Amy Sedaris

Sedaris has made a few small appearances on the big screen, from minor roles in major studio releases like Six Days, Seven Nights and Maid in Manhattan to short films like Bad Bosses Go to Hell; however, her breakthrough performance was in the TV series Strangers With Candy. An absurdist satire of afterschool specials, the show only ran from April 1999 to October 2000 on Comedy Central. Sedaris wrote it with her old cohorts from Second City, and also birthed the character of Jerri Blank, the ex-junkie and former prostitute who goes back to high school at age 46. In its 30-episode run, the show gained her a devoted following and several other television appearances. Though cancelled, sales of the show's DVD sets proved profitable enough to warrant a feature, and in 2006 Sedaris and company transferred their skewed worldview to the big screen, with a feature-length installment of Strangers With Candy. Packed with star cameos and even-cruder-than-cable-allows humor, the movie seemed destined to become a cult hit.

Sedaris continues to work in the theater, while also running a cupcake and cheeseball business out of her West Village home, collecting taxidermied animals, and sometimes appearing on Sex and the City and Just Shoot Me. In collaboration with Dinello and Colbert, she is also co-author of the book Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide