Joely Fisher is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress best known for her work on
televisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
as Paige Clark on
EllenEllen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...
as well as Joy Stark in the
FoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
sitcom
'Til Death’Til Death is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive-producers...
, and also on
stageTheatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and in films.
Background
Fisher was born in
Burbank, CaliforniaBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, the daughter of singer
Eddie FisherEdwin Jack "Eddie" Fisher , was an American entertainer. He was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered...
and actress
Connie StevensConnie Stevens is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.-Early life:...
. Her younger sister is actress
Tricia Leigh FisherTricia Leigh Fisher is an American actress and singer.- Early life :Fisher was born in Burbank, California to singer Eddie Fisher and actress Connie Stevens. Her older sister is actress Joely Fisher. Other siblings include half brother Todd Fisher and half-sister actress Carrie Fisher of Star Wars...
. She has a half sister, actress
Carrie FisherCarrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
, and a half-brother, Todd Fisher, from her father's previous marriage to actress
Debbie ReynoldsDebbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
. Her parents divorced when she was age two, and she was raised by her mother.
Fisher began performing on stage in her mother's
Las VegasThe Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
act at age seven. She and Tricia toured the world with Stevens, attending many different schools and having
tutorA tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
s. They then attended
Beverly Hills High SchoolBeverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
. Fisher went to the
University of ParisThe University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
for one semester. While on her way there, she stopped off in
New YorkNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and dropped in unannounced on her father, reestablishing relations with him. She then attended
Emerson CollegeEmerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
, but left before graduating to begin an acting career.
She was named
Miss Golden GlobeMiss Golden Globe is an annual title awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The honoree, traditionally the daughter of a celebrity, assists in the Association's Golden Globe Awards....
at the 1992 Golden Globe Awards.
Career
Her first movie role was Averil in the
comedyComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
Pretty SmartPretty Smart is a 1987 American comedy-drama film starring Tricia Leigh Fisher and Patricia Arquette. It was directed by Dimitri Logothetis. It was Arquette's first film.-Plot:...
(
1986-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
), which starred her sister, Tricia. Joely then played Kris in
TVA television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
's
Schoolbreak SpecialThe American Broadcasting Company coined the term after school special in 1972 with a series of made for television movies, usually dealing with controversial or socially relevant issues, that were generally broadcast in the late afternoon and meant to be viewed by school age children, particularly...
dramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
Dedicated to the One I Love (1991) opposite
Danielle FerlandDanielle Ferland is an American actress and singer.-Career:Ferland attended Bunnell High School in Stratford, CT from 1983–1987 and attended New York University....
. Next came the feature
I'll Do AnythingI'll Do Anything is a 1994 American dramedy film written and directed by James L. Brooks. Its primary plot concerns a down-on-his-luck actor who suddenly finds himself the sole caretaker of his six-year-old daughter.-Synopsis:...
(
19941994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
) starring
Nick NolteNicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...
, which helped her career as bigger roles followed.
She had a variety of guest roles on shows such as
Growing PainsGrowing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
,
BlossomBlossom is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC from January 3, 1991 to May 22, 1995. The series stars Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, a teenage girl living with her father and two brothers. It was created by Don Reo.- Synopsis :...
,
Caroline in the CityCaroline in the City is an American situation comedy that ran from September 21, 1995 to April 26, 1999 on the NBC television network. It starred Lea Thompson as cartoonist Caroline Duffy. The series premiered in the two-hour Thursday night block led by Friends.-Premise:Caroline Duffy is a...
,
The Outer LimitsThe Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...
,
Grace Under Fire and
CoachCoach is an American television sitcom that aired for nine seasons on ABC from 1989 to 1997. The series starred Craig T. Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of the fictional Division I-A college football team, the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles...
.
Finally, in 1994, she landed her most prominent role when she was cast as Paige Clark on the sitcom
Ellen. She played the role until the series ended in 1998. That same year she earned a
Golden Globe AwardThe Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nomination.
She followed
Ellen with the role of Dr. Brenda Bradford in the feature movie
Inspector GadgetInspector Gadget is a 1999 American live-action comedy film loosely based on the 1983 animated cartoon series Inspector Gadget. It starred Matthew Broderick as the title character, along with Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw, Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny, and Dabney Coleman as Chief Quimby...
(
1999The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
) opposite
Matthew BroderickMatthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...
.
Fisher's
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut was as a replacement in the revival of
GreaseGrease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
(1994). She was also a replacement in the revival of
CabaretCabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
(1998).
From 2003 until 2005, she starred in the Lifetime network's drama series
Wild CardWild Card is an American comedy-drama series starring Joely Fisher. It was broadcast in the United States on Lifetime, and on the Global Television Network in Canada from August 2003 to July 2005.-Synopsis:...
as insurance investigator Zoe Busiek. After that, she had a recurring role as Lynette's boss Nina on
Desperate HousewivesDesperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
.
From 2006 until 2010, Fisher had starred opposite actor
Brad GarrettBradley "Brad" Garrett is an American actor, voice actor, stand-up comedian, and professional poker player. Throughout he has appeared in numerous television and film roles....
as Joy Stark in the
Fox TVFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
sitcom
'Til Death’Til Death is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive-producers...
.
Personal life
She is married to
cinematographerA cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
Christopher Duddy (married December 31, 1996 – present). She and Duddy have two daughters together: Skylar Grace (born June 14, 2001) and True Harlow (born February 2, 2006). In September 2008, the couple adopted a newborn girl whom they have named Olivia Luna Fisher-Duddy. She is also the stepmother to Duddy's two sons, Cameron and Collin. The family lives in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
next to Joely's sister Tricia. The two sisters are very close.
In the fall of 2008 she became an Artist Ambassador for
Save the ChildrenSave the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...
. She traveled to
Xai-XaiXai-Xai is a city in the south of Mozambique. It is the capital of Gaza Province. As of 2007 it has a population of 116,343 -Portuguese rule:...
,
MozambiqueMozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, to visit with children that are part of the child sponsorship programs.
Television series
- Golden Palace
The Golden Palace is an American sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1992, to May 14, 1993. The show was a spin-off and continuation of the sitcom The Golden Girls....
(1992)
- Ellen (1994–1998)
- Superman: The Animated Series
Superman: The Animated Series is an American animated television series starring DC Comics' flagship character, Superman. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and aired on The WB from September 6, 1996 to February 12, 2000. Warner Bros...
(1996–1997)
- Normal, Ohio
Normal, Ohio is an American television sitcom, which aired on the Fox Network in 2000. The show stars John Goodman as William "Butch" Gamble, a gay man returning to his Midwestern home town...
(2000)
- Danny
Danny is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS. The series was created, executive produced and starred Daniel Stern.It was one of the last comedies to aired to air on CBS's Friday night lineup airing along with The Ellen Show which premiered at the same time...
(2001)
- Baby Bob
Baby Bob is an American sitcom that aired on CBS as a midseason replacement in March 2002. The Baby Bob character had previously been on television since February 2000, appearing in commercials for FreeInternet.com...
(2002)
- Wild Card
Wild Card is an American comedy-drama series starring Joely Fisher. It was broadcast in the United States on Lifetime, and on the Global Television Network in Canada from August 2003 to July 2005.-Synopsis:...
(2003–2005)
- Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
(2005–2006)
- 'Til Death
’Til Death is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband-and-wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive-producers...
(2006–2010)
Filmography
- Mixed Nuts
Mixed Nuts is a motion picture comedy directed by Nora Ephron, based on the French comedy film, Le Père Noël est une ordure . Its cast includes Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Rita Wilson, Anthony LaPaglia, Garry Shandling, Juliette Lewis and Adam Sandler...
(1994)
- The Mask
The Mask is a 1994 American superhero comedy film based on a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. This film was directed by Chuck Russell, and produced by Dark Horse Entertainment and New Line Cinema, and originally released to movie theatres on July 29, 1994 through New Line...
(1994)
- I'll Do Anything
I'll Do Anything is a 1994 American dramedy film written and directed by James L. Brooks. Its primary plot concerns a down-on-his-luck actor who suddenly finds himself the sole caretaker of his six-year-old daughter.-Synopsis:...
(1994)
- Inspector Gadget
Inspector Gadget is a 1999 American live-action comedy film loosely based on the 1983 animated cartoon series Inspector Gadget. It starred Matthew Broderick as the title character, along with Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw, Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny, and Dabney Coleman as Chief Quimby...
(1999)
External links