Charlotte Dean | |
|---|---|
 Charlotte Dean (left) at the premiere of Charlotte's Shorts at The Groundlings, 2014 | |
| Born | Charlotte Dean California, United States |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Parent |
|
| Relatives | Laraine Newman (aunt) |
Charlotte Dean is a writer, illustrator, and visual artist known for writing and co-directing the show Charlotte's Shorts , [1] along with Emmy award writer, director, and producer Tracy Newman.
Dean was born in Los Angeles, California. to Tracy Newman and James F. Dean, an actor, photographer, and graphic designer. She is also the niece of Laraine Newman, American comedian, actress, voice artist, writer, and original SNL cast member. [2] She grew up surrounded by the performing arts, spending much of her time as a child at the improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school The Groundlings seeing her mother performing and teaching with the troupe formed by Gary Austin in 1974. [3]
Dean is an alumna of Marlborough School, Los Angeles High School of the Arts, Bard College, and Cornish College of the Arts, from which she graduated summa cum laude.[ citation needed ]
Dean began writing when she was a child, inspired by her father. [4] After finishing high school she traveled to Mexico City, where she worked as a muralist and continued to write. [5] Her visual artwork has been shown in Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Mexico City. [6] Some of her work is part of the Ryan James Fine Arts gallery collection in Kirkland, Washington. [6] She started her blog Charlotte's Shorts in 2008 while in France with her husband, Ro Reyes. [4] In 2014, she made her short stories into a 90-minute show directed by Dean and her mother, Tracy Newman. [4] The show's most recent production in Los Angeles was on October 28, 2014, [7] at The Groundlings, [8] with her aunt, Laraine Newman. Charlotte's Shorts was also performed at the SF Sketchfest on January 31, 2015.
Dean also writes and illustrates the My Crazy Baby Brother children's book series.[ citation needed ]
Dean lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband. [1] Together with her mother she runs a production company called Run Along Home Productions. [1] Her son Logan was born in August 2017.
Gilda Susan Radner was an American actress, comedian, writer, and singer. Radner was one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980. In her routines on SNL, she specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists and news anchors. In 1978, Radner won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979. Radner's SNL work established her as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy.
Philip Edward Hartman was a Canadian-born American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, and his family moved to the United States when he was ten years old. After graduating from California State University, Northridge with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands including Poco and America. In 1975, Hartman joined the comedy group the Groundlings, where he helped Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman. Hartman co-wrote the film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and made recurring appearances as Captain Carl on Reubens' show Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Jane Therese Curtin is an American actress and comedian.
Laraine Newman is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Newman was part of the original cast of NBC's sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980.
The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles, California. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improv techniques were taught by Del Close and other members of the Second City, located in Chicago and later St. Louis. They used these techniques to produce sketches and improvised scenes. Its name is taken from Shakespeare's Hamlet, Act III, Scene II: "...to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise." In 1975 the troupe purchased and moved into its location on Melrose Avenue.
Christopher Lee Kattan is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Kattan found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2003. He also played Doug Butabi in A Night at the Roxbury, Bob on the first five seasons of The Middle, and Bunnicula in Bunnicula. He's also known for playing the main antagonist Mr. Feather in Undercover Brother (2002).
Julia Anne Sweeney is an American actress, comedian, and author. Sweeney gained fame as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1994. She played Mrs. Keeper in the film Stuart Little and voiced Brittany in Father of the Pride. She recently appeared in the Hulu series Shrill, the Showtime series Work in Progress, and the Starz series American Gods.
Orville Willis Forte IV is an American comedian and actor. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons between 2002 and 2010. During his time on the show, he played a recurring character that led to a feature film adaptation, MacGruber (2010), and a streaming television limited series in 2021. Forte also created and starred in the sitcom The Last Man on Earth (2015–2018). For the series, he received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations: two for acting and one for writing.
Thomas Christopher Parnell is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Parnell found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006. After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013). In animation, he voices the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007–2015), Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer (2009–2023), Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty (2013–present), and Doug on Fox's Family Guy (2019–present). He also voices "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.
The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program Saturday Night Live (SNL).
Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Wiig achieved stardom during her seven-season tenure on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012.
Gary Austin was an American improvisational theatre teacher, writer, and director who founded The Groundlings theatre company in 1974.
Wynne Greenwood is a queer and lesbian feminist performance artist who works in various media such as installation art, photography, filmmaking and music. One of her well known projects include the electropop and video project group, Tracy + the Plastics. Wynne works out of Seattle, Washington, and was an instructor in the Department of Art and Art History at Seattle University.
Tracy Ann Newman is an American television producer, writer, comedian and musician. Newman is a founding member of the improvisational theater troupe The Groundlings. She was co-creator and executive producer of the sitcom According to Jim (2001–2009). She is also a singer - songwriter, as well as an early member of The New Christy Minstrels and lead singer of Tracy Newman and The Reinforcements. She is the mother of artist/writer Charlotte Dean, with whom she co-directs the live comedy show Charlotte's Shorts.
Michaela Watkins is an American actress and comedian. After several years performing with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Watkins achieved widespread attention for her brief stint as a featured player on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live during its 34th season between 2008 and 2009. Since leaving SNL, she has starred on the Hulu series Casual and on the short-lived sitcoms The Unicorn and Trophy Wife. Watkins has also had recurring roles on other television series, such as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Catastrophe, Enlightened and Search Party and appeared in films such as The Back-up Plan (2010), Wanderlust (2012), Enough Said (2013) and Sword of Trust (2019).
Abby Elliott is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2012, and has since starred on the Bravo comedy Odd Mom Out and the NBC sitcom Indebted. She is the daughter of actor and comedian Chris Elliott and sister of Bridey Elliott.
Rosie Shuster is a Canadian-born comedy writer and actress. She was a writer for Saturday Night Live during the 1970s and 1980s.
Charlotte's Shorts is a 90 minute live performance of Charlotte Dean's short stories. The show has traditionally been cast with current and past Groundlings, such as Tim Bagley, Jim Rash, Jillian Bell, Jordan Black, Gary Anthony Williams, Jonathan Stark, Michael Hitchcock, Andrew Friedman, Daniele Gaither, Mindy Sterling, and Laraine Newman. In 2014, Charlotte's Shorts was performed at various theaters in Los Angeles, including two shows at The Groundlings Theater. Charlotte's Shorts is prominently featured in SF Sketchfest and The Hollywood Fringe Festival.
Chloe Fineman is an American actress and comedian. She became a featured player on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live starting in its 45th season in September 2019, and was promoted to repertory status in 2021 at the beginning of season 47.
Maggie May Baird is an American actress. She grew up in Colorado performing music, and studied theater and dance at the University of Utah, before moving to New York City, where she performed on Broadway. She made her television debut in 1981 in the soap opera Another World and her film debut in the 1989 feature An Innocent Man.