Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States on May 15th, 1940 and is the Movie Actress. At the age of 84, Lainie Kazan biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, movies, and networth are available.
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Lainie Kazan (born May 15, 1940) is an American actress and singer.
She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for St. Elsewhere and the 1993 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for My Favorite Year.
She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role in My Favorite Year (1982).
Kazan played Maria Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding and its sequel film My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.
Early life
Kazan was born Lainie Levine in Brooklyn, the daughter of Carole and Ben Levine. She is of Ashkenazi Jewish and Sephardic Jewish descent. Some of her grandparents lived in Israel before moving to Manchester, England and settling in Brooklyn. Kazan has described her mother as "neurotic, fragile and artistic." Kazan attended Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School with Barbra Streisand, for whom she would later understudy. She graduated in 1956. Kazan studied theatre at HB Studio and graduated from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York in 1960. While at Hofstra, Kazan appeared in school musicals written and directed by a classmate director Francis Ford Coppola as well as actor James Caan.
Personal life
After meeting musical director-arranger Peter H.B. Daniels on the Broadway musical Funny Girl, in which Kazan was a cast member and he was associate orchestra conductor, the two began a five-year relationship. They married sometime after the 1971 birth of their daughter Jennifer. The marriage did not endure, and Kazan was single again by 1976.
In the 1970s, Kazan was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Since then, she has dedicated time to public education about DVT.
Beginning in 2012, Kazan became an adjunct professor at UCLA, teaching acting classes and directing her students in drama-department production. She has served on the boards of the Young Musicians’ Foundation, AIDS Project LA, and B'nai Brith, the California Jazz Foundation, and her alma mater, Hofstra University.
On April 9, 2016, Kazan was injured in a head-on traffic collision. Kazan was driving her car when the collision occurred in Sherman Oaks, California, which necessitated that she be hospitalized.
In December 2017, outside a California supermarket, Kazan was arrested for shoplifting. Prosecutors reached a plea deal with her.
Career
In 1961, Kazan appeared on Broadway as The Happiest Girl in the World. She appeared in Bravo Giovanni, a sequel to Bravo Giovanni, and Barbra Streisand was understudied for the lead role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1964). Kazan took her place in a matinee and evening performance for the first day of the show's run when Streisand could not participate due to a throat disease. Kazan posed nude for the October 1970 issue of Playboy, which was reissued in Pocket Playboy #4, which was released in 1974. Her appearance in the magazine paved the way for her to perform and operate two separate Playboy Jazz Clubs. Hugh Hefner's Overseen the clubs were named Lainie's Room West and Lainie's Room East, each on opposite coasts, with the first one located in Los Angeles and the other in Manhattan. Jack Kirby's superheroine Big Barda was inspired by her Playboy photographs.
Kazan has appeared in numerous supper clubs around the country, and has appeared on Dean Martin's variety series 26 times. Aside from television appearances, Aunt Frieda on the Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny, the mother of Kirstie Alley's character on Veronica's Closet, and several guest appearances, including one on St. Veronica's Closet, were included in another film series. Elsewhere, an Emmy Award was received. Will & Grace is an actress who has appeared on television shows including The Paper Chase, Columbo, Touched by an Angel, and Will & Grace.
In the films My Big Fat Greek Wedding and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 respectively, Kazan played Maria Portokalos, Toula Portokalos' mother (Nia Vardalos). Kazan appeared in My Big Fat Greek Life, a short-lived series based on the film, following the first film in the series. Adam Sandler's mother appears in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and Larry is another recent film work. Despite the fact that the scene was cut from the film, it was still on the DVD in the special features section. In two episodes of The King of Queens, Kazan appeared as singer Ava St. Clair with Kevin James.
A life member of The Actors Studio, Kazan, returned to Broadway to reprise her film role in My Favorite Year's musical version, receiving a Tony Award nomination for her role. She served as an ambassador for the Valiant Monologues. She has appeared in regional productions of A Little Night Music, Man of La Mancha, Gypsy, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Hello, Dolly!, and Fiddler on the Roof. Sophia the Blue Fairy appeared as Sophia the Fairy on Faerie Tale Theatre's episode "Pinocchio" in 1984.
Dina Talercio, Bobby's mother (Adam Rodriguez), who becomes the character's brother-in-law, appears in the Ugly Betty episode "Fire and Nice." Kazan appeared on Desperate Housewives for season 7 in 2010. Mrs. Maxine Rosen, a self-employed business owner and neighbor to Susan Delfino, appeared on Mrs. Maxine Rosen, a self-employed business owner and neighbor.