Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, media personality, and LGBT rights advocate. A self-proclaimed "D-list celebrity", Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld , and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan . She is now the star of the Bravo reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List , for which she won two Emmy Awards as executive producer. She has also worked as a voice artist and red carpet commentator, in addition to several other career pursuits. In 2008 and 2009 she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
Early life
Griffin was born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, and raised there and in nearby Forest Park. Her family is Irish Catholic, her mother, Margaret "Maggie" (née Corbally), was a hospital administrator; and her father, John Patrick Griffin, was an electronics store manager. She attended St. Bernadine's Elementary School in Forest Park and Oak Park and River Forest High School, where she graduated in 1978. After high school she attended Triton College in River Grove, Illinois later dropping out. Griffin is the youngest of five children — she has two older brothers, John and Gary, and an older sister, Joyce. Her other brother, Kenny, is deceased.
In her 2009 autobiography Official Book Club Selection , Griffin went on the record for the first time about the troubled life of Kenny Griffin. Detailing his history of drug abuse and wife/spousal battering, she also discussed how, though never prosecuted, she believed Kenny was a child molester; and further, how many of his female companions over the years revealed this. She additionally states that when she was eight years old, he would climb into bed with her and cuddle, whispering "sweet nothings" to her (though he never actually molested her.) After being told of his inappropriate contact with minors, Griffin chose to end her relationship with her brother.
In the autobiography Griffin goes on to explain the impact this decision had on her life. Other members of Griffin's family refused to believe Kenny was a molester, which caused a rift in their family. Many years later Griffin's father, while speaking on the telephone to Kenny (who was imprisoned,) confronted him about the issue. Rather than deny or confirm, Kenny simply stated "I do what I do." This essentially confirmed his guilt, and ended the family argument on the issue. Griffin stated that many years later she actually passed Kenny on a road, and saw him with a cardboard sign begging for money. She notes how it struck her that his sign stated simply "Need food" rather than the commonly seen "Will Work For Food", and that it influenced her well-known work ethic for the rest of her life. He ultimately returned home to his parents after living on the street, and died in his mother's arms while waiting for an ambulance.
Career
Stand-up comedy, TV, and film
Griffin began performing in the early 1980s Los Angeles improv comedy troupe, The Groundlings. In an E! True Hollywood Story segment, she stated that she often went to see the Groundlings perform before she joined. She said that at one show, she went backstage and talked with Groundling member Phil Hartman and asked him what The Groundlings were all about. Struggling to make it in the Los Angeles acting scene, she joined the troupe after a failed audition for the lead role in the film version of Harriet the Spy . This led to her taking classes there and eventually being asked into the Main Company.
She went on to perform stand-up comedy and became part of the burgeoning alternative comedy scene in Los Angeles, appearing at Un-Cabaret and her own show "Hot Cup of Talk", later the title of Griffin's 1998 solo HBO special.
Kathy made a cameo appearance in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction . Her small role was a pedestrian coming to the aid of Marcellas Wallace (Ving Rhames) after he is hit by Bruce Willis' character's car.
She broke into film with the supporting role of Connie in the horror film The Unborn , starring Brooke Adams.
Griffin gradually amassed such TV and film credits as a role in comedian Julie Brown's Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful , a Showtime parody of the 1991 Madonna film Truth or Dare ; two appearances as the character Susan Klein, a reporter, on NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , her TV sitcom debut; fellow comic Bob Goldthwait's film Shakes the Clown ; as the enthusiastic leader of a fanatical car club on the Ellen episode "Oh, Sweet Rapture", airing in January 1996; starring in a dual-role in a seventh season episode of The X-Files , and an episode of ABC's divorce-attorney series Civil Wars , Griffin's dramatic-series debut. In addition, she most recently appeared on the show Ugly Betty as a fashion channel reporter.
After starring in an HBO Half Hour Comedy Special , Griffin's first consistent public exposure came in 1996, when she was cast as the acerbic colleague of Brooke Shields' title character on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan . In 1998, Griffin starred in her first one-hour special, HBO's Kathy Griffin: A Hot Cup of Talk . She honed a comedy and television career that poked fun at her relatively modest place in the Hollywood hierarchy in a self-deprecating manner. She frequently appears in such self-consciously tacky projects as the reality show competition Celebrity Mole Hawaii —in which she won the 2003 edition after undergoing such experiences as walking over hot lava with her bare feet. She identifies her victory as the moment she became a "D-list" celebrity.
Griffin also has a secondary career in voiceover work, and has been featured on a variety of projects such as the animated series Dilbert and Spider-Man: The New Animated Series .
Griffin's TV production company is called Inappropriate Laughter, a reference to her sometimes shocking form of humor.
On June 12, 2008 Griffin hosted the first ever Bravo A-List Awards. Included in the show was a scene where Griffin mimicked a "wardrobe malfunction" (referring to the infamous Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime show controversy in 2004). She also hosted the 2009 Bravo A-List Awards, which aired on April 15, 2009 and her Bravo special Kathy Griffin: She'll Cut a Bitch , taped on March 4, 2009 in Portland, Oregon, aired beforehand. Shout! Factory is set to release the DVD of Kathy Griffin: She'll Cut a Bitch on January 12, 2010.
On September 8, 2009, Ballantine Books published Griffin's memoir titled Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin . The book reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List in its first week of release. A week prior, she released her second comedy album Suckin' It for the Holidays . It is the comedian's second bid to win a Grammy Award.
Kathy also appeared in Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" music video as a nurse.
It was announced on November 3, 2009 that Griffin was to host ABC's new show Let's Dance , which was supposed to premiere immediately after the finale of Dancing with the Stars on November 23. On the show, celebrity contestants would have reenacted famous routines from past music videos, movies and musicals, while competing for a $250,000 grand prize for their favorite charity. However, the show was postponed until January due to casting issues.
Griffin will guest-star in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , TVGuide.com has confirmed. She will play a lesbian activist in the Feb. 10 episode.
Guest co-host of The View
Kathy Griffin served as the unofficial guest co-host of The View from May 2007 to September 2007. Griffin was considered to join the panel of The View in fall 2007 as a replacement for departing panelist Rosie O'Donnell. Despite running jokes in her act about Executive Producer Barbara Walters not liking her, Griffin co-hosted the show many times after O'Donnell left in May 2007. Whoopi Goldberg was ultimately selected as a permanent replacement. On September 10, 2007, Sherri Shepherd took over the remaining co-host spot, vacant since Star Jones' departure. Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that a source tells him that The View was having second thoughts about hiring Shepherd over Griffin, although both The View and Walters' spokespersons deny this. Walters has stated that she was worried about hiring another loose cannon after the troubles with O'Donnell.
Griffin recently divulged in her stand-up that she is now banned from The View after talking about the gig on her televised comedy special, Kathy Griffin: Straight to Hell . While declining to discuss the ban on Access Hollywood , during the filming of an episode for My Life on the D-List with former View co-host/moderator Rosie O'Donnell, Griffin did talk about the ban, specifically targeting View executive producer Bill Geddie. Griffin has also been mentioned as a possible replacement for Walters in the event she departs the show. As of August 2009, Griffin has been un-banned from The View , and was a guest on September 18, 2009.
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
Main article: Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-ListEmmy Awards controversy
...
Wardrobe Malfunction Alert! - Academy Awards, Red Carpet 2007, Eddie ...
No, not that kind of wardrobe malfunction. But these ladies – and their outfits – barely made it out of the red carpet alive! Below, the injured parties on the red carpet ...
cityrag: Nipple Slips on the Red Carpet!
Nipple Slips on the Red Carpet! The best celebrity nipple slips are at planned events. When the celeb knows they're going to be wildly photographed, and choose a see-through or low ...
Vanessa Hudgens prevents 'Bandslam' red carpet wardrobe malfunction ...
vanessa hudgens at bandslam from elizabeth snead on Vimeo. UPDATE: Vanessa Hudgens talks about how much fun she had making the rocking new move, "Bandslam," with Gaelan Connell.
Celebrity wardrobe malfunctions
Video clips that captured accidental exposures of a celebrity nipple/breast or lingerie in public: on the red carpet or on another occasion. DEFINITION: Wardrobe malfunction is ...
Renee Zellweger Has Wardrobe Malfunction on London Red Carpet (Photos ...
Renee Zellweger, in London for the premiere of her latest project, The Bee Movie, had major issues with her long flowing gown, a large slit that revealed
PR-Inside.com Entertainment News » ASHANTI’S RED CARPET WARDROBE ...
ASHANTI was once left red faced at a posh red carpet event when her dress split and exposed her bare bottom. The singer frantically hid her naked derriere while her dresser rushed ...
Kate Hudson's Red Carpet Wardrobe Malfunction! - Celebrity Gossip ...
- MICHAEL, DETROIT i love edward he's so alsome and dont take bella ou... - STAPHANIE, JEFFERSON,DANDRIDGE,TN you are so right. Lindemann is sex on legs. ...
Angelina has a sticky red carpet moment AND a wardrobe malfunction ...
It's hard not to envy Hollywood star Angelina Jolie – pictured with arm wrapped round one of the world's sexiest men, actor Brad Pitt at the premiere of her new film Beowulf.
Red Carpet: Kate Hudson's Wardrobe Malfunction - StyleBakery.com ...
After much consideration, we finally decided we like the green John Galliano gown Kate Hudson wore to the recent London premiere of Fool's Gold.It's a really pretty color for her ...