Julia Sweeney

Sweeney was born and raised in Spokane, Washington,{{Cite web |date=2020-03-27 |title=Julia Sweeney on being ‘Quaranteened,’ her family in L.A. and missing Spokane and Mom |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/mar/27/julia-sweeney-on-being-quarenteened-her-family-in-/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Spokesman.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2020-01-29 |title=It's Julia! An SNL star's journey from Spokane to stardom - Where Are They Now |url=https://www.king5.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/evening/julia-sweeney-older-and-wider-seattle/281-b7994c8c-7f47-4ad4-ac6e-0138b5c4da9a |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=king5.com |language=en-US}} the daughter of Robert Mark Sweeney and Jeraldine "Jeri" Sweeney ({{née}} Ivers).{{cite web|title=Marie Ann Ivers|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GER-VOLGA/2001-03/0985644727|website=Yakima Herald Republic|access-date=21 February 2015|date=25 March 2001}} Her father was an attorney and federal prosecutor, while her mother was a homemaker. She has an Irish Catholic background.{{cite news|last1=Ramirez|first1=Marc|title=Pat's World -- It's Funny Business, Hard Work And A Little Too Much Attention For Julia Sweeney|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19930131/1682852/pats-world|access-date=21 February 2015|work=The Seattle Times|date=31 January 1993}} Sweeney is the oldest of five children; she had two brothers, William Robert "Bill" Sweeney, and Michael Ivers Sweeney,{{cite web|title=Michael Ivers Sweeney - California, Death Index|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VPVG-VBF|website=FamilySearch|date=31 March 1995}} who both died, and has a brother, Jim Sweeney, and a sister, Meg Sweeney.

As a child, she was drawn to imitating voices and inventing characters.{{cite web|title=Behind the Curtain: Julia Sweeney|url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/onstage/twain2002/bios/sweeney.html|website=PBS.org|access-date=2 September 2016}} She attended Marycliff High School and Gonzaga Preparatory School, where she appeared in a number of plays. She graduated with a double major in economics and European history from the University of Washington, where she was student body vice president{{r|Frizzelle}} and became a member of Delta Gamma sorority.{{cite web|title=Celebrity Parents Magazine: Julia Sweeney Issue|url=http://www.celebrityparentsmag.com/on-the-cover-julia-sweeney/|website=Celebrity Parents Magazine|access-date=2 September 2016|date=6 June 2013|archive-date=October 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009000654/http://www.celebrityparentsmag.com/on-the-cover-julia-sweeney/|url-status=dead}} After graduation, Sweeney moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as an accountant for Columbia Pictures and United Artists.{{cite web|last1=Maron|first1=Marc|title=Episode 553 - Julia Sweeney|url=http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_553_-_julia_sweeney|website=WTF with Marc Maron|access-date=21 February 2015|format=Audio podcast|date=14 November 2014}}

File:Julia Sweeney.jpg Convention in 2008]]

In 1988, while still working as an accountant, Sweeney enrolled in classes with the improvisational comedy troupe the Groundlings, eventually being selected to be part of the troupe's Sunday Company. It was at the Groundlings that she began to develop characters, which she would later bring to the stage, film, and television.{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/notable-alumni-of-the-groundlings-improv-troupe/16/|title=Notable alumni of the Groundlings improv troupe|date=2015-06-25|language=en|access-date=2017-02-01}} They include Mea Culpa, the title character of Mea's Big Apology (co-written by then-husband Stephen Hibbert), which won the Best Written Play Award from L.A. Weekly in 1988, and has been developed by Sweeney (in collaboration with Jim Emerson) into a screenplay; and the androgynous Pat.

At a Groundlings performance in 1989, she was offered her a spot as one of Saturday Night Live's featured players. She joined the regular Saturday Night Live cast the following year and remained with the show through four seasons, from 1990 to 1994. Her most popular character was Pat, whose impossible-to-determine gender was the basis for Sweeney's popular It's Pat! sketches on Saturday Night Live, and a later feature film of the same name, which was a critical commercial failure, costing $8 million[https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/its-pat-19940922 It's Pat: Julia Sweeney's gender-bending character goes to Hollywood, but can he ... er ... she ... er ... er ... Pat cross over?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121181832/https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/features/its-pat-19940922 |date=2018-01-21 }}, a September 1994 article from Rolling Stone> to make but grossing only $60,822{{mojo title|itspat|It's Pat}} at the box office.

After leaving the cast of Saturday Night Live, Sweeney returned to Los Angeles where, shortly afterwards, her career was put on hold by a series of personal traumas. Her brother Michael was diagnosed with lymphoma, and shortly thereafter Sweeney discovered that she too had cancer.{{YouTube|_7vsUflfPLA|Julia tells about her surgery and treatment}} Her brother did not survive the cancer. Throughout the ordeal, Sweeney told stories of her experiences in serio-comic performances at L.A.'s alternative comedy club, the Un-Cabaret, eventually developing the stories into a one-woman stage show called God Said Ha!, which debuted at San Francisco's Magic Theater in 1995.{{cite web|work=This American Life | title= Episode 9: Julia Sweeney | date= January 10, 1996 | url=http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/9/julia-sweeney |access-date=September 2, 2011}}

God Said Ha! moved to Broadway, winning the 1996 New York Comedy Festival's Audience Award, and a CD recording of the show earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album that same year.{{Cite news |title=Julia Sweeney |work=Grammy Awards |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/julia-sweeney/14320 |access-date=September 12, 2023}} Miramax released a film version of the show in 1998, directed by Sweeney and produced by Quentin Tarantino. The film earned the Golden Space Needle Award at the Seattle International Film Festival,{{Cite news |title=Golden Space Needle History 1990–1999 |work=Seattle International Film Festival |url=https://www.siff.net/the-golden-space-needle-awards/golden-space-needle-history-1990-1999 |access-date=September 12, 2023}} and was released on DVD in 2003. Portions of the monologues from Un-Cabaret were featured on episode 9 of This American Life (then known as Your Radio Playhouse) in January 1996. Since her initial monologue, she has appeared on three more This American Life episodes.[http://www.thisamericanlife.org/search?keys=julia%20sweeney Julia Sweeney search results] at This American Life

Sweeney's second monologue chronicled the adoption of her daughter from China. In the Family Way started on stage in New York City in early 2003 at the Ars Nova Theatre. The show was directed by Broadway stage director Mark Brokaw, before migrating to the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. Sweeney has also released a CD recording of In the Family Way and, in 2006, performed a 25-minute excerpt of the show at the Hollywood Bowl with a new orchestration written especially for her piece by composer Anthony Marinelli and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.{{cite magazine|last1=Kimpel|first1=Dan|url=https://archive.org/details/MusicConnection010107XXXINo_01Interview |title=Award-Winning Film Composer|access-date=18 September 2015|issue=XXXI, No. 1|magazine=Music Connection|date=1 January 2007|page=22}}{{cite web|title=Comedy Tonight! With special guests The Smothers Brothers & Julia Sweeney|url=http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tickets/comedy-tonight-special-guests-smothers-brothers-amp-julia-sweeney/2006-08-25|publisher=Hollywood Bowl|access-date=13 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013115450/http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tickets/comedy-tonight-special-guests-smothers-brothers-amp-julia-sweeney/2006-08-25|archive-date=October 13, 2015 |date=25 August 2006|quote=Saturday Night Live alum Julia Sweeney narrates a segment from her one-woman show, In the Family Way, set to brand new music by Anthony Marinelli.}}

Sweeney's third autobiographical monologue is titled Letting Go of God. In it, she discusses her Catholic upbringing, early religious ideology, and the life events and internal search that led her to believe that the universe can function on its own without a deity to preside over it; as well as her becoming an atheist. Sweeney begins by sharing the account of when her mother told her that her birthday was really October 10 instead of September 10, and how traumatic it was to discover she was not a winsome Virgo but really a Libra.[https://www.npr.org/2013/11/22/245953429/how-does-a-person-go-from-believer-to-atheist "How Does A Person Go From Believer To Atheist?"]. NPR. November 22, 2013.

An audio recording of Letting Go of God was released on CD in 2006, and it was filmed live on stage in May 2007.

After taking some years out of the limelight to be a suburban Chicago housewife and mother, Sweeney returned with a fourth monologue in which she riffs on contemporary politics and religion, among other topics. The performance was so popular that it sold out its original six-day run at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, as well as a one-week extension.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-julia-sweeney-older-review-20190207-story.html|title=Review: Julia Sweeney is 'Older & Wider' and really, really (really) funny|last=Foley|first=F. Kathleen|date=February 8, 2019|website=Los Angeles Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209083000/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-julia-sweeney-older-review-20190207-story.html|archive-date=February 9, 2019|access-date=December 4, 2019}}

Sweeney appeared at the 2019 CSICon put on by the Center for Inquiry (CFI), where she presented about half of the monologue for the conference attendees.{{Cite web|url=https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/julia-sweeney-opens-up-at-csicon/|title=Julia Sweeney Opens Up at CSICon|last=Fidalgo|first=Paul|date=October 19, 2019|website=Center For Inquiry|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024093252/https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/julia-sweeney-opens-up-at-csicon/|archive-date=October 24, 2019|access-date=December 4, 2019}}

In a segment for This American Life in 1999, Sweeney describes one of her first jobs as a bartender's assistant, and how she began embezzling funds from her employer, and the consequences thereof.{{cite web|work= This American Life| title= Allure of Crime, Act I: Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad| date= July 23, 1999| url=http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/135/allure-of-crime?act=1| access-date=December 30, 2011}}

In 1992, Sweeney worked with the rock band Ugly Kid Joe, performing in the music video for their hit "Neighbor" and contributing introductory audio for two tracks, "Goddamn Devil" and "Everything About You". The latter was on the soundtrack to the Lorne Michaels movie Wayne's World.

In 1994, she had a small role as "Raquel" in the movie Pulp Fiction; other film roles include Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Coneheads, Vegas Vacation, Clockstoppers, Whatever It Takes, and Stuart Little.

In 2000, she provided the voice of Wanda MacPherson in the short-lived The WB/Adult Swim animated sitcom Baby Blues.{{Cite web|url=https://www.warnerbros.com/news/press-releases/wb%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cbaby-blues%E2%80%9D-will-take-its-%E2%80%9Csecond-step%E2%80%9D-next-season/|title=WarnerBros.com {{!}} The WB's "Baby Blues" Will Take Its "Second Step" Next Season {{!}} Press Release|website=www.warnerbros.com|access-date=2019-08-09}} She was also the voice of Margo on the ABC animated series The Goode Family, Dr. Glove on Back at the Barnyard, Miss Tronica on Lloyd in Space, and Sheri Squibbles in Pixar's 2013 animated film Monsters University.

A veteran of live television, Sweeney made her mark on primetime television as a series regular on George and Leo and Maybe It's Me, and guest starred on 3rd Rock from the Sun, Hope & Gloria, Mad About You, and According to Jim. In 2004, she co-starred in two episodes of Frasier, as Frasier's blind date turned litigious unwanted houseguest, Ann Hodges. She had a guest role on Sex and the City, and served as a consultant for its last three seasons, as well as consulting on season two of Desperate Housewives. In 2019, she played a terrorist grandmother in season 6 of the American cop comedy series Brooklyn 99.

Sweeney met singer/songwriter Jill Sobule at a Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conference, and performed together in 2008. They took the show, called Jill and Julia, on the road in 2009 and 2010, performing in New York, Denver and other locations. It was an autobiographical mix of music, stories, and commentary.

From 2009 to 2010, Sweeney was also part of the regular rotation of panelists for the NPR news quiz radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!,{{cite web |url=http://wwdt.me/ |title=NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!: Show Details and Statistics |author=Linh Pham |publisher= WWDT.me| access-date=30 January 2014}} in downtown Chicago. In 2021, Sweeney was cast in the third season of American Gods on Starz.

Sweeney has long pushed for acceptance of people who are not religious, and in 2019 she was appointed to be on the board of directors of the Center for Inquiry.{{cite web |last1=Fidalgo |first1=Paul |title=Actress Julia Sweeney Elected to Center for Inquiry Board of Directors {{!}} Center for Inquiry |url=https://centerforinquiry.org/news/actress-julia-sweeney-elected-to-center-for-inquiry-board-of-directors/ |publisher=Center for Inquiry |access-date=28 July 2022 |date=13 September 2019}}

From 2019-2021, Julia Sweeney was a recurring character on Hulu's series, Shrill (TV series). She played the mother of Aidy Bryant.

Sweeney is married to scientist Michael Blum. They live in Los Angeles near their daughter, whom they adopted from China.{{Cite Q|Q22980786|access-date=2019-04-13|url=http://www.ted.com/talks/julia_sweeney_has_the_talk }}

• Sweeney, Julia, and Zander, Christine. It's Pat!: My Life Exposed. New York: Hyperion, 1992. {{ISBN|978-1-562-82938-4}}
• Sweeney, Julia. God Said, "Ha!". New York: Bantam Books, 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-553-10647-3}}
• Barker, Dan and Sweeney, Julia. The Good Atheist: Living a Purpose-Filled Life Without God Ulysses Press, 2011. {{ISBN|9781569758465}}
• Sweeney, Julia. If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother. New York : Simon & Schuster, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-451-67404-0}}

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite news

| last = Frizzelle

| first = Christopher

| title = Julia Sweeney Predicts the Future: "We're in for a Shit Show"

| newspaper = The Stranger

| date = 24 January 2020

| url = https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/01/24/42649759/julia-sweeney-predicts-the-future-were-in-for-a-shit-show

| access-date = 24 January 2020

}}

}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070506115404/http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2005/06/letting_go_of_g_1.html From Letting Go of God]
• [http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=j_sweeney Julia Sweeney's 17 min Talk] at TED Conference (Feb. 2006) Monterey, California
• [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6387729 Saturday Night Live's Julia Sweeney] interview from NPR
• [http://www.bigspeak.com/julia-sweeney.html Julia Sweeney biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219064720/http://www.bigspeak.com/julia-sweeney.html |date=February 19, 2015 }} at BigSpeak.com Motivational Speakers

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