Biography
This page uses content from the Caroline Rhea biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Caroline Gilchrist Rhea (born April 13, 1964) is a Canadian stand-up comedian and actress, who's currently hosting the successful reality show, The Biggest Loser on NBC, since its debut in October 2004. She is also best-known as Hilda, the aunt of Melissa Joan Hart's TV character, in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch from 1996-2002. In addition, she also replaced Rosie O'Donnell as the hostess of her syndicated talk show, renamed The Caroline Rhea Show, which lasted only one season.
Biography
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by an American father David Rhea and a Canadian mother Margery Rhea. She has two sisters, Cynthia and Celia. She attended The Study, an all-girls private school in Westmount, Quebec. Rhea is fluent in French and English. She moved to New York in 1989 to study stand-up comedy at the New School for Social Research. She says 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 and 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 most recent incarnation of Hollywood Squares, with Tom Bergeron and Whoopi Goldberg (in the center square).
Other credits include:
- supporting role in Jim Carrey's Andy Kaufman bio-pic Man on the Moon
- supporting role in wrestling movie Ready to Rumble with Oliver Platt, David Arquette and Scott Caan
- host of VH1 series, Fool for Love
- host of Lifetime series, The Great Lifetime Makeover, executive produced by Geena Davis
- guest-starring as Drew Carey's girlfriend on The Drew Carey Show
- guest-starring on HBO's Larry David improvised comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm
- starring in television the movie, Mom's Got A Date With A Vampire
- supporting role in Christmas with the Kranks with Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd
- regular guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Comedy Central's Pulp Comic
- three guest appearances on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as Ilsa Schiklegoobermeyger
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 also 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.
The Caroline Rhea Show
The Caroline Rhea Show was created in 2002 upon Rosie O'Donnell's departure from daytime television. Rhea was hand-picked by O'Donnell and had previously served as a guest host for O'Donnell throughout the final two seasons of The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
The show was cancelled in June 2003 upon the completion of its first season.
The Biggest Loser
Rhea hosted the first and second season of NBC Universal's The Biggest Loser - a reality television show in which contestants are put through training and dietary regulation in order to lose weight. The team that loses the most weight by the end of the show's season wins prizes. The third season is currently airing on NBC.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Rhea played the whimsical "Aunt Hilda"from 1996 to 2000 on the sitcom "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", which starred Melissa Joan Hart.
See also
- Culture of Quebec
- Humour of Quebec
- List of Quebec comedians
- Quebec, Canada
External links
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
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