Sharon Strzelecki

Sharon Karen Strzelecki is a fictional character on the Australian comedy series Kath & Kim, and is portrayed by Australian actress Magda Szubanski.^[2] The character first appeared in "Big Girls Blouse" in 1994 alongside the other two central characters, Kath Day-Knight (Jane Turner) and Kim Craig (Gina Riley).^[3] Sharon is sports-obsessed, and unlucky in love.

In the American version of Kath and Kim, Sharon has no equivalent. The character in the American version was initially to have the name Debbie Cox and work with animals, however Szubanski put her foot down as the character was created by her and stated that she didn't want it to be ruined.^[1]

Personality

Physical Appearance and Personal Outlook

Sharon is obsessed with sports. Although she is overweight and short in stature, she demonstrates skill in netball and cricket. Her hair is Orange/Brown, and is worn in a bob haircut. Sharon has a lack of pride when it comes to her confidence, she is always looking down and seems depressed at times. Other times, she is cheerful and happy especially when she is playing netball. For majority of the series, Sharon is seen in many episodes wearing her netball dull-blue cardigan with a light shade of white t-shirt. For special occasions, (such as Christmas or her wedding) she dresses up. Despite weight issues and her lack of luck in finding love, Sharon doesn't have self-conscious issues in the mirror (the opposite to fellow character Kim, who is either loving herself sick or self-conscious). Sharon appears as a great person on the inside, always caring for others despite the lack of love and care (for her) in her own life. In Kath and Kimderella, Sharon goes on the Orlando Bloom diet and after going to the toilet loses a large amount of weight. This is because during the show's hiatus, Magda Szubanski went on a diet with Jenny Craig and lost a lot of weight. However Sharon is still fat (as told to by Kim Craig) and can't sing the Australian national anthem. She likes eating KFC as seen in Da Kath and Kim Code. Sharon may be bisexual in Kath and Kimderella as she makes many comments that have to do with homosexuality like “Get me out of the closet!”. She is also seen reading biographies of famous lesbians like Jane Lynch and politician Penny Wong. In an Italian clothes store she is seen asking Kath if a rainbow t-shirt looks good on her. In the film she is asked what team she plays on by an unknown female to whom she replies “The Sapphires” (her netball team) and in the conclusion of the film she is seen with a younger female playing golf and gyrating against each other. She is oblivious to the homosexual references however and has a crush on the paige, Elain who turns out to be gay. The references are because Magda Szubanski is gay and came out a few months before the film's official release.

Hobbies

Sharon's main interest is sports, and sports uniforms (summer and winter) make up the entirety of her wardrobe. She is particularly active in netball, where she is team captain of the Sapphires (and also the Unicorns), and indoor cricket. However, she is known to have golfed and to have participated in shot put at the national level. She often makes reference to it in the series, and says her mother (if she met her) would be "pleased" with her that she has found success in the Sporting Arena. Sharon also watches football, cricket and Rugby. She enjoys eating in addition, usually will barge into the Day residence and open up a box of snacks; which Kim walks in and scolds Sharon for stealing her snack. Sharon also takes an interest in Kim's (and occasionally Kath's) life, and often unquestioningly aids Kim in her bizarre and frivolous endeavors.

Relationships

Love Life

Sharon has a terrible love life, and is described by viewers and characters in the show as "unlucky in love", mainly by Kath who feels great compassion for Sharon. Sharon has come close to having relationships numerous times, each unsuccessful. In Da Kath and Kim Code she was severely close to being married; however at the end of the tele-movie she revealed that her fiancee "Marriat" was in fact just spam on a computer website. Sharon had relationships with Kim's husband Brett (before and after their marriage) and has had a boyfriend previously but he left her. It was revealed that Sharon uses chocolate to fill the need for love (as seen in the episode Lust.

Kim

Kim is Sharon's friend, however to Kim, Sharon is just her second best friend. The two have a very odd friendship. Sharon is always nice to Kim, being there for her and for her family; however Kim appears as rude, lazy and careless for Sharon (unless she wants something, as she says to Sharon: Sharon, because you are my second best friend [and she continues on to say what she wants]). Kim is always belittling Sharon, calling her good-for-nothing and always lacks her ability in love (despite that it is evident she is correct at some points). Kim is extremely ambivalent that Sharon and Brett (Kim's husband), have a great friendship. Kim also takes advantage of Sharon's good nature, such as driving Kim and Epponnee-Rae to different places, even when she has better things to do.

Brett

Brett, or "Bretty" as Sharon likes to call him, is Kim's husband and a good friend of Sharon's. However, during the episode in which Epponnee-Rae was born—it was revealed that Sharon and Brett used to date in high-school; however once Brett saw Kim (who showed him no feelings or affection) he turned away from Sharon. This saw the audience understand why Sharon dreams of being with Brett. In one episode, Sharon said that she wanted to have a child on her own using a donor, and hinted out she wanted Brett to be that person, stating "I want a person who is the husband of a close friend...and has a baby like Epponnee Rae, to be the father." In the last season, Sharon and Brett slept together and Kim found them. It changed nothing, except demoting Sharon to Kim's "sixth best friend".

Romantic

Mark is Sharon's ex-boyfriend. Mark sometimes shows Sharon he loves her, otherwise isn't very much interested her. They are on again and off again. Sharon nearly loses him to a Leggy River Dancer. Sharon took notice of Kel's friend (who steals all of his girlfriends) Sandy Freckle, however Sandy (going for Kel's women usually) only notices Kath. Sharon also had a small romantic relationship with her co-hospital worker, Alan (Alan Brough), but they never had a serious relationship.

Wayne Shaun

Wayne Shaun (played by Shane Warne) is a Shane Warne impersonator to whom Sharon married. In the last episode, Sharon was waiting for Wayne to show up, but he appeared not to. He eventually did, and they married. At the end of the episode, Sharon walked into Kath's home depressed, stating that Wayne had bought a mobile phone. Their marriage seemed to have ended, however it is unknown. In the credits of the episode, Wayne was in the spa with Kath and Kim talking about how he can win Sharon back.

Family

Parents

Little is known of Sharon's parents. However, Sharon did state in an episode that her father left the family when she was a small baby; and that Sharon's mother abandoned her as a baby and went to Britain where her mother had given birth to a younger half-sister, Karen (Matt Lucas).

Karen

Karen Is Sharon's half sister. She has only made two appearances in the series. In the episode Roots in which Sharon set out a goal to meet her birth mother. She ended up finding out she had a sister Karen. Karen, portrayed by Matt Lucas arrived in Melbourne as she was already in Australia modelling. She is a plus sized model and travels a lot. When Sharon met Karen, she brought Kim with her. Sharon was completely ignored by Karen, who spent all of her time being best friends with Kim. Before Karen left, she kissed Brett forcibly to which Kim nor Sharon reacted to. Before Sharon's marriage to Wayne—she played a video message which Karen left for her. Karen stated that she would not attend Sharon's marriage Nuptials and also said that "Even Though mother has never met you, She does hate you!". Karen is treated like a princess (as she claims) by their mother and said she grew up with everything she ever wanted, making Sharon feel bad.

Quirks, Personality Traits and features

Sharon has several things she says and features of the series which has repeated itself. A notable part is Kath's fridge. Sharon often enters the house through the slide door, and heads straight to Kath's fridge and begins to eat whatever she can get her hands on (usually Frankfort). Frequently, she eats the last of Kim's dippity bix or fat-free freuche. This causes Kim to exclaim "Sharon! That was my last ___!", to which Sharon responds "Well, I didn't know, Kim!" Kim finishes the gag with the line "Well you never bloody know, Sharon!"

Sharon is often seen with an injury of some sort, and regularly appears wearing a cast or splint, including neck braces, eyepatches, arm casts, and finger splints. On other occasions, she is shown with 'pash rash' (as Kim calls it), boils, or carbuncles. These injuries and afflictions are assumed to be incurred from her sports-playing. She's also broken her fibula five times.

As an avid cricket fan, she is a huge fan of Shane Warne. She is often seen reading his books and impersonating "the flipper". In season four, she married a Shane Warne look-alike and during the morning of her wedding is seen with two pictures of Shane Warne, one picture of a younger Warne, the other, a matured, older one (which was the lookalike, although both pictures are obviously of Warne). When Sharon kisses somebody, red marks appear around her mouth and she has a non-stop smile on her face.

See also

Other Characters

• Kim Craig
• Kath Day-Knight
• Kel Knight
• Brett Craig

References