Lainie Kazan
About
Biography
Filmography
Notes
Received NARAS New Artist of the Year Award for her debut album in the late 1960s
Biography
Tall, high-energy nightclub chanteuse and actress who in the 1980s concentrated on a successful feature film and TV acting career. A little bit manic, sometimes sultry, typically frizzy-haired, Kazan received her big break, when, as Barbra Streisand's understudy in the Broadway musical "Funny Girl," she got to go on for one matinee and one evening performance. Her forceful singing and performing style received some notice, and within several years, Kazan had an album, a TV special, and several feature roles to her credit. She wasn't typical leading lady material and her films were largely unworthy of her; "Dayton's Devils" (1968), for instance, was distinguished largely by her rendition of "Sunny." For a number of years, she concentrated on her singing, and in the late 1970s, successfully opened cabarets, Lainie's Room and Lainie's Room East, in Los Angeles and New York, respectively.
In 1980, Kazan began focusing on acting work. College classmate Francis Ford Coppola cast her in his unsuccessful "One from the Heart" (1982), but she had better luck as a classic Jewish mother in "My Favorite Year" (1982), a role she would dynamically reprise a decade later in the Lincoln Center stage musical version. A spirited camp, Kazan had little success with two tries at TV sitcom ("Tough Cookies" 1986, starring Robbie Benson; "Karen's Song" 1987, as Patty Duke's pal) but has done rather well as supportive chum and boisterous earth mother types in films ranging from the misfire Western spoof "Lust in the Dust" (1984) to the female bonding drama "Beaches" (1988), the Chuck Norris actioner "Delta Force" (1987) and the family comedies "Harry and the Hendersons" (1987) and "29th Street" (1991).
Kazan's career continued in that vein throughout the '90s with a succession of B-level movies and the occasional standout role, but in 2002 she appeared in the film that would likely define her late-life acting career, playing Nia Vardalos' food-pushing, marriage-minded, oh-so-traditional Greek mother Maria Portokalos in the unexpected smash hit comedy "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," a role that made the most of her comedic gifts playing pushy, domineering matriarchs who are nonetheless lovable and often wise. Kazan would reprise the role for the brief, troubled CBS sit-com spin-off "My Big Fat Greek Life" (2003) and appeared briefly as Ben Affleck's (you guessed it) mother in "Gigli" (2003).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1961
Made her Broadway debut in "The Happiest Girl in the World"
1964
Served as understudy to Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl"
1968
Appeared in concert on the syndicated variety special, "The Lainie Kazan Show"
1968
Made feature film debut in "Lady in Cement"
1968
First leading role in a feature, "Dayton's Devils"
1970
Posed for the October issue of <i>Playboy</i> magazine
1976
Opened Lainie's Room at the Los Angeles Playboy Club; also opened one in NY the following year
1982
Returned to films after a decade long absence to co-star in Francis Ford Coppola's "One from the Heart"
1982
Cast as Benjy's Jewish mother, Belle in "My Favorite Year"
1986
Played Rita on the short-lived CBS sitcom, "Tough Cookies"
1987
Earned an Emmy nomination for her guest role on NBC's hospital drama, "St. Elsewhere"
1988
Cast as Bette Midler's overbearing stage mother in Garry Marshall's "Beaches"
1992
Returned to Broadway to recreate her film role for the musical adaptation of "My Favorite Year"
1994
Cast in the Broadway play, "The Government Inspector"
1995
Had a recurring role on the CBS sitcom "The Nanny" as Fran's Aunt Freida
1997
Played Veronica's (Kirstie Alley) mother on NBC's "Veronica's Closet"
2002
Played the matriarch in the run-away box office hit "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
2003
Appeared in the box office flop "Gigli"
2008
Cast in the Adam Sandler comedy "You Don't Mess with the Zohan"
Family
Bibliography
Notes
Received NARAS New Artist of the Year Award for her debut album in the late 1960s
