Lea DeLaria#Career

DeLaria was born in Belleville, Illinois,{{cite web |title=Lea DeLaria |url=http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Lea_DeLaria/191438 |access-date=2011-06-28 |work=Hollywood.com}}{{cite web |title=Lea DeLaria Biography |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/88/Lea-DeLaria.html |access-date=2011-06-28 |work=Film Reference |publisher=Advameg}} the daughter of Jerry Jean (née Cox), a homemaker, and Robert George DeLaria, a jazz pianist and social worker.{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/belleville/obituary.aspx?pid=172057953|title=Robert DeLaria Obituary|work=Belleville News-Democrat|access-date=June 21, 2015}} Her paternal grandparents were Italian.{{cite web |date=July 15, 1999 |title="You & A Guest" Interview: Lea DeLaria |url=http://www.breakupgirl.net/guest/9907.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704082254/http://www.breakupgirl.net/guest/9907.html |archive-date=July 4, 2011 |access-date=2011-06-28 |work=Breakupgirl.net |df=mdy-all}} She attended kindergarten through eighth grade at St. Mary's Elementary School in Belleville and has referenced her Catholic upbringing in her performances.

File:Orange Is the New Black cast.jpg, Dascha Polanco, Samira Wiley, DeLaria, and Alysia Reiner from Orange Is the New Black in 2015]]

DeLaria's stand-up career began in 1982 when she moved to San Francisco and performed raunchy stand-up comedy in the Mission District."[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EAEAAB96F9A272D&p_docnum=5&p_queryname=3 Lesbian Comic Delaria Is So Out That She's In]", The Press of Atlantic City, March 7, 1994.Guthmann, Edward. [http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB4F8305CBB0879&p_docnum=13&p_queryname=3 "'The Parker Posey of Queer Cinema': Stand-up comic Lea DeLaria is all over the lesbian and gay film festival"], The San Francisco Chronicle, June 14, 1998. Discussing her stand-up, Delaria says, "This is who I am, when I'm up there. This is it. I'm a big butch dyke. That's who I am. And I'm a friendly one. I'm a big butch dyke with a smile on my face."

In 1986, DeLaria directed Ten Percent Revue, a musical revue written by Tom Wilson Weinberg that celebrates gay and lesbian culture.Keating, Douglas J. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB29BBEF5540F71&p_docnum=1&p_queryname=2 Musical Revue Looks at Gay Life]". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 17, 1986. Ten Percent Revue was performed in Boston, San Francisco, Provincetown, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.Crouch, Paula. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB7C25EE576D3E2&p_docnum=2&p_queryname=2 It's a pickle's life in puppet comedy]". The Atlanta Journal. November 14, 1986. Many shows were sold out.

From 1987 to 1989, DeLaria starred in Dos Lesbos, a musical comedy about two lesbians dealing with the issues of living together.Hicks, Bob. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB084CC6B3CBDFD&p_docnum=4&p_queryname=2 Dos Lesbos]". The Oregonian. January 8, 1988. The show received very favorable reviews nationwide.Hicks, Bob. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB08551DB2E8A0B&p_docnum=6&p_queryname=2 Talented Comedians Slightly Offbeat]", The Oregonian, January 7, 1989.

DeLaria conceived, wrote, directed and starred in Girl Friday: We're Funny That Way, a musical comedy, in 1989.Valdespino, Anne. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EAF3D3EA87F8E14&p_docnum=8&p_queryname=2 A Latin American original brings her steps to OC]". The Orange County Register, January 25, 1989.Hunt, Phil. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB085E1B541C535&p_docnum=10&p_queryname=2 'Girl Friday' Provides a Gay Time for All]", The Oregonian, January 12, 1990. The show won the 1989 Golden Gull for Best Comedy Group in Provincetown, Massachusetts.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p43372/biography|pure_url=yes}}|title=Lea DeLaria|last=Post|first=Laura|work=AllMusic|publisher=All Media Guide|access-date=June 28, 2011}}

When DeLaria appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show in 1993, she was the first openly gay comic to appear on a late-night talk show. While appearing on the show, DeLaria said, "Hello everybody, my name is Lea DeLaria, and it's great to be here, because it's the 1990s! It's hip to be queer! I'm a big dyke."Holden, Stephen. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EAC50CB27DE8C3D&p_docnum=10&p_queryname=3 Left-leaning Singing Comic Caught a Ride on Rising Star]". The Times Union (Albany, New York). DeLaria later said she had been told that she should not have used the term dyke on the air.Richmond, Dick. "[http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB04E5622FF336D&p_docnum=3&p_queryname=3 Lea Delaria: She's Got Nothing to Hide]". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. November 25, 1993. Hall later defended her, saying, "If she wants to call herself a dyke, that's her business."

In December 1993, DeLaria hosted Comedy Central's Out There, the first all-gay stand-up comedy special.

DeLaria has released two CD recordings of her comedy, Bulldyke in a China Shop (1994) and Box Lunch (1997). She has also written a humorous book entitled Lea's Book of Rules for the World.

DeLaria appeared as Jane in the 1998 Off Broadway production of Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, "a gay retelling of the Bible."{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1999/04/23/most-fabulous-story-ever-told/|title=The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told|last=Cagle|first=Jess|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|publisher=Time Warner|date=April 23, 1999|access-date=June 28, 2011|archive-date=September 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929070521/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20014533,00.html|url-status=live}} Entertainment Weekly said "a star is born with Lea DeLaria" of her "showstopping" performance as Hildy Esterhazy in the 1998 Broadway revival of On the Town.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E1D71639F93AA15752C1A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2|title=THEATER; An Exhilarating 'On the Town' Spreads Some Joy|last=Canby|first=Vincent|work=The New York Times|date=November 29, 1998|access-date=2011-06-28}}{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1998/12/04/little-me/|title=Little Me|last=Cagle|first=Jess|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|publisher=Time Warner|date=December 4, 1998|access-date=2011-06-28|archive-date=April 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425224833/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,286011,00.html|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1999/06/04/handicapping-1999-tony-awards/|title=Handicapping the 1999 Tony Awards|last=Wontorek|first=Paul|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|publisher=Time Warner|date=June 4, 1999|access-date=2011-06-28|archive-date=September 29, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929070535/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,273601,00.html|url-status=live}}

DeLaria subsequently played Eddie and Dr. Scott in the 2000 Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show, and can be heard on the cast recording.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=69841|title=Lea DeLaria|work=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|access-date=2011-06-28}} DeLaria appeared in a number of films, including Edge of Seventeen and The First Wives Club.

DeLaria integrates musical performance into her stand-up comedy, focusing on traditional and modern be-bop jazz. In 2001 she released a CD of jazz standards called Play It Cool. This was followed by the album Double Standards in 2003,{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/bh9x|title=Lea DeLaria Double Standards Review|last=Reynolds|first=Nick|publisher=BBC|date=November 3, 2003|access-date=2011-06-28}}{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/Double-Standards-Lea-Delaria/dp/B0007QJ1F2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309283417&sr=8-1|title=Double Standards|website=Amazon|access-date=2011-06-28}} and by The Very Best of Lea DeLaria in 2008.

File:Lea DeLaria (cropped more).jpg

In 2001, DeLaria was the voice of Helga Phugly on the short-lived animated sitcom The Oblongs. In 1996 DeLaria played the part of a woman friend of Carol and Susan in the Friends episode The One with the Lesbian Wedding. In 1999 DeLaria played the recurring role of Madame Delphina on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, returning in 2008 as both Delphina and Professor Delbert Fina. She continued to portray Delphina on a recurring basis until 2011.{{cite web|url=http://soapnet.go.com/soapnet/print/path-contentID_7452?lid=printerFriendly&lpos=article_7452|title=Madame Delphina Sees All|last=Murray|first=Jesse|work=SOAPnet|publisher=The Walt Disney Company|date=July 1, 2008|access-date=2011-06-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314104420/http://soapnet.go.com/soapnet/print/path-contentID_7452?lid=printerFriendly&lpos=article_7452|archive-date=March 14, 2012|df=mdy-all}}

In 2008, Warner Records released The Live Smoke Sessions, DeLaria's first recording focused on "timeless pop standards" such as "Down With Love", "Night and Day", "Love Me or Leave Me" and "Come Rain or Come Shine." She noted, "I styled this CD on the old school live recordings ... It is my hope that this CD will take you back to 1948 and the Village Vanguard. So please let me invite you to mix a cocktail and enjoy a smoke while you sit back and soak up the swing."{{cite web|url=http://broadwayworld.com/article/Lea_Delaria_Live_Smoke_Sessions_To_Be_Released_99_20080909|title=Lea Delaria: Live Smoke Sessions To Be Released 9/9|website=BroadwayWorld.com|date=September 9, 2008|access-date=2011-06-28}}

In November 2008, DeLaria completed a tour of Australia, playing Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. She also frequently collaborates with comedian Maggie Cassella, most notably on an annual Christmas cabaret show in Toronto which also sometimes tours to several other North American cities. In July 2010, her version of "All That Jazz" was used on So You Think You Can Dance. DeLaria performed in Prometheus Bound at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 2013, she has appeared in the Netflix Original Orange Is the New Black as the recurring character prison inmate Carrie 'Big Boo' Black.{{cite web|url=http://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/060648-002-A/tellement-gay-une-perle-de-la-culture-lesbienne-par-lea-delaria|title=Tellement Gay! Une perle de la Culture lesbienne par Lea DeLaria|website=ARTE|access-date=November 18, 2017|archive-date=December 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201182914/https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/060648-002-A/tellement-gay-une-perle-de-la-culture-lesbienne-par-lea-delaria/|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/048627-001-A/tellement-gay-homosexualite-pop-culture|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624075708/http://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/048627-001-A/tellement-gay-homosexualite-pop-culture|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 24, 2017|title=Tellement gay ! Homosexualité & pop culture - Inside | ARTE+7|date=June 24, 2017|access-date=December 6, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/048627-002-A/tellement-gay-homosexualite-pop-culture|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624075108/http://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/048627-002-A/tellement-gay-homosexualite-pop-culture|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 24, 2017|title=Tellement gay ! Homosexualité & pop culture - Out | ARTE+7|date=June 24, 2017|access-date=December 6, 2019}}

In December 2014, DeLaria voiced EJ Randell, the lesbian mother of Jeff in the Cartoon Network animated series Clarence.{{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Rudolph|url=http://www.newnownext.com/clarence-lesbian-moms/06/2016/|title=Cartoon Network's "Clarence" Features Loveable Lesbian Moms|website=NewNowNext|date=June 7, 2016}}{{cite web|first=Juan|last=Barquin|url=http://www.yam-mag.com/blog/clarence-episode-jeff-wins-has-some-pretty-cool-queer-representation/|title=Clarence Episode "Jeff Wins" Has Some Pretty Cool Queer Representation|publisher=YAM Magazine|date=January 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200412024225/https://www.yam-mag.com/blog/clarence-episode-jeff-wins-has-some-pretty-cool-queer-representation/|archive-date=April 12, 2020}}

On February 14, 2015, DeLaria received the Equality Illinois Freedom Award for her work as "a cutting-edge performer who has used her talent to entertain and enlighten millions of Americans," said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois. On receiving the award at the 2015 Equality Illinois Gala in Chicago, DeLaria said, "As an out performer for over 33 years who has made it her life's work to change peoples perception of butch, queer and LGBT, it is an honor for me to receive such recognition from my home state. I feel I'm doing Belleville proud. Go Maroons!".{{cite web|url=http://www.equalityillinois.us/2015/01/eqil-honors-lea-delaria-with-freedom-award|title=EQIL Honors Lea DeLaria with Freedom Award|work=equalityillinois.us|access-date=June 21, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.boom.lgbt/index.php/equal/143-non-profit/443-2015-equality-illinois-freedom-award-to-honor-lea-delaria|title=BOOM|work=boom.lgbt|date=January 23, 2015 |access-date=June 21, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoactivism.org/archives/18874|title=EQIL Honors Lea DeLaria with Freedom Award|work=chicagoactivism.org|access-date=June 21, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626105318/http://www.chicagoactivism.org/archives/18874|archive-date=June 26, 2015|df=mdy-all}}{{better source needed|date=January 2021}}

In 2021, DeLaria starred in Wes Hurley's autobiographical dramedy Potato Dreams of America earning rave reviews, praise from John Waters and the Outstanding Supporting Performance Award from Tallgrass Film Festival.{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3513522/awards/?ref_=tt_awd |title=Potato Dreams of America (2021) - Auszeichnungen |access-date=2025-02-17|website=IMDb}}

In 2022, DeLaria returned to Broadway in the comic play POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive where she received positive acclaim from critics.

DeLaria is the originator of the U-Haul Joke{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-31-cl-59476-story.html|title=Couples' Emotional Bonding Can Take the Steam Out of Intimacy|last=Kelleher|first=Kathleen|date=January 31, 2000|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=February 6, 2020}} (see also U-Haul lesbian) which she began performing at comedy shows in 1989.

:Question: "What does a lesbian bring on a second date?"

:Answer: "A U-Haul."

She performs the joke on her album Box Lunch (1997).{{cite AV media

| people = Lea DeLaria

| date = 1997

| title = Box Lunch

| type = spoken-word comedy album

| chapter = Empty Bed Blues

| minutes = 6:10

| quote = I had a girl, and I figured after seven days I could trust her, so I moved her into my house. Typical lesbian relationship, huh, women? As perfectly exemplified by the joke I wrote in 1989. Everybody: what does a lesbian bring on a second date? [audience yells back: A U-Haul!] What does a gay man bring on a second date? What second date?

}}

In January 2015, DeLaria became engaged to fashion editor Chelsea Fairless after two and a half years of dating. The two met through Fairless's friend, actress Emma Myles, who plays Leanne in Orange is the New Black.Corriston, Michele. "[http://www.people.com/article/orange-is-the-new-black-lea-delaria-engaged Orange Is the New Black Star Lea DeLaria Is Engaged]". People. February 6, 2015. In January 2017, DeLaria confirmed she and Fairless had separated.Webber, Stephanie. "[http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/orange-is-the-new-blacks-lea-delaria-fiancee-chelsea-fairless-split-w460764 Orange Is the New Black's Lea DeLaria, Fiancee Chelsea Fairless Split, Call Off Engagement]", Us Weekly, January 12, 2017.

• 1992: Bulldyke in a Chinashop
• 1997: Box Lunch (Rising Star)

• 2001: Play It Cool (Warner/WEA)
• 2005: Double Standards (Telarc)
• 2006: The Very Best of Lea DeLaria (Rhino/WEA UK)
• 2008: Lea DeLaria – The Live Smoke Sessions (Ghostlight Records)
• 2015: House of David (Ghostlight Records)

• 2005: Din and Tonic – Janette Mason (Fireball Records)
• 2006: Drawn to All Things – Ian Shaw Sings the Songs of Joni Mitchell – Ian Shaw (Linn Records)
• 2009: Alien Left Hand – Janette Mason (Fireball Records)

• 1998: On the Town – Broadway Revival Cast
• 1999: Edge of Seventeen – Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack – Blue Skies (Razor and Tie)
• 2001: The Rocky Horror Show – 2000 Broadway Revival Cast (RCA Victor Broadway)
• 2005: Hair – Actors' Fund of America Benefit Recording (Ghostlight)
• 2017: Cars 3 – "Freeway of Love"

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• {{Official website}}
• {{IMDb name|0216466}}
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• {{iobdb name|7524}}

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Category:1958 births

Category:American women comedians

Category:American women jazz singers

Category:American film actresses

Category:American jazz singers

Category:American musical theatre actresses

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:People of Sicilian descent

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:American voice actresses

Category:Female-to-male cross-dressers

Category:Jazz musicians from Illinois

Category:Lesbian comedians

Category:American lesbian musicians

Category:American lesbian actresses

Category:Living people

Category:Theatre World Award winners

Category:People from Belleville, Illinois

Category:Actresses from Illinois

Category:LGBTQ people from Illinois

Category:Comedians from Illinois

Category:Warner Records artists

Category:Singers from Illinois

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American comedians

Category:21st-century American comedians

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:21st-century American singers

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Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people

Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people

Category:American LGBTQ comedians