Caroline Rhea
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| Caroline Rhea | |
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| Born | April 13, 1964 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Caroline Gilchrist Rhea (born April 13, 1964) is a Canadian stand-up comedian and actress who is the original host of the reality show The Biggest Loser on NBC. She is also known for her role as Hilda on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and for replacing Rosie O'Donnell as the hostess of her syndicated talk show, renamed The Caroline Rhea Show.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Rhea was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the daughter of Marjorie, an antiques dealer, and David Rhea, an obstetrician and gynecologist.[1] She has two sisters, Cynthia and Celia. She attended The Study, an all-girls private school in Westmount, Quebec. Rhea is fluent in English and French.
Her film debut was as a bikini-clad extra in the film Meatballs III, shot on location near Montreal. She moved to New York in 1989 to study stand-up comedy at the New School for Social Research.
[edit] Career
Rhea has said that her true training came from her first gigs at the comedy club Catch A Rising Star. Performing around New York City, she quickly gained a reputation, and a name in the city's competitive comedy scene. These performances were augmented with appearances on MTV's Half-Hour Comedy Hour, Comic Strip Live and Caroline's Comedy Hour. She decided to move to Los Angeles for a career in Hollywood, debuting in NBC television series Pride & Joy co-starring with Jeremy Piven. She gained most fame for her role as "Aunt Hilda" on the ABC and The WB's Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, as well as being a regular on the latest incarnation of Hollywood Squares, with Tom Bergeron and Whoopi Goldberg (in the center square).
In 2002, Rhea landed her own syndicated daytime talk show, The Caroline Rhea Show. Rosie O'Donnell had hand-picked Rhea as her replacement. Rhea next went on to host the autumn series, The Biggest Loser on NBC, which was the first weight loss reality show in which overweight members of two teams try to lose the most weight, which began in 2004. Her show proved to be so popular in the first season, that The Biggest Loser would continue to air the show in around 70 countries, making Rhea a star phenomenon. She hosted the show for three seasons until NBC announced on February 20, 2007 that Rhea would not host The Biggest Loser any more, due to her returning to stand-up comedy; she was replaced by Days of our Lives star Alison Sweeney. In 2005, Rhea was in the movie The Perfect Man, playing a co-worker of Jean (Heather Locklear).
She has appeared in Comic Relief 8, as well as the Ms. Foundation's "Women of Comedy from Caroline's Comedy Club" (no relation to Rhea). She appeared as a contestant on a special edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. She had her own stand-up special as part of Bravo's three-part Funny Ladies series, along with Joan Rivers and Paula Poundstone. Rhea has had a recurring role on the hit Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as Ilsa Shickelgrubermeiger-Von Helsing der Keppelugerhofer, who is an inspector turned manager of the rival hotel. In the series, she is well known for a large mole on her cheek. She has appeared on Disney's Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire as well as Christmas with the Kranks in 2004. She has competed on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown and GSN's World Series of Blackjack.
She now does the voice of Mom in Phineas and Ferb, a new animated show with Ashley Tisdale, Mitchel Musso, and Alyson Stoner. Rhea will next appear on the upcoming Fox animated series Two Dreadful Children.
[edit] Personal life
Rhea and her longtime boyfriend, Costaki Economopoulos, are expecting their first child. Economopoulos is a stand-up comedian.[2]. It was also revealed that Rhea and late night host Chelsea Handler were also involved in a public feud when Handler made the comment on her show to guest Melissa Joan Hart, "I just don't understand when she was on The Biggest Loser, why was she the only one gaining weight".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- CarolineRhea.com
- TV.com - The Caroline Rhea Show
- Biggest Loser Club Official Site
- Caroline Rhea at the Internet Movie Database
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