She was on a long-running, fashionable sitcom from the mid-Nineties to the mid-2000s, however Kathy Kinney, who performed Mimi on The Drew Carey Present, might nonetheless stroll down the road with out being acknowledged. Her character was the annoying secretary with the over-the-top make-up and loud wardrobe who made Drew’s life harder on the present. In the meantime, Kinney’s real-life look is way totally different—she’s often not one for any make-up, not to mention vibrant, blue eyeshadow—however she and Mimi grew to have one thing in frequent.
And whereas Kinney is finest recognized for taking part in Mimi, she’s taken on many different roles through the years. She’s nonetheless appearing at present, alongside pursuing different initiatives. Learn on to be taught extra in regards to the sitcom star and what she’s doing now.
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Kinney starred on The Drew Carey Present from 1995 to 2004. The present lasted for over 200 episodes, so it is no shock that Mimi continues to be the position she’s finest recognized for. Previous to being on the collection, Kinney had acted in films and on TV, together with within the movies Scrooged and This Boy’s Life and in a recurring position on the sitcom Newhart. Following The Drew Carey Present, she has performed roles in My Identify Is Earl, The Secret Lifetime of the American Teenager, and most not too long ago, American Housewife and Stumptown.
Kinney co-created the web site Mrs. P in 2008. It permits kids to expertise story time on-line, as Kinney reads traditional tales in character as an Irish lady named Mrs. P.
“MrsP.com was created with the objective of giving youngsters the great expertise of getting a trusted, expert storyteller learn them classics of literature,” the web site reads. “Relatively than merely presenting an audiobook, Mrs. P recreates the feel and appear of ‘story time,’ a magical ritual many youngsters won’t in any other case get to take pleasure in.”
“My God, it is a lot enjoyable,” Kinney informed the Las Vegas Solar in 2009. “A lot enjoyable.”
Kinney and her good friend and writing companion, Cindy Ratzlaff, have labored collectively on a number of self-help books, together with Queen of Your Personal Life: The Grown-Up Girl’s Information to Claiming Happiness and Getting the Life You Deserve. As well as, they’ve launched equally themed calendars and inspirational playing cards.
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In an interview with Parade in 2018, Kinney defined that Mimi’s confidence rubbed off on her.
“It was about me enjoying this lady who had the largest, finest vanity on the planet, you already know,” Kinney mentioned. “And the area between who I actually was and who Mimi the character was, grew to become a lot smaller till we type of merged. Now, I do not put on blue eyeshadow—in actual fact, I am actually completely happy to not put on any make-up in any respect anymore. However I feel, you already know, everyone needs to be allowed or given the present to play somebody as vivid as her, as a result of it definitely modified my life for the higher.”
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