Lisa Ann Walter

Lisa Ann Walter (born August 3, 1963)^[1] is an American actress, comedian, writer and film producer. She has appeared in such films as the 1998 version of The Parent Trap, Bruce Almighty, Shall We Dance, and War of the Worlds as Cheryl. Walter also created and starred in the short-lived 1996-1997 sitcom, Life's Work. She was a judge on ABC's reality television series The Next Best Thing: Who Is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?. She also won for her charity in a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link.

Early life

Walter was born and raised in suburban Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., where she remembers "always liking to show off" as a child. She was a high-achieving student and always the class clown. Walter's father worked at NASA and indulged his own love of performing after-hours in local community theater. Her mother was a teacher, later working at the local courthouse. Her parents, both native New Yorkers, divorced when Walter was in elementary school. She attended Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland, finally studying drama at the Catholic University of America under the tutelage of the renowned Father Gilbert Hartke. She began appearing in various regional and dinner theater productions, and met her future spouse, Sam Baum, while performing in "A Streetcar Named Desire". They married before moving to New York, where both began various day jobs while raising their baby, shoehorning in frequent auditions and roles various off-Broadway venues. Walter performed at amateur night contests at some of the noted comedy clubs.

Career

After five years of standup comedy, she was cast to star in her own Fox Network comedy series, My Wildest Dreams, followed by an ABC sitcom, Life's Work, which she both created and starred in. Walter also co-starred in the Bravo series Breaking News and in the NBC sitcom Emeril.

In addition to Bruce Almighty (2003) and Shall We Dance (2004), Walter co-starred in the Disney film The Parent Trap (1998). In the remake of the original classic, she appeared as the nanny to Dennis Quaid's daughter, who was played by a young Lindsay Lohan. Prior to that, she played Whoopi Goldberg's tarty sidekick Claudine in Eddie (1996).

In early 2007, Walter had a supporting role as Mabel the bartender in the MyNetworkTV soap opera Watch Over Me. That summer, she served as a judge on the ABC reality TV show The Next Best Thing, which searched for the best celebrity impersonators in America.

In the Spring of 2008, she was in the comedy film Drillbit Taylor, and also starred on the VH1 reality series Celebracadabra, in which celebrities competed to see who was the best magician among them. She made it to the final three but was eliminated in the sixth episode. She has developed a series for the Oxygen network called Dance Your Ass Off. Her comic memoir, "The Best Thing About My Ass Is That It's Behind Me" is being published in May, 2011.

On May 18, 2011 Los Angeles talk radio station KFI announced that Walter would be assuming the 4pm-7pm slot on Saturdays and Sundays. She now hosts the popular "Fabulous Lisa Ann Walter Show" from 4pm-6pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Personal life

Walter resides in Los Angeles with her four children, including son Jordan, daughter Delia, and twin boys Simon and Spencer. She is developing enough material for a return to standup comedy. Her best friend is British Actor Simon Kunz who portrays her love interest in The Parent Trap.

Filmography

References

External links

• Lisa Ann Walter at the Internet Movie Database