Born: January 12, 1951
Age: 73
Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas, United States
Kirstie Louise Alley (born January 12, 1951) is an American actress, comedian and spokesmodel. She is most known for her role in the TV series Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987 to 1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series" in 1991. She is also known for her role in the thriller Shoot to Kill and the Look Who's Talking film series as Mollie Ubriacco. More recently, Alley has appeared in reality shows revolving around her life.
Kirstie Alley was born in Wichita, Kansas, the daughter of Lillian Mickie (née Heaton), a homemaker, and Robert Deal Alley, who owned a lumber company. She has two siblings, Colette and Craig. Alley attended Wichita Southeast High School, graduating in 1969. She attended college at Kansas State University in 1969. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue Scientology and work as an interior designer, Alley appeared as a contestant on the popular game show Match Game in 1979 (not during the "Match Game '79" season). She won both rounds winning $500 in the first round and winning $5500 in the second round. She also appeared on the game show Password Plus in 1980. In 1981, a car accident caused by a drunk driver killed her mother and left her father seriously injured. Her father eventually recovered.
Alley made her movie debut in 1982 in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, playing the Vulcan Starfleet officer Lieutenant Saavik. In 1987, she joined the cast of Cheers, replacing Shelley Long and remaining on the show until its eleventh and final season. In 1989, Alley starred with John Travolta in Look Who's Talking, the film grossed over $295,000,000 worldwide. They then went on to make two other films centered around the same theme, Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now!
Alley has won two Emmy Awards during her career. Her first two nominations for her work on Cheers did not earn her the award, but her third, in 1991, garnered her the statuette for that series. In her speech, she thanked then-husband Parker Stevenson, calling him "the man who has given me the big one for the last eight years."
For contributions to the motion picture industry, Alley was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
Alley played the title character in the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet, as well as serving as executive producers on the show. She served as the spokesperson for Pier One from 2000-04 and for Jenny Craig from 2005-08.
TV Land aired a sitcom that centered on Alley as a Broadway star and a new parent. It was titled Kirstie, and reunited her with former Cheers co-star Rhea Perlman and Seinfeld star Michael Richards. The series premiered on December 4, 2013, and ran for one season before it was canceled, five months after ending its freshman run.
In February 2011, Alley was announced as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Their first dance, a cha-cha-cha, earned them the second-highest score, 23 points of a possible 30. On May 2011, Alley and Chmerkovskiy performed their final dance, also a cha-cha-cha, which earned them a perfect score of 30 out of 30. Alley finished the competition in second place, behind NFL Super Bowl champion Hines Ward. She also took part in the 15th season of Dancing with the Stars for a second chance to win the mirrorball trophy again with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. They were the seventh couple eliminated from the competition.
Alley met and dated a distant cousin, Bob Alley, in high school. They married in 1970. Her husband had the same name as her father. They divorced seven years later as their career paths diverged. Alley was married to her second husband, Parker Stevenson (Richard Stevenson Parker, Jr.) on December 22, 1983. They divorced in 1997. Alley and Stevenson share custody of their two children, William True and Lillie Price.
On September 17, 2012, Alley appeared on The Dr. Oz Show where she admitted that she started gaining weight in late 2003. Alley claimed she spent her whole life eating obsessively without gaining weight, and only noticed a change in her body after she went into early menopause in 1992.
While working as a Jenny Craig spokesperson from 2004 to 2007, Alley lost 75 pounds (34 kg), bringing her weight down to 145 pounds (66 kg).
In May, 2009, Alley told People magazine that, after parting ways with Jenny Craig, she gained 83 pounds (38 kg), and weighed as much as 228 pounds (103 kg).
In September, 2011, Alley announced that she had lost 100 pounds (45 kg) using weight loss products from Organic Liaison, a company she had founded in 2010. In 2012, Alley faced a class-action false advertising lawsuit alleging that her claim was misleading, and that her weight loss was instead the result of exercise, including training for the TV show "Dancing With the Stars." In 2013, Alley settled the suit, agreeing to remove the term “Proven Products” from packaging, issue a disclaimer on the brand’s website that it is a “calorie-based weight-loss product,” and pay a $130,000 settlement.
In April, 2014, Alley reunited with Jenny Craig, as spokesperson, and the Organic Liaison product line was acquired by Jenny Craig's parent company, and subsequently integrated into Jenny Craig's product line. In January, 2015, Alley announced that, since starting the Jenny Craig weight-loss program again, she had lost 50 pounds (23 kg).
Alley was raised as a Methodist but became a member of the Church of Scientology in 1979. At the time she became a Scientologist, Alley admitted to having had a cocaine addiction and went through Narconon, a Scientology-affiliated drug treatment program, to end her dependency. She has continued her Scientology training and, as of 2007, has attained the level of OT VII (Operating Thetan Level 7).
In May 2000, she purchased a 5,200 sq ft (480 m2) waterfront mansion from fellow Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley for $1.5 million. The house is in Clearwater, Florida, the spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology. In 2007 Alley donated $5 million to the Church.
After fellow actress Leah Remini left the Church of Scientology in 2013, Alley publicly denounced Remini as "a repulsive bigot" and declared her former friend was now "my enemy".
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | Lt. Saavik | Nominee—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
1983 | One More Chance | Sheila | |
1983 | Champions | Barbara | |
1984 | Blind Date | Claire Simpson | |
1984 | Runaway | Jackie Rogers | Nominee—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
1987 | Summer School | Ms. Robin Bishop | |
1988 | Shoot to Kill | Sarah Renell | Also known as Deadly Pursuit |
1989 | Look Who's Talking | Mollie Jensen | |
1989 | Loverboy | Dr. Joyce Palmer | |
1990 | Madhouse | Jessie Bannister | |
1990 | Look Who's Talking Too | Mollie Ubriacco | |
1990 | Sibling Rivalry | Marjorie Turner | |
1993 | Look Who's Talking Now | Mollie Ubriacco | |
1994 | 3 Chains o' Gold | Vanessa Bartholomew | |
1995 | Village of the Damned | Dr. Susan Verner | |
1995 | It Takes Two | Diane Barrows | |
1997 | Deconstructing Harry | Joan | |
1997 | Toothless | Dr. Katherine Lewis | |
1997 | For Richer or Poorer | Caroline Sexton | |
1999 | Drop-Dead Gorgeous | Gladys Leeman | |
2002 | Back by Midnight | Gloria Beaumont | |
2004 | Family Sins | Brenda Geck | |
2013 | Syrup | Herself | |
2013 | Baby Sellers | Carla Huxley | |
2015 | Accidental Love | Aunt Rita |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1979 | Match Game | Self (contestant) | |
1980 | Password Plus | Self (contestant) | |
1983 | Masquerade | Casey Collins | (2 episodes) |
1984 | Sins of the Past | Patrice Cantwell | |
1985 | Bunny's Tale, AA Bunny's Tale | Gloria Steinem | |
1985 | Hitchhiker, TheThe Hitchhiker | Angelica | Episode: "Out of the Night" Nominee—CableACE Award for Actress in a Dramatic Series |
1985 | North and South | Virgilia Hazard | (miniseries) |
1986 | North and South II | Virgilia Hazard | (miniseries) |
1986 | Stark: Mirror Image | Maggie Carter | |
1986 | Prince of Bel Air | Jamie Harrison | |
1987 | Hitchhiker, TheThe Hitchhiker | Jane L. | Episode: "The Legendary Billy B." |
1987 | Infidelity | Eliot 'Ellie' Denato | |
1987-1993 | Cheers | Rebecca Howe | Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series (1991) Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy (1991) Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series (1988, 1990, 1992, 1993) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy (1990, 1992, 1993) |
1990 | The Earth Day Special | Rebecca Howe | |
1991-1993 | Saturday Night Live | Herself (Host) | |
1994 | David's Mother | Sally Goodson | Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film |
1996 | Peter and the Wolf | Annie / Bird / Duck / Cat | |
1996 | Radiant City | Gloria Goodman | |
1996 | Suddenly | Marty Doyle | |
1997 | Last Don, TheThe Last Don | Rose Marie Clericuzio | (miniseries) Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Miniseries or a Movie |
1997 | Toothless | Dr. Katherine Lewis | (TV movie) |
1997-2000 | Veronica's Closet | Veronica Chase | (also producer) Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series (1998) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy (1998) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series |
1998 | Last Don II, TheThe Last Don II | Rose Marie Clericuzio | (miniseries) |
2001 | Blonde | Elsie | (miniseries) |
2002 | Salem Witch Trials | Ann Putnam | (miniseries) |
2003 | Profoundly Normal | Donna Lee Shelby Thornton | (also executive producer) |
2004 | Family Sins | Brenda Geck | |
2004 | While I Was Gone | Jo Beckett | |
2004 | Without a Trace | Noreen Raab | Episode: "Risen" |
2005 | Fat Actress | Self | (also joint creator and co-writer w/Brenda Hampton) (7 episodes) |
2006 | The King of Queens | Self | Episode: "Apartment Complex" |
2007 | Write & Wrong | Byrdie Langdon | |
2007 | The Minister of Divine | Sydney Hudson | Pilot based on the British series The Vicar of Dibley. |
2010 | Marriage Ref, TheThe Marriage Ref | Self (guest judge) | |
2010 | Kirstie Alley's Big Life | Self (documentee) | Reality television |
2011-2012 | Dancing with the Stars | Self (contestant) | Season 12 & Season 15: All-Stars Reality Television |
2012 | The Manzanis | Angela | Pilot |
2013-2014 | Kirstie | Maddie Banks | |
2014 | Hot in Cleveland | Maddie Banks | Episode: "Bucket: We're Going to New York" |
2015 | The Middle | Pam Staggs | Episode: "Pam Freakin' Staggs" |
2015 | Time Crashers | Herself | British reality series |
2016 | Flaked | Jackie |