Carrie Heffernan
Carrie Spooner Heffernan is a fictional character on the American sitcom The King of Queens. She appears in all of the show's nine seasons and is one of the show's three central characters. The character is portrayed by Leah Remini and lives in Rego Park, Queens, with her husband Doug Heffernan (Kevin James), and her father Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller).
| Carrie Heffernan | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | "Pilot" (episode 1.01) |
| Last appearance | "China Syndrome" (episode 9.13) |
| Portrayed by | Leah Remini |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | Penelope Van Smythe Simone Spooner |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Legal secretary (Seasons 1–6). Real estate firm secretary (Seasons 6–9). |
| Family | Arthur Spooner (father) Sophia Spooner (mother) Sara Spooner (half-sister) |
| Spouse | Doug Heffernan |
| Children | Ming-Mei Heffernan (adopted) Baby Boy Heffernan (biological; name unknown) |
| Relatives | Chester Spooner (uncle) Simone Spooner (cousin) Skitch Spooner (paternal half-uncle) Stephanie Heffernan (sister-in-law) Danny Heffernan (cousin-in-law) |
Carrie works as a legal secretary during the first six seasons and as a real estate firm secretary for the last three seasons.
Character profile
Carrie Heffernan (born in Manhattan on January 19, 1969) is the sharp-tongued wife of Doug Heffernan (Kevin James). Her father, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller), lives in the couple's basement after losing his home in a fire. Carrie was born Simone Spooner but when she was a child, Arthur lost her name in a poker game which necessitated a switch of name with her cousin Carrie. Carrie's mother Sophia insisted on having "mother to Simone" engraved on her tombstone. Carrie originally had a sister (or probably, and more specifically, a paternal half-sister) named Sara (Lisa Rieffel) who moved in along with Arthur, but after the first season, the character was dropped. Little is known about Carrie's mother Sophia, except that she died when Carrie was 15, leaving Carrie in a state of confusion. Although it was later stated her birthday was July 16th, 1971, in Season 1 Episode 15 titled "Crappy Birthday" which aired February 1st, 1999, it is stated her birthday is "this Friday the 19th" and February 19th, 1999 did land on a Friday. Also in this episode it is snowing during her birthday dinner, making it nearly impossible to be in July in New York City.
After difficult teenage years, Carrie met her future husband Doug Heffernan at a bar where she originally meant to spend the night with Doug's friend Richie Ianucci (Larry Romano) but ended up with Doug instead. Carrie's best friend is Kelly Palmer (Merrin Dungey), the wife of Doug's best friend Deacon Palmer (Victor Williams). At the end of the series, the couple decide to adopt after struggling to conceive a child, having miscarried earlier in the series. In the series finale "China Syndrome", Doug and Carrie decide to split up but eventually reunite after adopting a Chinese baby girl. The same day, Carrie discovers she is pregnant.[1]
Carrie is a fierce person, even physically abusive, and is frequently deemed as scary by other characters, particularly by Doug and the family dog walker Holly (Nicole Sullivan). She is a paralegal and works at a variety of firms throughout the show before leaving to pursue a similar line of work at a real estate company. Carrie was accepted to Florida State University but her father never told her. She starts to resent him when she found out but when she thought he died after having a heart surgery her heart melted.
Although she is a compassionate person who does have guilt, she can be selfish. In the episode "Ice Cubed", Carrie tries to make things right with an employee at a store after she accidentally gives her a free iPod and gets fired. However, in a later episode, she takes advantage to become friends with Doug's ex-girlfriend who he mistreated by tricking her into sleeping with him. She uses his ex-girlfriend (Janeane Garofalo) to get a 40% discount on one of her favorite stores, Saks.
Development and impact
The character of Carrie was created by David Litt and Michael J. Weithorn. The show was originally created around the character of Doug Heffernan after Kevin James' successful guest appearances on popular sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. The King of Queens was partly inspired by the classic television sitcom The Honeymooners. Carrie Heffernan is based on the character of Alice Kramden, with similar mannerisms and deadpan expressions.
The role was almost accepted by Megan Mullally who turned it down at the last minute to take a role in Will & Grace.[2] When Remini's short lived TV series Fired Up was cancelled in February 1998 she was subsequently offered the role of Carrie due to her promising comedic performance.
Carrie Heffernan is a popular character in sitcom history. Examiner.com named her the 9th most memorable television wife.