Tracey Ullman found work as a dancer at age 16 when she made her professional stage debut in the Berlin production of the French musical “Gigi.” Upon returning to England, she joined the Second Generation dance troupe and appeared with them on TV variety programs. Ullman subsequently appeared in several West End musicals, including “Grease" and "The Rocky Horror Show.” In 1981, she was honored with the London Theatre Critics' award for Most Promising New Actress for her work in the West End production of “Four in a Million.” Two years later, she was presented with a British Academy Award for her comedy/variety TV series, “Three of a Kind” (1981-1983), a fast-paced sketch show on BBC1 Television in which Lenny Henry and David Copperfield co-starred. Ullman next signed with the legendary punk label Stiff Records in 1983 and released two pop albums titled "You Broke My Heart in 17 Places" (UK #12 US #34) and "You Caught Me Out" (UK #92). She hit the Billboard top 100 twice in 1984 with “Breakaway” (US #70) and the cover version of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know" (US #8). Both singles also peaked at #2 and #4 respectively in the UK in 1983. Additionally, she had three UK top hits with “Move Over Darling” (UK #8) in 1983, as well as “My Guy” (UK #23) and “Sunglasses” (UK #18) in 1984. “I worked with Paul McCartney for a while and saw what it does to you to be treated like a god for twenty years.” Tracey Ullman During this time, Ullman made her film debut with Paul McCartney in the Peter Webb directed musical drama "Give My Regards to Broad Street" (1984). She followed it up with a co-starring role, opposite Meryl Streep, Charles Dance, and Ian McKellen, in Fred Schepisi's film adaptation of David Hare's play, "Plenty" (1985). TV viewers could also catch her as the promiscuous, lazy, manipulative gold-digger Candice Valentine on the ITV sitcom “Girls on Top” (1985-1986). Ullman made her US TV debut with “The Tracey Ullman Show,” a weekly television variety show co-created with producer James L. Brooks, which aired on FOX from April 5, 1987, to May 26, 1990. It won Ullman a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical and two Emmy awards, one for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program in 1989 and one for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1990. The show later produced the phenomenally successful spin-off "The Simpsons.” In 1992, Tracey filed a lawsuit asking for a share of the merchandise related profit from "The Simpsons," but it was unsuccessful. "I'm not jealous over the success of 'The Simpsons'. Not at all. They used to appear for 30 seconds in the middle of my show. Maybe they'll let me appear for 30 seconds in the middle of their show." Tracey Ullman In the early 1990s, Ullman made her American film debut with the Lawrence Kasdan-directed dark comedy “I Love You to Death,” playing Kevin Kline's desperate wife Rosalie. She made her New York stage debut in 1990 in a revival of William Shakespeare's comedy “The Taming of the Shrew,” opposite Morgan Freeman, and made her Broadway debut in 1991 in “The Big Love.” Ullman created, starred, wrote and executive produced the HBO specials “Tracey Ullman: A Class Act” (1992) and “Tracey Takes on New York” (1993), which won 2 primetime Emmy awards. Following the shows' success, HBO approached Ullman and her producer husband Allan McKeown to do a weekly character series for the network, which resulted in the sketch comedy series “Tracey Takes On...” Ullman starred, wrote and executive produced the show that was broadcasted from January 24, 1996, to March 17, 1999. It won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series in 1997 and a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 1999. During “Tracey Takes On...,” Ullman also played the Emmy-winning recurring role of Dr. Tracey Clark (1998-1999), the title role's therapist, on Fox's award-winning drama comedy starring Calista Flockhart, “Ally McBeal.” She also released the book, “Tracey Takes On,” in 1998. “I thought it would be easy to write this book. But finding the way to make this book funny on the page was a challenge. Sometimes books are too dense to be comedic.” Tracey Ullman Hitting the new millennium, Ullman starred as Frenchy, the wife of an ex-con (played by Woody Allen) in the comedy film “Small Time Crooks” and hosted the fall talk show “Tracey Ullman's Visible Panty Lines” (2001) on the Oxygen cable channel before returning to HBO for the all-new special “Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales” (2003), featuring the character “Ruby Romaine,” one of the most memorable characters from the comedy series "Tracey Takes On." She then co-starred as a stressed, uptight suburban housewife who turns into a sex addict in the John Waters satire “A Dirty Shame” (2004; with Johnny Knoxville and Selma Blair), and Princess Winnifred, opposite Carol Burnett's villainous Queen Aggravain, in ABC's production of the Broadway musical comedy “Once Upon a Mattress” (2005), which was adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." Also in 2005, Ullman returned to HBO with a special of her autobiographical one-woman stage show “Tracey Ullman: Live and Exposed,” and voiced Nell Van Dort/Hildegarde in Tim Burton's stop-motion-animation film “Corpse Bride,” with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Ullman was next seen in the BBC Four documentary series, “If It Ain't Stiff” (2006) and played Mother Nature in Amy Heckerling’s romantic comedy film “I Could Never Be Your Woman” (2007). Recently, in 2008, Ullman returned to television for Showtime’s “Tracey Ullman's State of the Union,” a sketch-comedy series. The show, which is also written by Ullman, debuted on March 30, 2008.
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