Lily Tomlin - Biography, Selected filmography

Comedienne, born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Performing in cabarets while doing temporary work, she became successful on television's Laugh-In (1969–73) with her repertoire of off-beat characters. She also appeared in films and network specials. In 1985 her one-woman stage show (co-written with Jane Wagner), In Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, won a Tony award.

Lily Tomlin
Tomlin as The West Wing's Deborah Fiderer.
Birth name	Mary Jean Tomlin
Born	September 1, 1939 Detroit, Michigan, USA

Lily Tomlin (born Mary Jean Tomlin on September 1, 1939), is an Academy Award-nominated American actress and comedian.

Biography

Early life

Tomlin was born in in Detroit, Michigan.

Career

In 1969, Tomlin joined the sketch comedy show Laugh-In. Her characters from the show have been associated with her throughout her career, including the gum-chewing, wisecracking, snorting telephone operator Ernestine (famous for her lines "One ringy dingy, two ringy dingy" and "A gracious good morning to you ...

AT&T offered Tomlin $500,000 to film a commercial using her character Ernestine, but Tomlin turned the offer down because she thought the commercial would compromise her artistic integrity. She also played secretary Violet Newstead in Nine to Five, starred in the 1981 comedy film The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and was a sickly heiress in the Steve Martin comedy All of Me. Between 2002 and the series' end in 2006, Tomlin played Presidential secretary Deborah Fiderer on The West Wing.

Tomlin starred in the hit 1985 one-woman Broadway show The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written by her long-time life partner, Jane Wagner.

Tomlin recently collaborated again with director Robert Altman in A Prairie Home Companion, in which she plays half of a middle-aged Midwestern singing duo with Meryl Streep.

Personal life

Though Tomlin is now open about her lesbianism, it was, for many years, only an open secret among many people within the gay press.

Awards

Tomlin was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1998.

1971: GRAMMY, Best Comedy Recording, This Is A Recording.
1974: two EMMY Awards, one for Outstanding Comedy Program and one for Outsanding Writing, Comedy Program, Lily.
1976: EMMY, Outsanding Writing, Comedy Program, Lily Tomlin.
1977: TONY, Special Award (along with Barry Manilow, Diana Ross, National Theatre For the Deaf, and Equity Library Theatre).
1978: EMMY, Outsanding Writing, Comedy Program, The Paul Simon Special.
1981: EMMY, Outstanding Comedy Program, Lily: Sold Out.
1986: TONY, Best Actress in a Play, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

Selected filmography

Film

Nashville (1975) The Late Show (1977) Moment by Moment (1978) 9 to 5 (1980) The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) All of Me (1984) Big Business (1988) Shadows and Fog (1992) The Player (1992) (cameo) Short Cuts (1993) The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) The Celluloid Closet (1995) (narrator) Blue in the Face (1995) Flirting with Disaster (1996) Getting Away with Murder (1996) Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) Tea with Mussolini (1999) The Kid (2000) Orange County (2002) Superstar in a Housedress (2004) (documentary) I ♥ Huckabees (2004) A Prairie Home Companion (2006) The Ant Bully (2006) (voice) Seniors (2006) (currently in pre-production) The Last Guy on Earth (2006) (currently in pre-production)

Television

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1969–1973) And the Band Played On (1993) The Magic School Bus (1994–1998) (voice) Murphy Brown (1996–1998) The West Wing (2002—2006) The Simpsons - The Last of the Red Hat Mamas (2005) (voice) Will and Grace (TV Series, Special Appearances)