Julie Ann Brown (born August 31, 1958[1]) is an American actress, comedian, screen/television writer, singer-songwriter, and television director.[2] Brown is known for her work in the 1980s, where she often played a quintessential valley girl character. Much of her comedy has revolved around the mocking of famous people (with a strong and frequently revisited focus on Madonna).
Julie Brown was born in Van Nuys, California, the daughter of Irish-Catholic parents Celia Jane (née McCann) and Leonard Francis Brown.[3][4] Her father worked at NBC TV studios in the traffic department (advertising scheduling), and her mother was a secretary at the same studio complex.[5] Both of Brown's grandfathers had worked in the Hollywood film business.[4] Her great-grandfather was character actor Frank O'Connor.[3] She attended a Catholic elementary school as a child, and later Van Nuys High School where she was chosen princess of the homecoming court. Brown's parents said "whatever you do, don't become an actress", but after attending Los Angeles Valley College she enrolled in the well-known San Francisco acting school, American Conservatory Theater, where she met future collaborator Charlie Coffey.[6]
In 1987, Brown released her first full-length album, Trapped in the Body of a White Girl.[12] The album highlighted her comedic talent and valley girl personality. The album's highlights were "I Like 'em Big and Stupid" and she reprised "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" (the album was reissued on CD in 2010 by Collector's Choice Music on its Noble Rot label).[13]Music videos were recorded and received heavy airplay on MTV. In 1989, Brown starred in that cable network's comedy and music-video show Just Say Julie.[10] She played the role of a demanding, controlling, and pessimistic glamour-puss from the valley, making fun of popular music acts, while at the same time introducing their music videos (she was also known as "Miss Julie Brown" at the time to differentiate her from Downtown Julie Brown, who was on the network at the same time).
Brown's film career began in 1988 with the release of the film Earth Girls Are Easy, written, produced by, and featuring Brown,[14] it was based loosely on a song by the same name from her debut EP. The film also starred Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Brown cast then-unknown comedians Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans. In 1990 Brown had a brief part in the film The Spirit of '76, as an intellectual stripper.
NBC commissioned a half-hour pilot, ultimately unsold and airing Sunday, July 28, 1991, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, titled The Julie Show. Created by Brown, Charlie Coffey, and director and executive producerDavid Mirkin, it was a comedy about actress Julie Robbins (Brown), who in this initial story, goes to great lengths to land an interview with teen singer Kiki (played by Kim Walker) in the hopes of getting hired as a tabloid-TV celebrity journalist. Developed under the working title The Julie Brown Show, it also starred Marian Mercer as Julie's mother, June; DeLane Matthews as Debra Deacon, a reporter on the fictional series Inside Scoop; Susan Messing as Julie's roommate Cheryl; and Kevin O'Rourke as Inside Scoop producer Tony Barnow. Brown was also a producer, with John Ziffren, and performed and co-wrote the theme song. Walker, Don Sparks, Robin Angers, and Deborah Driggs were guest performers in this production from Mirkinvision and New World Television.[15]
Another pilot was filmed for CBS in 1989 called, Julie Brown: The Show, and featured a similar theme, in which Brown was the hostess of a talk show and she would interview actual celebrity guests, interspersed with scripted scenarios. The pilot was aired, but the show was not picked up; years later, it leaked onto the Internet.
She has continued to make television guest appearances and contributed voices to various cartoons, including Animaniacs (as the voice of Minerva Mink),Aladdin as bratty mermaid Saleen, and as the original voice of Zatanna in the Batman: The Animated Series cartoon. Prior to this, she also guest starred on a Tiny Toon Adventures episode as Julie Bruin, a cartoon bear version of herself, in which she guest-starred in her own segment Just Say Julie Bruin, a reference to her music video show. The Just Say Julie Bruin cartoon also was a music video show and in her segment Elmer Fudd guest-starred as Fuddonna, a parody of Madonna and a reference to Julie Brown herself regularly mocking her.
Brown appeared as Coach Millie Stoeger in the film Clueless, reprising that role on ABC's 1996–1999 spin-off TV series, for which she was also a writer, producer and director. Two regulars from the series, Donald Faison and Elisa Donovan, later found similarly successful roles, as would featured player Christina Milian who had a recurring role on the series during its UPN years. In 1998, Brown appeared in the parody film Plump Fiction. In 2000, she created the series Strip Mall for the Comedy Central network; it ran two seasons.
Since 2004, Brown has been a commentator on E! network specials, including 101 Reasons the '90s Ruled, 101 Most Starlicious Makeovers, 101 Most Awesome Moments in Entertainment, and 50 Most Outrageous TV Moments.
In 2005, Brown purchased the rights to her Trapped album back from the record label and reissued it herself.[citation needed] She also self-released a single, "I Want to Be Gay". In late 2007, she also purchased the rights to her 1984 E.P. Goddess in Progress and re-released it as a full-length record with compiled unreleased tracks recorded during that era.[citation needed] Brown began touring in late 2007 with her one-woman show, Smell the Glamour.[citation needed]
In 2008, she co-wrote and appeared as Dee La Duke in the Disney Channel film Camp Rock, which starred Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers. Brown also joined the cast of the Canadian television series Paradise Falls that same year.
In late 2008 Brown began releasing one-track digital singles, starting with "The Ex-Beauty Queen's Got a Gun"; it was a rewrite of "Homecoming Queen" with lyrics about Sarah Palin. This was first aired in September, 2008 on The Stephanie Miller Show. In 2011 she released an album called Smell The Glamour, which features satires of Lady Gaga, Kesha and updated versions of her Medusa songs.
In the 2010–2011 television season, Brown began a recurring role as Paula Norwood, a neighbor and friend of the Heck family, on the ABC comedy The Middle. From 2010 to 2015 she was a writer for Melissa & Joey, and played a gym teacher in one episode of the show. In 2012 she appeared with Downtown Julie Brown as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race.
In 2023, amid the announcement of The Celebration Tour, in which Madonna recreated a video inspired by her film Truth or Dare, Brown reprised her Medusa character parodying the announcement video in her social media.[17]
Personal life
In 1983, Brown married writer and actor Terrence E. McNally, another frequent collaborator. They co-produced her first single, "I Like 'Em Big and Stupid". They divorced after six years. In 1994, Brown married Ken Rathjen, and together they have one son. She said in 2007 that she had recently divorced for the second time.[18]
Dame Julie Andrews is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over eight decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for three Tony Awards. One of the biggest box office draws of the 1960s, Andrews has been honoured with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2022. She was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.
Sandra Bernhard is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures.
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring comedy duo and namesake Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders that originally broadcast on BBC2 from 1987 to 1993, and later on BBC One until 2017. It is also the name by which the performers are known when they appear elsewhere as a double act. The show was given one of the highest budgets in BBC history to create detailed spoofs and satires of popular culture, movies, celebrities, and art. French and Saunders continued to film holiday specials for the BBC, and both have been individually successful starring in other shows.
Dana Elaine Owens, known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, singer, and actress. She has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two NAACP Image Awards, in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award. In 2006, she became the first hip hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Trapped in the Body of a White Girl is a studio album by American comedian Julie Brown, released in 1987.
Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Lois Lane on the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993–1997). She also played Paris Carver in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Mel Jones and the Beldam in Coraline (2009) and Susan Mayer on the television series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful is an American 1991 mockumentary film starring comedian Julie Brown as the title character, with Kathy Griffin and Donal Logue in supporting roles. Comedians Tom Kenny and Bobcat Goldthwait and game show host Wink Martindale also made cameo appearances in the film.
Dawn Roma French is a British actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for writing and starring on the BBC sketch comedy series French and Saunders (1987–2007) with her best friend and comedy partner Jennifer Saunders, and playing the lead role of Geraldine Granger in the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2020). French has been nominated for seven BAFTA TV Awards and won a BAFTA Fellowship with Saunders in 2009.
Elizabeth Ann Guttman known professionally as E. G. Daily or Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer.
Lisa Anne Loeb is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with "Stay " from the film Reality Bites, the first Billboard number one single for an artist without a recording contract. She achieved two additional top 20 singles with "Do You Sleep?" in 1996 and "I Do" in 1998. Her studio albums include two back-to-back albums that were certified gold: Tails and Firecracker.
Joi Lansing was an American model, film and television actress, and nightclub singer. She was noted for her pin-up photos and roles in B-movies, as well as a prominent role in the famous opening "tracking shot" in Orson Welles' 1958 crime drama Touch of Evil.
"The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" is a song by American singer–comedian Julie Brown. It appeared as the B-side to her 1983 single "I Like 'em Big and Stupid". Brown's satire of valley girl culture also parodies 1950s-1960s "teen tragedy" songs.
Goddess in Progress is a 1984 EP by Julie Brown, released on Rhino Records on 12" vinyl and cassette. The two tracks on side one first appeared on Brown's independently released 1983 single "I Like 'Em Big And Stupid"; and two of the three tracks on side two were later included on the soundtrack of Earth Girls Are Easy, a film starring Brown and Geena Davis and based on the song of the same name.
"I Like 'Em Big and Stupid" was the debut single by comedian and singer Julie Brown. It was self-released by Brown in 1983 in 12-inch and 7-inch vinyl record formats. The song is a 1980s-style pop song with comedic lyrics about the protagonist's desire for a handsome, hunky muscle-stud who is not very bright. The 12-inch version contained an extended dance mix and the B-side on all releases, "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun", was played on The Dr. Demento Show, and received airplay on Top 40 and Modern Rock stations around the US in 1984. Both songs appeared that year on Brown's next release, Goddess in Progress.
"I Want to Be Gay" is the fourth single released by singer and comedian Julie Brown. It was released 18 years after her last single. The single was originally released on Compact Disc only in a cardboard sleeve and made available exclusively through her website, or through eBay. As of 2008, it is available on iTunes and other digital music retailers as a digital download. The title track is a cheeky pop song about how Brown wishes she were a gay man because it would be easier to get laid. It features a dance remix of the song and a new, previously unreleased dance remix of her hit "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun".
Just Say Julie is an American comedy/music video show created by and starring comedian and singer Julie Brown. The series aired from 1989 to 1992 on MTV in the United States, where it aired on Friday nights during its run.
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a jazz song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Leo Robin.
Madonna: Truth or Dare is a 1991 American documentary film by director Alek Keshishian chronicling the life of entertainer Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. Madonna approached Keshishian to do an HBO special on the tour after watching his Harvard senior project. Initially planned to be a traditional concert film, Keshishian was so impressed with the backstage life that he persuaded Madonna to make it the focus of the film. Madonna funded the project and served as executive producer. The film was edited to be in black-and-white, in order to emulate cinéma vérité, while the performance scenes are in color.
"It's a Man's Man's Man's World" is a song written by James Brown and Betty Jean Newsome. Brown recorded it on February 16, 1966, in a New York City studio and released it as a single later that year. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Its title is a word play on the 1963 comedy film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
A teenage tragedy song is a style of sentimental ballad in popular music that peaked in popularity in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Lamenting teenage death scenarios in melodramatic fashion, these songs were variously sung from the viewpoint of the dead person's romantic interest, another witness to the tragedy, or the dead or dying person. Examples of the style are also known as "tear jerkers", "death discs" or "splatter platters", among other names coined by DJs that passed into the vernacular.
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