CATHERINE O'HARA Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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CATHERINE O'HARA

Name: Catherine Anne O'Hara                                                         
Born: 4 March 1954 Toronto, Ontario, Canada                                         
                                                                                   
Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American Emmy Award-winning
actress and comedian. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, roles as       
Delia Deetz in Beetlejuice, Kate McCallister in Home Alone, Sally in The           
Nightmare Before Christmas and the series of mockumentary films written and         
directed by Christopher Guest and his frequent co-stars.                           
                                                                                   
She started her acting career in 1974 as a cast member of The Second City in       
Toronto. Two years later, this theatre troupe created the television series SCTV,   
on which she became a regular performer. Memorable O'Hara characterizations on     
the show included Las Vegas scorcher (I wanna bear your children!) Lola             
Heatherton, buzzer-happy game show contestant Margaret Meehan, raunchy nightclub   
comedian Dusty Towne, soap opera seductress Sue Ellen and stage actress Sue         
Bopper Simpson.                                                                     
                                                                                   
In the late 1970s, she did various voice-overs for a number of cartoons, which     
would continue throughout her career. She was hired to replace Ann Risley when     
Saturday Night Live was being retooled in 1981 following Jean Doumanian's           
disastrous stint as executive producer. However, she quit the show without ever     
having made an appearance on it, primarily due to her shock after witnessing a     
long, loud diatribe by SNL writer Michael O'Donoghue. Her SNL position was then     
given to fellow Canadian Robin Duke, who had also replaced O'Hara for a season     
on SCTV.                                                                           
                                                                                   
She had a role in The Last of the High Kings as a staunch Irish nationalist in     
1970s Dublin. In 2006, she starred in her fourth Christopher Guest film, For       
Your Consideration (following Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty       
Wind).                                                                             
                                                                                   
On June 9, 2007, she was inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame.