Early life

Najimy was born on February 6, 1957 in San Diego, California, the daughter of Lebanese American parents Samia (née Massery) and Fred Najimy, a postal worker. She was raised Roman Catholic and attended Crawford High School.

Career

Najimy's film career began in the early 1990s, with a number of off-beat minor roles, but her first major role was in the 1992 comedy Sister Act, in the role of Sister Mary Patrick. She reprised this role in 1993 in Sister Act 2. She also starred in Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker as the Sanderson sisters. In 1997, she lent her voice to Warner Bros. Family Entertainment as Tilly the Hippo in the film Cats Don't Dance, alongside actors Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, John Rhys-Davies and Don Knotts, and has also played a role on the Nightmare Ned video game. In 1998, she made a cameo in Bride of Chucky as the maid who discovers Diane and Russ' bodies. In 1999, she played the Stepmother in "CinderElmo" a primetime special for Sesame Street. In 2001, she co-starred in the hit comedy film Rat Race alongside John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz and Seth Green. She guest starred in That's So Raven. She has done four movies with Goldberg (Soapdish, Sister Act 1 and 2, and Rat Race).

From film, Najimy expanded into television roles, including a dramatic recurring role on Chicago Hope. Najimy was part of the cast of Veronica's Closet from 1997 to 2000. She co-created and starred in the hit Off-Broadway show and HBO specials "Kathy & Mo", with friend and actress Mo Gaffney. She appeared as Mae West in the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde. She also portrayed Dr. Mildred Finch on Numb3rs. Najimy also provided the voice of the drama teacher, Miss Thespius, in the 1998 Disney show Hercules: The Animated Series.

In 2003, Najimy provided the voice of Margalo in Stuart Little: The Animated Series, taking over from Melanie Griffith. She is the co-creator and director of the musical revue Back to Bacharach and David, which ran in New York City in 1992 and 1993, and which she directed again in Los Angeles in April 2009. She also appeared in Drop Dead Diva. In October 2009, Najimy played a police officer investigating an attack on Wisteria Lane on an episode of Desperate Housewives. In March 2010, she appeared in the Ugly Betty episode "Million Dollar Smile", portraying Betty's new orthodontist, Dr. Frankel. In July 2011, Najimy appeared in TNT's Franklin and Bash episode "Bangover", playing a judge. Premiering in August 2015, Najimy appeared in Disney's Descendants as the Evil Queen.

Other work

Najimy, an outspoken feminist, is also noted as an activist for human rights and gay rights. She uses her celebrity status to donate money to charities by appearing on game shows. She appeared as a contestant on a celebrity version of The Weakest Link where she won $50,000 (beating Anthony Anderson) for The Feminist Majority Foundation's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. She has appeared three times on Celebrity Poker Showdown and won the season six tournament, donating the $100,000 to V-Day, an organization that helps stop violence against women and girls. She was also crowned Grand Champion on CBS' Gameshow Marathon in 2006, donating the $100,000 winnings to Girls Best Friend, a charity that helps empower girls. She's also worked with PETA on a number of animal welfare issues and posed with Todd Oldham for the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign. In 2013, she was a contestant on Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off on Team Rachael where she was playing for PETA, cooking only vegetarian food. She was eliminated on the Feb. 3 episode, reaching third place. PETA awarded her their Compassionate Action Award in 2014.

In 1981, she was a contestant on Family Feud, which was used as the finale in Gameshow Marathon. Najimy and her family were winners on both shows. In the 1981 Feud episode they won by 230 points, and in the Marathon version they scored 202 points to give Najimy the win. Najimy also appeared on the $25,000 Pyramid on the episode dated July 31, 1985. She failed to reach the bonus round, but still won a Commodore 64.

Najimy is also very vocal about issues regarding weight and body imaging among females. In August 2006 Najimy voiced her opinions over a remark made by Heidi Klum on the television series Project Runway after Klum said one model's outfit made her look plus sized.

In 2005, she was chosen by Ms. Magazine as Woman of the Year. She signed the "We Had Abortions" petition which appears in the October 2006 issue of the magazine. The petition contains signatures of over 5,000 women declaring that they had had an abortion and were "unashamed of the choice they made." Najimy, having determined that she was not in a position to be an adequate parent at the time, had had her own abortion in 1975, at the age of 18, when she had discovered that she was pregnant after she had broken up with the father.

Personal life

Najimy married comedic actor/singer Dan Finnerty on August 8, 1995, and together they have one daughter named Samia born in 1996.

Filmography

Work	Year	(Notes) Character
Walls of Glass	1985
Soapdish	1991	Tawny Miller
The Hard Way	1991	Lang's "Girl Friday"
The Fisher King	1991	A crazed video customer
Sister Act	1992	Sister Mary Patrick
Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers	1992	Marge
This Is My Life	1992	Angela (credited as Kathy Ann Najimy)
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit	1993	Sister Mary Patrick
Hocus Pocus	1993	Mary Sanderson
In Search of Dr. Seuss	1994	(TV movie) Kathy Lane
It's Pat	1994	Tippy
ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter	1995	Dr. Feemus (Attraction now closed)
Jeffrey	1995	Acolyte
Veronica's Closet	1997-2000	(TV) Olive Massery
King of the Hill	1997-2010	(TV) Peggy Hill
Cats Don't Dance	1997	Tillie Hippo
Shantay	1997	Toyota Carter
Nevada	1997	Ruth
Early Edition	1997	(TV-Series) Season 1 Episode 18 "Psychic", Psychic
Hercules	1998	(TV, 1 episode) Thespis the Muse
Bride of Chucky	1998	Tabby, Motel Maid
Zack and Reba	1998	Mrs. Simpson
Hope Floats	1998	Toni Post
The Wild Thornberrys	1999	(TV, 1 episode) Ostrich
CinderElmo	1999	(Fox television film) Elmo's Stepmother
Attention Shoppers	2000	Penelope
If These Walls Could Talk 2	2000	The doctor in the made-for-TV movie's "2000" segment
Leaving Peoria	2000	Dr. Albright
Little Bill	2000	Mrs. Shapiro
Rat Race	2001	Beverly 'Bev' Pear
The Wedding Planner	2001	Geri
Oswald	2002	(TV series) Bingette Bunny
The Scream Team	2002	Mariah
Stuart Little: The Animated Series	2003	(TV series) Margalo
Wayside	2005	(TV, pilot episode) Mrs. Jewls
Getting Played	2005	Dr. Heidi Z. Klemmer
Balto III: Wings of Change	2005	Dipsy
Say Uncle	2006	Maggie
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!	2006	Sunny St. Cloud
That's So Raven	2006	(TV, 1 episode) Lora Stelladora
Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers	2006	Blue Parrot Betty
Numb3rs	2006-2007	(TV series) Dr. Mildred Finch
The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	2007	(TV, 1 episode) Principal
WALL-E	2008	Mary
Tinker Bell	2008	Minister of Summer
Desperate Housewives	2009	(TV, 1 episode) Detective Denise Lapera
Ugly Betty	2010	(TV, 1 episode) Dr. Frankel
American Dad!	2010-present	(TV) Barbara "Barb" Hanson
Drop Dead Diva	2010	(TV, 1 episode)
RuPaul's Drag Race	2010	(TV) Herself (Guest Judge)
Mr. Sunshine	2011	(TV)
Five	2011	(TV)
Make It or Break It	2011-2012	(TV series) Sheila
Men at Work	2012	(TV, 1 episode) Sasha Ryan
How to Fall in Love	2012	Kim
Stars in Shorts	2012	Sid's Mother
BearCity 2: The Proposal	2012	Rose
The Guilt Trip	2012	Gayle
Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off	2013	(TV) Season 2 Participant—Team Rachael
A Madea Christmas	2013	Kim
The Big C	2013
Inside Amy Schumer	2014	Therapist
Veep	2014	Wendy
Younger	2015	Denise Heller, 2 épisodes
Descendants	2015	The Evil Queen Grimhilde

Charities

Kathy Najimy supports the following charitable cause: AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]