Early life

Sedaris was born in Endicott, New York, the daughter of Sharon Elizabeth (née Leonard) and Louis Harry "Lou" Sedaris, and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her siblings, Lisa, David, Gretchen, Tiffany, and Paul. Her father is of Greek descent and her mother is Anglo-American. Her father is Greek Orthodox, and her mother was a Protestant. She was raised in her father's Greek Orthodox faith.

At age 16, Sedaris worked at her local Winn-Dixie supermarket. She would make fake announcements over the loudspeaker, prompting the head cashier to confiscate the microphone. After work, she egged the cashier's car in protest. Later, as a cocktail waitress at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago, Illinois, she was fired for being five minutes late. She took her revenge on her boss: "I took his keys, and I threw them in the snow. I heard he found them in the spring."

Career

Television

A former member of Chicago-based Second City and Annoyance Theatre comedy troupes, her first major foray into television began in 1995 on the Comedy Central sketch show, Exit 57, which also starred Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello. The show ran for three seasons.

Beginning in 1999, Sedaris portrayed Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central series Strangers with Candy. The show, which she co-wrote with Dinello and Colbert, was based on Sedaris's impression of 1970s-era motivational speaker Florrie Fisher. The show ran for three seasons and would later inspire a full-length movie.

Sedaris has made numerous guest appearances on a number of different TV programs, including Rescue Me, Monk, Wonder Showzen, Just Shoot Me!, Sex and the City, My Name Is Earl, The Closer, The Middle, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Raising Hope, and Sesame Street. Sedaris also hosted the series Film Fanatic on Trio.

Sedaris has appeared on many talk shows, including the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, and WTF with Marc Maron. In 2008, Sedaris appeared on Chelsea Lately during which she gave host Chelsea Handler a presentation concerning vaginal hygiene with the aid of a plush vagina created by fashion designer Todd Oldham.

In 2007, Sedaris was featured in Dolly Parton's first mainstream country music video in 14 years, "Better Get to Livin'".

It was announced in October 2008 that Sedaris would be getting her own sitcom, produced by 20th Century Fox, which she will be creating, writing and starring in. Also in late 2008, Sedaris did voiceovers in several commercials for the discount hair salon SuperCuts.

In January 2009, Sedaris narrated the PBS special Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, a six-hour documentary on comedians and comedy in American history.

In early 2010, she appeared as a supporting character in the Canadian comedy series The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour.

From September 2010 to February 2011, she also voiced the WordGirl character Miss Davis, the Woodview School's debate club teacher in the season 2 episode "Cleanup on Aisle Eleven" and where she was the schoolteacher of Becky, Todd, Violet, Tobey and Victoria in "Cherish is the Word" in season 3.

In December 2010, Sedaris was seen with Paul Dinello in the "Mummified Hand" episode of the Discovery/Science Channel show Oddities.

In 2011, she appeared in a series of commercials for Downy (Lenor UK) Unstopables, a fabric softener product. The ad was designed by Grey with the aim of "kicking the old 'mom' image with spots featuring 'laundry expert' (and accomplished lifestyle guru) Amy Sedaris".

In 2013, she played the sex-crazed sister Hershe Heartshe, in the Adult Swim surreal comedy horror show The Heart, She Holler.

In 2013, Sedaris appeared in eight episodes of Amazon's Alpha House, a political comedy series written by Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau. Sedaris played Louise Laffer, the Mormon wife of Utah Senator Louis Laffer, who lives with three other Republican senators in a town house on Capitol Hill.

Since 2014, she has provided the voice for Princess Carolyn on the Netflix original show BoJack Horseman.

In 2016 (April) Sedaris appeared on "Horace and Pete: Episode 10". She played a character named Mora(sp), looking for a job at Horace and Pete's.

Film

Sedaris has had small roles in a number of films, including Elf, School of Rock, Maid in Manhattan, "Bewitched", Snow Angels, Full Grown Men, Old Dogs, Shrek the Third, and Chicken Little. She also starred in the 2006 film adaptation of Strangers with Candy. Sedaris also had a large role in the comedy, The Best and the Brightest with Neil Patrick Harris.

She voiced Cinderella in Shrek the Third and reprised her role in Shrek Forever After. In 2008, Sedaris starred as principal Abby Hofman in Nickelodeon TV's Gym Teacher: The Movie, directed by her Strangers with Candy co-star Paul Dinello.

Print and other work

She coauthored the text-and-picture novel Wigfield with Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, published in 2003. As of 2005, Sedaris writes a monthly advice column in The Believer. She has written a guide to entertaining titled I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, published in October 2006 by Warner Books. That light-hearted approach to cooking stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 12 weeks, and currently has over 350,000 copies in print.

Her book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People! (2010), included a cover that can be easily made into a hat, as David Letterman demonstrated during her appearance on his Late Show in October 2010.

Along with her brother David Sedaris, Amy has co-authored several plays under the name "The Talent Family": Stump the Host (1993), Stitches (1994), One Woman Shoe (1995), Incident at Cobblers Knob (1997) and The Little Frieda Mysteries. She also co-authored the play The Book of Liz with him, which has gone on to productions at such regional theaters as No Name Players.

Her theater work includes a role as the stage manager in Paul Rudnick's play The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. In support of PETA's anti-fur campaign, Sedaris appeared as her Strangers with Candy character in an ad that reads, "When you wear fur, people laugh at you, not with you."

In addition to acting and writing, she ran a cupcake and cheese ball business, Dusty Food Cupcakes, out of her home kitchen, but has since ceased doing so.

She was the emcee for Microsoft's 2010 annual employee meeting in Seattle, Washington on September 28, 2010.

On October 10, 2014 Amy appeared on Ken Reid (comedian)'s TV Guidance Counselor Podcast. The episode was recorded live at the Brooklyn Brewery during New York Super Week.

In 2015, she starred in a Lenor Unstoppables advertisement in the UK, which was also broadcast in other countries, e.g. The Netherlands and Germany.

Personal life

Sedaris and her Strangers with Candy co-star Paul Dinello dated for eight years. Though their relationship ended, they have remained very close friends, and Dinello made Sedaris godmother to his son. Sedaris has stated in several interviews that she has never wanted to get married or have children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1991	Big Deals	Topaz Radulavitch	Television film
1997	Bad Bosses Go to Hell	Trendy Boss
1997	Commandments	Scholar
1998	Wheels of Fury	Pepper Mills
1998	Strangers with Candy: Retardation, a Celebration	Jerri Blank	Short film
1998	Six Days Seven Nights	Robin's Secretary
2001	Jump Tomorrow	Student in Class
2002	Maid in Manhattan	Rachel Hoffberg
2003	Untitled New York Pilot	Connie	Television film
2003	School of Rock	Mrs. Haynish
2003	Elf	Deb
2004	Neurotica	Renee
2004	My Baby's Daddy	Annabelle
2005	Strangers with Candy	Jerri Blank
2005	Bewitched	Gladys Kravitz
2005	Romance & Cigarettes	Frances
2005	Stay	Toni
2005	Chicken Little	Foxy Loxy	Voice
2006	Full Grown Men	Trina
2006	I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With	Ms. Clark
2007	Snow Angels	Barb Petite
2007	Dedication	Cassidy's Mom
2007	Shrek the Third	Cinderella	Voice
2007	Puberty: The Movie	Paulie the Penis	Voice
2008	Gym Teacher: The Movie	Principal Hoffman	Television film
2009	Space Buddies	Gravity	Voice
2009	Dance Flick	Ms. Cameltoé
2009	Jennifer's Body	Toni Lesnicki
2009	Tanner Hall	Mrs. Middlewood
2009	Old Dogs	Condo Woman
2010	Beware the Gonzo	Diane Gilman
2010	The Best and the Brightest	Sue Lemon
2011	Puss in Boots	Jill	Voice
2014	Ping Pong Summer	Aunt Peggy
2014	Chef	Jen
2014	Hits	Crystal

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995-1996	Exit 57	Various Characters	12 episodes
1999-2000	Strangers with Candy	Geraldine Antonia "Jerri" Blank	30 episodes
2001	Fling	The Receptionist	2 episodes
2001	Just Shoot Me!	Betsy Frayne	2 episodes
2002-2003	Sex and the City	Courtney Masterson	4 episodes
2002-2003	Monk	Gail Fleming	2 episodes
2004	Ed	Kate McCormick	2 episodes
2004	The Wrong Coast	Various Characters	Voice
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Charlie Donato
2005	Wonder Showzen	Miss Amy
2006	The Colbert Report	Abraxxia	Voice
2006	Sesame Street	Snow White
2006	My Name Is Earl	Judy
2007	Andy Barker, P.I.	Rita Spaulding
2007	Rescue Me	Beth	2 episodes
2008	Yo Gabba Gabba!	Tooth Fairy
2009	The Closer	Claire Howard	2 episodes
2009	American Dad!	Dr. Meg Penner
2009	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Frances "Frankenstein"
2010	The Middle	Abbie
2011	Royal Pains	Nan
2011	The Drunk and On Drugs Happy Fun Time Hour	Katherine Money ("K-Money")
2011	SpongeBob SquarePants	Ma Angler	Voice
2011	Raising Hope	Delilah	3 episodes
2011	Bob's Burgers	Samantha	Voice
2011	Hot In Cleveland	Heather Shaw	2 episodes
2012	The Good Wife	Stacie Hall	3 episodes
2012	American Dad!	Trish / Dr. Lizzy
2012	30 Rock	Visor Lady
2013	The Heart, She Holler	Hershe Heartshe
2013	Alpha House	Louise Laffer
2014	Lil Bub's Special Special	Herself
2014	Broad City	Pam
2014-present	BoJack Horseman	Princess Carolyn	Voice
2015-16	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt	Mimi Kanasis	Recurring role
2015	Kevin from Work	Julia
2015	Difficult People	Rita
2016	Horace and Pete	Mara	Web series; 1 episode
2016	Adventure Time	Bandit Princess	Voice
2016	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself (Guest Judge)

Bibliography

• Sedaris, Colbert, Dinello. Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not (Hyperion, May 19, 2004) ISBN 0-7868-8696-X
• I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence (Warner Books, October 16, 2006) ISBN 0-446-57884-3
• Sedaris & Dinello. Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People (Grand Central Publishing, November 2, 2010) ISBN 0-446-55704-8

[ Source: Wikipedia ]