Marissa Jaret Winokur

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Marissa Jaret Winokur

Born February 2, 1973 (1973-02-02) (age 35)
New York City
Official website

Marissa Jaret Winokur (born February 2, 1973) is a Tony Award-winning American actress known for her performance as Tracy Turnblad in the highly successful Broadway musical adaptation of John Waters' film Hairspray, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked. Some of her other TV Credits include Moesha, The Steve Harvey Show, Felicity, and Dharma & Greg.

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[edit] Personal life

Winokur was born in New York City, the daughter of Maxine, a teacher, and Michael Winokur, an architect.[1] She is Jewish.[2] Winokur was a cheerleader and captain of her high school soccer team at Fox Lane High School. She later studied at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy, graduating from the integrated program.

During the early development stages of Hairspray, Winokur was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She underwent treatment for the disease, including a hysterectomy, without revealing her condition to anyone except her immediate family out of fear that she would be replaced in the musical. Ultimately she made a full recovery and remained in the show.[3]

Winokur married Judah Miller, who was a writer on Stacked, on October 7, 2006. In March 2008, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child via a surrogate mother and that the pregnancy was five months along. It was announced on March 31 that the couple is expecting a baby boy, who is going to be named Zev.[4]

[edit] Career

[edit] Stage, screen and television

Winokur won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, Drama Desk Award, Theatre World Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in Hairspray. She had previously appeared on Broadway as "Pink Lady Jan" in the revival of Grease.

Winokur has also played roles in films such as American Beauty, Never Been Kissed, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Scary Movie, Beautiful Girl (for ABC Family), Fever Pitch and most recently on Dancing with the Stars (U.S. season 6).

Winokur most recently was featured on the TV series Stacked, which starred Pamela Anderson. She also appeared on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where she lost a physical fight with Larry David over the first appointment at a doctor's office. She was called Marissa Winokur in the episode, but was credited simply as Woman In Elevator.

She is set to star in a new comedy pilot for CBS titled Fugly from the creator of My Name Is Earl. The show was originally pitched to FOX as a vehicle for Pamela Anderson, but was turned down in favor of Stacked.

[edit] Recording and voice work

Winokur is working on recording a children's music album. Her rendition of the song "Baby Face" is featured on the soundtrack for the film Son of the Mask.

Winokur joined Nikki Blonsky and Ricki Lake in singing "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now" on the Hairspray soundtrack. Winokur has lent her voice to several cartoon shows, including American Dad and King of the Hill.

[edit] "Dancing with the Stars"

Winokur is featured on Season 6 of Dancing With the Stars with professional dancer Tony Dovolani. Marissa scored an 18 for her Cha-Cha-Cha her first week and 21 for her Quickstep in week two giving her a combined total of 39 out of 60. In that week's elimination, Marissa was the last female contestant to be saved before Monica Seles was eliminated. In week three, Marissa scored 19 for her Jive to Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend, placing her last on the leader board, but luckily she survived. In week four, Marissa performed a Paso Doble and was praised for her improvements, scoring 24 out of 30. She scored a second 24 out of 30 for her Samba in week five. In week six, Marissa earned a 26 for a Viennese Waltz, her highest score so far. The following week was another success learning two dances, scoring a 27 for her Tango in the Ballroom round and in the Latin round she receieved 25 for her Rumba. Marissa came third on the combined total leader board with a score of 52 out of 60, beating Shannon Elizabeth and Mario by one point and Cristian de la Fuente by 6 points. Despite being third Marissa found herself in the bottom two alongside Shannon. The following week Marissa performed a Foxtrot and Mambo scoring 25 for both dances scoring a total of 50 out of 60, placing her last on the leader board. However, Winokur was eliminated after the semifinal round.

[edit] Performances

Week # Dance/Song Judges' score Result
Inaba Goodman Tonioli
1 Cha-cha-cha/ "Low" 6 6 6 N/A
2 Quickstep/ "Flip, Flop and Fly" 7 7 7 Last to be Called Safe
3 Jive/ "Girlfriend" 6 7 6 Safe
4 Paso Doble/ "My Family Is My Life" 8 8 8 Safe
5 Samba/ "Tambourine" 8 8 8 Safe
6 Viennese Waltz/ "Delilah" 9 8 9 Safe
7 Tango/ "Champagne Tango"
Rumba/ "Quando, Quando, Quando"		 9
9		 9
8		 9
8		 Bottom Two
8 Foxtrot/ "New York, New York"
Mambo/ "Ritmo De Chunga"		 9
8		 8
8		 8
9		 Safe
9
Semi-finals		 Quickstep/ "Around the World"
Rumba/ "Just the Two of Us"		 9
8		 9
9		 8
9		 Eliminated


Awards
Preceded by
Sutton Foster
for Thoroughly Modern Millie		 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical
2003
for Hairspray		 Succeeded by
Idina Menzel
for Wicked

[edit] References

  1. ^ Marissa Janet Winokur at FilmReference.com
  2. ^ ContactMusic.com
  3. ^ Marissa Jaret Winokur at TheHPFTest.com
  4. ^ People Magazine

[edit] External links