Tracey Ullman
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Bibliography
Biography
Born in Buckinghamshire, England in 1959, multi-talented Tracey Ullman found success as both a singer and an actress. Her unique eye on the world was formed early. Her father died in front of her when she was six years old, making it a struggle for her family to make ends meet. Ever the performer, Ullman won a scholarship to the Italia Conti Academy where she trained as an actress. At sixteen, a random audition led to a short-lived contract dancing with a German ballet company. Her first onscreen credit came in 1980, when she played a recurring role on "Mackenzie" (BBC, 1980), but her career solidified the next year when she starred in the sketch comedy show "Three of a Kind" (BBC1, 1981-1983). As that show wrapped up, Ullman tried her hand at a music career releasing the album You Broke My Heart in 17 Places in 1983, and You Caught Me Out the next year. She ended up with a number of hit songs including "They Don't Know" which reached number 2 in the UK and number 8 in the United States, but quickly decided that the music industry wasn't for her. She made a triumphant return to television with the sitcom "Girls On Top" (ITV, 1985-86) in 1985, which brought her to the attention of executives at the fledgling Fox network. In 1987, her variety show "The Tracey Ullman Show" (Fox, 1987-1990) became one of the networks first scripted series. The show featured Ullman playing an array of roles from irascible office worker Kay, to Dr. Alexander Gibson. It was a critical smash, earning eleven Emmy awards over it's four seasons including two wins for Outstanding Variety, Music of Comedy program and the first of four individual Emmys for Ullman. It was also the launching pad for "The Simpsons" (Fox, 1989-), which began as short cartoons within episodes of the show. Exhausted from performing her show in front of a live audience, Ullman decided to end it in 1990, the same year she made her feature film debut in "I Love You To Death" (1990). Her husband convinced her to create the sketch special "Tracey Ullman: A Class Act" (1993), this time shot on location with no studio audience, which ultimately turned into the HBO series "Tracey Takes On." (HBO, 1996-99). In 2000, Ullman was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in Woody Allen's film "Small Time Crooks" (2000). She returned again to playing multiple characters on the sketch comedy series "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union" (Showtime, 2008-2010). In 2016 Ullman returned to the BBC, bringing yet another sketch show, "Tracey Ullman's Show" (BBC One, 2016-), as well as playing in the miniseries adaptation "Howard's End" (BBC One, 2017), and "Tracey Breaks the News" (BBC One, 2017-)
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Director (Special)
Cast (Special)
Writer (Special)
Producer (Special)
Music (Special)
Special Thanks (Special)
Misc. Crew (Special)
Life Events
1983
Signed with the legendary punk label Stiff Records; released her first hit "Breakaway" and the international hit cover version of label-mate Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know"
1983
TV debut, "Three of a Kind" (BBC)
1984
Film debut, "Give My Regards to Broad Street"
1985
Played gold digger, Candice Valentine on the ITV sitcom "Girls on Top"; left after one season
1985
Film acting debut, "Plenty"
1987
US TV debut, "The Tracey Ullman Show" (FOX) playing a variety of characters; co-created with producer James L. Brooks; show also spawned "The Simpsons," which was featured in simple cartoon shorts (created by cartoonist Matt Groening)
1990
NY stage debut in "The Taming of the Shrew" opposite Morgan Freeman
1990
American film debut, "I Love You to Death" co-starring Kevin Kline, River Phoenix and Joan Plowright
1991
Broadway debut, "The Big Love"
1993
Created and starred (also wrote and executive produced) in the HBO specials, "Tracey Ullman: A Class Act" and "Tracey Takes on New York"
1996
Starred (also wrote and executive produced) in the critically acclaimed HBO series "Tracey Takes On ..."
1998
Played recurring role of Dr. Tracey, an unorthodox therapist on Fox's "Ally McBeal"
2000
Starred in the Woody Allen comedy "Small Time Crooks"
2001
Hosted the fall talk show "Tracey Ullman's Visible Panty Lines" on the Oxygen cable channel
2003
Returned to HBO for the special "Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales" featuring the character 'Ruby Romaine' from her HBO comedy series "Tracey Takes On"
2004
Co-starred in the John Waters comedy "A Dirty Shame" with Johnny Knoxville and Selma Blair
2005
Played Princess Winnifred oppossite Carol Burnett's villainous Queen Aggravain in ABC's "Once Upon a Mattress"
2005
Voiced Nell Van Dort/Hildegarde in Tim Burton's animated feature "Corpse Bride"
2005
Returned to HBO with a special of her autobiographical one-woman stage show "Tracey Ullman: Live and Exposed"
2006
Recounted her music days in the BBC Four documentary series, "If It Ain't Stiff"
2007
Played 'Mother Nature' in Amy Heckerling's "I Could Never Be Your Woman"
2008
Returned to television for Showtime's "Tracey Ullman's State of the Union"; earned a SAG nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Family
Companions
