- Jan Hooks
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 onNBC '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 troupeThe Groundlings . In 1978–1979, she appeared in "TheBill Tush Show" onTed Turner 's television station WTCG, which eventually became TBS. She later achieved notice on theHBO comedy series "Not Necessarily the News " in the early 1980s. Jan also had guest comedian appearances onComedy 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 producerLorne Michaels offered Hooks a contract in 1986. Together with new recruitsDana Carvey ,Phil Hartman , and others, Hooks helped put the show back in the national spotlight. Her characters included one half of "The Sweeney Sisters" withNora Dunn . She also performed notable impressions ofBette Davis ,Ann-Margret ,Betty Ford ,Nancy Reagan ,Sinéad O'Connor ,Tammy Faye Bakker ,Kitty Dukakis , andHillary 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 replaceJean Smart on theCBS sitcom "Designing Women ". Jan played the role ofCarlene 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 theAlamo .Hooks made a
cameo appearance in the 1992 movie "Batman Returns " as Jen, the Penguin's image consultant during his campaign for becoming Mayor ofGotham City .External links
*imdb name|id=0393660|name=Jan Hooks
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.