Jan Hooks Biography

Born in Georgia, comedian Jan Hooks has perfected her exaggerated Southern accent and carved a niche for herself satirizing the eccentric wives of prominent politicians and public figures. After making her film debut as Tina, the Alamo tour guide in Pee Wee's Big Adventure, she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. Starting in 1986, she created over-the-top characterizations for Nancy Reagan, Kitty Dukakis, Ivana Trump, Tammy Faye Bakker, and Hillary Clinton. She left the show in 1991 and put her Southern accent permanently on display for Designing Women as Carlene, the naïve sister of Charlene ( Jean Smart). Movie roles were usually small yet quirky, like the image consultant in Batman Returns or the driving student in Coneheads. In 1994, she joined a team of hard-working comedians at the The Martin Short Show, who she would later work with on the Comedy Central program Primetime Glick. She was ideal for the role of Dixie Glick, the wife of the 300-pound celebrity talk show host Jiminy Glick ( Martin Short). While making regular appearances as Vicki Dubcek on 3rd Rock From the Sun and as Apu's wife Manjula on The Simpsons, she reprised her role of Dixie Glick for the feature-length movie La La Wood in 2003. - Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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