Victoria Jackson
(born August 2, 1959) is an American comedian, actress and singer best known as a cast member of the NBC television sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live
from 1986 to 1992.
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VICTORIA JACKSON TICKETS
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Early life
Jackson was born in
Miami, Florida, the daughter of Marlene Esther (born Blackstad) and James McCaslin Jackson, a gym coach.
[1] Raised by devout
Christian parents in a home without a TV,
[2] she was trained in gymnastics by her father from ages 5 to 18. Jackson attended a private Christian high school,
Dade Christian School, where she was a cheerleader and the Homecoming Queen. Three years of
gymnastics competitions led to a scholarship at
Furman University in Greenville,
South Carolina. She also spent one year at
Auburn University, before earning a degree in theatre from
Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Appearing in summer stock in Alabama led to a chance meeting with
Johnny Crawford (
The Rifleman) who cast her in his night club act and gave her the ticket that brought her to Los Angeles. There she supported herself with various day jobs as a cigarette girl, a typist at the
American Cancer Society and a waitress at a retirement hotel while she performed stand-up comedy. This resulted in her first big break, appearing on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
doing what would become her signature bit: doing a handstand while reciting poetry. She would eventually appear on the show 20 times.
Saturday Night Live
In 1986, Jackson was hired to join
Saturday Night Live
for its 12th season, following
Lorne Michaels' firing of most of the 11th season's cast and writers in his second season back as executive producer. The only cast members who survived from the 11th were
Nora Dunn,
Jon Lovitz and
Dennis Miller. Other rookies that year included
Dana Carvey,
Phil Hartman,
Jan Hooks and
Kevin Nealon.
Jackson became most famous for her appearances on
Weekend Update
with Miller, again reciting poetry while doing backbends or handstands on the desk (with Miller cracking a suggestive comment about her at the end) or, in the cases of the episode hosted by
Steve Martin and another hosted by
Demi Moore, singing and dancing on the
Weekend Update
desk.
After many such appearances had established her character, Jackson began to read a poem, but stopped and said in a low, throaty voice, "I can't do it anymore. I can't do this Victoria 'airhead' thing anymore." She then removed her blonde wig to reveal a butch brunette wig underneath, announcing that she could not believe people thought that her goofy routine was for real, and that she would be doing serious political commentary on the show from that point onward.
Recurring characters on SNL
- Brenda Clark from Toonces the Driving Cat
- Jenny Baker, a Christian girl who appears on "Church Chat"
- Nancy Maloney, a nightclub singer for The Jungle Room
- Susan Keister, the daughter of the Keister family (played by Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks)
Celebrity impersonations
- Calamity Jane
- Christina Applegate
- Cyndi Lauper
- Donna Rice
- Eydie Gorme
- Fawn Hall
- Julie Cobb
- LaToya Jackson
- Linda Blair
- Lulu
- Rob Lowe
- Roseanne Barr
- Sally Struthers
- Susan Olsen (as Cindy Brady)
- Tina Yothers (as Jennifer Keaton)
- Tipper Gore
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
Beyond SNL
Jackson has appeared in a number of films including leading roles in
Casual Sex?
(with
Lea Thompson) and
UHF
(with
"Weird Al" Yankovic, whom she dated in 1990). She also had roles in
Baby Boom
with Diane Keaton,
Family Business
with Sean Connery,
The Pick-up Artist
,
The Couch Trip
and
I Love You To Death
during the time she starred on
Saturday Night Live
. When "Weird Al" Yankovic heard that
Nirvana would appear on SNL, he asked Jackson about talking them into letting him parody one of their songs. She did, and Weird Al parodied "
Smells Like Teen Spirit" as "
Smells Like Nirvana".
Before being cast on SNL, Jackson appeared on various television series including
The Jeffersons
. She co-starred in the pilot
W*A*L*T*E*R
, a
M*A*S*H
spin-off.
Following her departure from
Saturday Night Live
, Jackson starred in an
X-Files
episode
The Rain King
as the unrequited love of a small town man who can control the weather. She appeared in the
Nickelodeon show
Romeo!
, with
Lil' Romeo for its first two seasons, from 2003 to 2004, as the nanny, "Mrs. Rodgers." She also appeared in the movie
No More Baths
.
[3]
Jackson is a self-proclaimed devout
Christian and has appeared on programs such as
The 700 Club
and
Politically Incorrect
. She has also appeared in the
Comedy Central series
Strip Mall
, in 2000. In 2005, Jackson starred in the second edition of the
VH1 show
Celebrity Fit Club
. In 2006 she was cast as Lolita Dorchuck in the mocumentary
20Q
directed by Benjamin Keith.
Jackson continues to perform stand up, often appearing with other ex-
SNL
players (most frequently
Joe Piscopo and
Don Novello as "
Father Guido Sarducci"). She also appears at Christian-oriented venues, including a stand up
Christian comedy movie called "Thou Shalt Laugh 2: The Deuce" hosted by
Tim Conway. Her website contains numerous postings highlighting her conservative political views.
2008 election
Jackson was critical of Democrats during the
2008 general election campaign, particularly presidential nominee
Senator Barack Obama and
Minnesota U.S. senatorial candidate
Al Franken. In October, she appeared in a
National Republican Senatorial Committee ad with other celebrities poking fun at Franken, then followed up with an interview on
The O'Reilly Factor
, where she called Obama a "
communist."
[4]
When Obama won the election, she wrote on her blog: "Voters in our last election did not base their decision on facts or knowledge, but on hype, emotion, peer pressure, and racial fervor. It didn't help that the liberally biased media blocked Americans access to the truth"
and she claimed
Fox News is "the only one we watch."
She has subsequently compared Obama to Hitler and said he wants to kill babies and old people.
[5]
Personal life
Jackson married Nisan Mark Eventoff, who was a fire-eater, in 1984. They had one daughter, Scarlet. They divorced in 1990. She was reunited in 1991 with her high school sweetheart, Paul Wessel, a police helicopter pilot for Dade County Florida. They were married and have a daughter, Aubrey. The family lives in California.
[6]
References
- http://www.filmreference.com/film/32/Victoria-Jackson.html
- http://www.victoriajackson.com/bio.html
- No More Baths (1998)
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/01/victoria-jackson-obama-a_n_139962.html Huffington Post Nov
- http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/vjackson/2009/07/07/ignorance-is-bliss/#more-178482
- http://www.victoriajackson.com/ Victoria Jackson's official website - Biography