Laraine Newman

Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American actress, voice actress, comedian and writer, who was part of the original cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live, and played the villain Lawanda Dumore in the 1991 film Problem Child 2.[1]

For the EastEnders producer, see Lorraine Newman.

Laraine Newman
Newman in 2011
Born	(1952-03-02) March 2, 1952 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress voice actress comedian writer editor
Years active	1975–present
Known for	Saturday Night Live Problem Child 2
Spouse(s)	Chad Einbinder ( m. 1991)
Children	2
Website	wp.larainenewman.com

Personal life

Newman was born on March 2, 1952, in Los Angeles, California,[2] the granddaughter of a cattle rancher from Arizona. Her family is Jewish.[3] She is the youngest of four children and a twin (brother Paul). Her sister, Tracy Newman, is an Emmy Award-winning television writer. Newman attended Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California and graduated from there in 1970. Newman married actor-writer-director Chad Einbinder (born 1963) in 1991. They have two children, Spike[4] (born 1991) and Hannah (born 1995).[5]

The song Never Let Her Slip Away, written and recorded by Andrew Gold, was about Newman. The two were a couple at the time. The song hit #5 on the UK charts in 1978.

Early life and career

Newman took her first Improvisational theatre classes when she was 15. After finishing high school she auditioned for four acting schools in England including Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and Bristol Old Vic. She was not accepted after the second round of auditions for all four schools, so she went to Paris to study mime with Marcel Marceau for a year.[6]

By the age of 19, Newman returned to the United States, and moved to Los Angeles, where she did a brief stint at a secretarial school. Committed to continue performing, she was a founding member of the pioneering comedy improvisational group The Groundlings.[7] At the same time, Newman was working for a booking agent who worked with rock bands, typing up contracts.[8]

Newman cites Eve Arden, Madeline Kahn and Richard Pryor as her first major influences, saying “They led me into my life of comedy, they led me into understanding ‘The Art of Play’."[9]

Saturday Night Live

In 1974, Lorne Michaels hired 22-year-old Newman for a Lily Tomlin special, impressed with her work as founder and original member of The Groundlings. A year later, she became an original cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing on the show from its inception in 1975 through 1980.

During her five years on SNL she became a close friend of co-star Gilda Radner, although there was also a degree of rivalry between them.[10] The instant success of SNL propelled her to stardom very quickly. Newman recalled being stopped in the street in New York City by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who introduced themselves to her.[11]

Newman admits that she was "never a good improviser," but when in character, like an angry Jewish poet, a flight attendant, an eccentric chef or a British groupie, she was "free."

Commenting on her early experiences during Saturday Night Live she said: "When I first performed (my characters) and the audience responded, I felt like crying, I mean the idea that what I saw—what other people saw—(meant) I wasn't so alone in my perspective. I hope this doesn’t sound too overblown, but it really did feel like a Communion."[12]

However, by her own account, she was unhappy for much of her time with the show—she disliked living in New York. During her years on SNL, Newman had developed serious eating disorders, as well as heroin addiction. She spent so much time in her dressing room playing solitaire that for Christmas 1979, castmate Radner gave her a deck of playing cards with a picture of Newman on the face of each card.[13]

Recurring characters on Saturday Night Live

She is best known for her roles as Connie Conehead and Sherry. Newman decided not to repeat her characters so fewer signature characters are remembered, in contrast to some of her other fellow cast members on SNL, like Dan Aykroyd or Chevy Chase. Still, she created many important SNL characters and helped, as part of the whole ensemble cast, to shape the early years of SNL.[14]

Newman states when asked about her favorite Saturday Night Live character: "My favorite character that I created at Saturday Night Live, which, I think, only pleased me and no one else, was Lina Wertmüller (based on the actual Lina Wertmüller)."[15]

Later life and career

Newman's post-SNL film career has been in both leading and supporting roles, as well as a voice artist on television and features.

1970s

Prior to leaving SNL, Newman already took other roles. In 1978, she appeared in American Hot Wax. A year later, she did a cameo in Mr. Mike's Mondo Video.

1980s

Newman continued to appear in film and television productions during the 1980s. Among these were Wholly Moses, Voltar The Invincible and Invaders from Mars. She also had a small role in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980). In 1986 she starred in the syndicated B-movie comedy series, The Canned Film Festival, playing the lead role as Laraine the usherette. Additionally, she made appearances on such programs as Laverne & Shirley, as Donut Rooter in Devo's We're All Devo VHS, St. Elsewhere, E.T. and Friends (1983), in which she reprised her role as Connie Conehead, Steve Martin's Best Show Ever (1981) and Amazing Stories.

1990s

In the 90s, she had roles in Problem Child 2 and in the 1993 film Coneheads. Newman further appeared in episodes of Friends, The Tick, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Histeria!, CatDog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Rugrats (in "All Growed Up", an episode which would form the basis of the spinoff All Grown Up!, for which she also provided voice work), 7th Heaven, and in The Flintstones movie. During this time she started to focus on voice acting.

2000s

In the 2000s she lent her voice to many characters in animated movies and television productions. Among these were Danny Phantom, As Told By Ginger, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Metalocalypse and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. She further provided voice work for WALL-E, Battle for Terra, Ponyo, Jungle Junction, Cars, Up!, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Barnyard, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Happily N'Ever After, and Horton Hears a Who!.

Newman also appeared in episodes of Entourage, Brothers & Sisters, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

2010s

She continues to provide her voice for movies like Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and Wreck-It Ralph. Newman made guest voice appearances in SpongeBob SquarePants, Doc McStuffins, and Harvey Street Kids . She also voices Queen Jipjorrulac, the mother of Mark Chang, in The Fairly OddParents.

She voiced the Wicked Witch of the West in Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz, an animated direct-to-DVD film set during the events of the original 1939 film.

On July 9, 2014, Newman appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor podcast.

Writing

Newman also works as a writer and editor. She is a contributing editor for the online magazine One For The Table, and she is an occasional contributor to the Huffington Post.[16] She has contributed articles for the Los Angeles Times, The Believer, and McSweeney's. She wrote the foreword to the book version of the UCB Production Worst Laid Plans.

Filmography

Live-action

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	TunnelVision	Sonja
1978	American Hot Wax	Teenage Louise
1979	Mr. Mike's Mondo Video	Herself	Cameo appearance
1980	Stardust Memories	Film Executive	Uncredited
	Wholly Moses	Zoey/Zerelda
1985	Perfect	Linda
1986	Invaders from Mars	Ellen Gardner
1991	Problem Child 2	Lawanda Dumore
1993	Coneheads	Laarta
	Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway	Elaine
	Revenge of the Red Baron	Carol Spencer
1994	The Flintstones	Susan Rock
1996	Jingle All the Way	First Lady
1997	Demolition University	Professor Harris
1998	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Frog-Eyed Woman
1999	Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure	Minnie	Direct-to-video
2014	Ready or Knot	Joanne
2016	The Late Bloomer	Noema Willcoxen

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975–1980	Saturday Night Live	Herself	Cast Member. 106 episodes
1982	Laverne & Shirley	Sheba	2 episodes
	St. Elsewhere	Jane Zontell	3 episodes
1986	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Periwinkle	Episode: "The Jar"
	The Canned Film Festival	Laraine the usherette	13 episodes
1988	Monsters		Episode: "Rouse Him Not"
1996	3rd Rock from the Sun	Guidance Counselor	Episode: "World's Greatest Dick"
	Friends	Mrs. Buffay	Episode: "The One With the Bullies"
2000	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Wendy Prager/Gwendolyn, director of the play, "The Vagina Monologues"/Incest Survivor	Episode: "The Group"
2002–2004	7th Heaven	Rosina Glass
2006	Brothers & Sisters	Lyla
2012	Easy to Assemble	The Neighbor	2 episodes
2013	The Birthday Boys	President of the Network
2014	Trophy Wife	Juniper

Voice roles

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Voltar The Invincible	Wondra/Mrs. Lawrence	Uncredited
2001	Monsters, Inc.	Mother/School Teacher
2003	Finding Nemo	Additional Voices
	Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure	Gwen
2004	Shrek 2	ADR Group
	The Incredibles	Squeaker's Owner	Uncredited
2006	The Wild	Girl Monkey
2007	Happily N'Ever After	Additional Voices
	Surf's Up	Female Penguin #3
2008	Horton Hears a Who!	Glummox Mom
	Ponyo	Woman in the boat
	WALL-E	Beauty Bot/Paramedic Bot/Announcer Bot
2009	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	French Newscaster
	Up	Dogs/Additional Voices
2010	Shrek Forever After	ADR Group
	Tangled	Additional Voices
	Toy Story 3	Additional Voices
2011	Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz	The Wicked Witch of The West
2012	The Lorax	Woman
	Wreck-It Ralph	Various Nicelanders
2013	Despicable Me 2	Woman
2014	Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon	Elf Elder's Wife
	The Boxtrolls	Female Townsfolk 1/Female Townsfolk 2
2015	Inside Out	Jill Andersen's Fear
	Minions	Additional Voices
2016	The Secret Life of Pets
	Nerdland	Old Woman
	Sing	Meena's Grandmother/Additional Voices
2017	Despicable Me 3	Additional Voices
	The Emoji Movie
	The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature	Daredevil Chipmunk
2018	The Grinch	Additional Voices
2019	The Secret Life of Pets 2	Cow

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	The New Batman Adventures	Baby Doll	Episode: "Love is a Croc"
1999	Detention	Ms. Treacle	Episode: "The Contest"
2000	The Oblongs	Ms. Hubbard	8 episodes
2000–2006	As Told by Ginger	Lois Foutley	43 episodes
2001–2003	Oswald	Madame Butterfly	22 episodes
2001–2013	The Fairly OddParents	Alien Queen Jipjorrulac/Mother Nature	9 episodes
2003	What's New, Scooby-Doo?	Wor-El
2004–2007	Danny Phantom	Pam/Mrs. Tetslaff	6 episodes
2005	The Buzz on Maggie	Lacey Ladybug
2006	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Lily
2006–2012	Metalocalypse	Pickles' Mom/News Anchor/Dory McClean/Additional Characters	15 episodes
2009–2013	Jungle Junction	Carla	14 episodes
2010–2018	SpongeBob SquarePants	Ella Plankton/Crab Lady	3 episodes
2011	The Garfield Show	Aunt Ivy/Chicken/Winona	4 episodes
	Beavis and Butt-head	Biology Teacher	3 episodes
2011–2013	Winx Club	Queen Ligea	Seasons 3-5
2012–2014	Doc McStuffins	Aurora, Professor Hootsburgh and Southwest Sal	25 episodes
2012	Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated	Granny Snaggletooth
2013	Turbo FAST	Queen Invicta	Episode: "Ants Ants Revolution/Clamsquatch"
	Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness	Yan Fan
2015	The Adventures of Puss in Boots	Pajuna/Piper	37 episodes
	Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!	Professor Salazar / Running Girl
2015–2017	Dawn of the Croods	Gran/One-Eyed Amber/Mosh/Pram	52 episodes
2016	Milo Murphy's Law	Ms. White
2016–2018	Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia	Nana/Ms. Janeth	27 episodes
2017	Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz	Wicked Witch of the West	6 episodes
	Vampirina	Norcisa	1 episode
2017–2018	Talking Tom and Friends	Ms. Vanthrax	5 episodes
2018	The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants	Ms. Tara Ribble
2018–2019	3Below: Tales of Arcadia	Nana/Ms. Janeth	18 episodes
2019–2020	Harvey Girls Forever!	Ryan Ninaman	3 episodes
2019	Summer Camp Island	Hedgehog's Mother	1 episode
2020	Apple & Onion	Banana	Episode: "Apple's Formula"
2020	Bob's Burgers	Dove Shannon	Episode: "Local She-ro"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Stupid Invaders	Additional Voices
2003	The Fairly OddParents: Breakin' da Rules	Alien Queen Jipjorrulac
2005	Madagascar	Queen Bee/Grandma
	True Crime: New York City	Additional Voices
2007	Bee Movie Game
	Spider-Man 3
	Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer	Sheva Whitefeather/NPC (Wise Woman)
2008	The Rise of the Argonauts	Additional Voices
2011	Star Wars: The Old Republic
2013	Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
2016	Let It Die	Mother Barb (voice)	[17]
2019	Dota 2	Snapfire (voice)

Accolades

Newman has been nominated for awards numerous times, most notably for an Emmy in 1979 as a writer for Saturday Night Live.[18]

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1979	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Writing in a Comedy – Variety or Music Series (shared with the other writers)	Saturday Night Live	Nominated
2016	Annie Award	Outstanding Achievement in Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production (Voice of "Amber" for the episode "The First Picture Show")	Dawn of the Croods	Nominated
2012	Behind the Voice Actors Awards	Best Vocal Ensemble in a TV Special/Direct-to-DVD Title or Short (shared with the other cast)	Tom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz	Nominated
2017		Best Vocal Ensemble in a New Television Series (shared with the other cast)	Milo Murphy's Law	Nominated
		Best Female Vocal Performance in a Television Series in a Supporting Role (Voice of "Miss Janeth")	Trollhunters	Nominated

References

1. "Laraine Newman - About This Person - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com".
2. "California Birth Index, 1905–1995 (Laraine Newman)". United States: The Generations Network. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
3. "Live From Hillel—It's Laraine! - Arts". Jewish Journal.
4. @larainenewman (June 11, 2019). "So excited to be in an episode of this great show. Acting with my firstborn Spike Einbinder and the wonderful Fred Armisen and Julio Torres. Thanks for the gig guys. xx" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
5. Samantha Maffucci (November 7, 2019). "Meet Hannah Einbinder — A Comedian To Watch In 2020". Your Tango. Retrieved March 7, 2020. Einbinder’s mother is none other than Laraine Newman, who was an original cast member on Saturday Night Live! Lorne Michaels hired Newman in 1974 after seeing her work with The Groundlings, an improv and sketch group. Following in her mom’s footsteps!
6. "SNL Reunion".
7. "Laraine Newman Biography".
8. "Finally ready for prime time: Newman closes week with laughs".
9. "Finally ready for prime time: Newman closes week with laughs".
10. Shales, Tom; Miller, James Andrew (June 4, 2008). "It's Saturday Night!". Vanity Fair. New York City: Condé Nast.
11. "Laraine Newman". biography.com.
12. Prosser, Maggie (July 12, 2018). "Finally ready for prime time: Newman closes week with laughs". The Chautauquan Daily.
13. Lev Grossman. "And They All Hate Chevy". Time.
14. Megh Wright. "Saturday Night's Children: Laraine Newman (1975-1980)".
15. Comcast Interactive Media (June 6, 2009). "SNL's Laraine Newman: Where Is She Now?".
16. Laraine Newman – The Huffington Post
17. "Meet the deadly cast of Suda51's new PS4 action game, Let It Die: Mark Hamill, Verne Troyer, Billy Dee Williams and Traci Lords provide voices". PlayStation. November 3, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
18. "Awards".

External links

• Official website
• Laraine Newman on IMDb
• Laraine Newman at AllMovie
• Laraine Newman at the Internet Broadway Database
• Writings at One for the Table
• Laraine Newman at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television