Jan Hooks

Infobox actor

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caption = Jan Hooks in 1988
birthdate = birth date and age|1957|4|23
birthplace = Decatur, Georgia, United States

Jan Hooks (born April 23 1957) is an American actress and comedian best known for her work on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" ("SNL"), on which she appeared from 1986 to 1991.

She was born in Decatur, Georgia, near Atlanta. Hooks began her career as a member of the Los Angeles-based comedy troupe The Groundlings. In 1978–1979, she appeared in "The Bill Tush Show" on Ted Turner's television station WTCG, which eventually became TBS. She later achieved notice on the HBO comedy series "Not Necessarily the News" in the early 1980s. Jan also had guest comedian appearances on Comedy Tonight with Mack and Jamie in the mid 1980s.

Hooks was first considered for "SNL" in 1985, but at that time, the show's producers chose Joan Cusack instead. After "SNLs" 1985 season proved to be a ratings disaster, returning producer Lorne Michaels offered Hooks a contract in 1986. Together with new recruits Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and others, Hooks helped put the show back in the national spotlight. Her characters included one half of "The Sweeney Sisters" with Nora Dunn. She also performed notable impressions of Bette Davis, Ann-Margret, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Sinéad O'Connor, Tammy Faye Bakker, Kitty Dukakis, and Hillary Clinton. Her five-year stint on "Saturday Night Live" is all the more amazing because she has admitted to having extreme stage fright.

Tiring of the stress of performing on a live show, Hooks left "SNL" in 1991 after being asked by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason to replace Jean Smart on the CBS sitcom "Designing Women". Jan played the role of Carlene Dobber for the final two seasons of the show. Since then, she has made appearances in several movies, done voice work on "The Simpsons" as Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon, starred as Dixie Glick in the series "Primetime Glick" and the movie "Jiminy Glick in Lalawood", and had a recurring role as the trashy Vicki Dubcek on "3rd Rock from the Sun".

She guest-starred on the animated series "Futurama", in the episode "Bendless Love", as the voice of a female robot named Angleyne. She also played a memorable role in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" as a know-it-all tour guide at the Alamo.

Hooks made a cameo appearance in the 1992 movie "Batman Returns" as Jen, the Penguin's image consultant during his campaign for becoming Mayor of Gotham City.

External links

*imdb name|id=0393660|name=Jan Hooks