Happy Birthday to two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole, born Feb. 21, 1953, in Winnetka, Ill., where she attended New Trier H.S. She studied theater at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., for two years before heading to New York, where she continued her training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She’s joked that her first job after graduation was as a waitress, but Ebersole soon found steady acting work.
In 1976, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of Angel Street. In 1977, she made her Off-Broadway debut in the original musical Green Pond and her TV debut with a recurring role on the soap Ryan’s Hope. She returned to Broadway a year later in On the Twentieth Century, then landed the breakthrough role of Ado Annie in the 1979 revival of Oklahoma! Below is Ebersole with Christine Andreas in “I Cain’t Say No.”
She began the 1980s as Guenevere in the revival of Camelot opposite Richard Burton, then spent the next few years with film and TV work, including the Weekend Update desk on Saturday Night Live (1981-82), appearances in Tootsie (1982) and Amadeus (1984), and a recurring role on the soap One Life to Live (1983-85), for which she received a Daytime Emmy nomination. Below is Ebersole in the musical SNL skit “I’m So Miserable.”
After the short-lived 1985 Broadway musical Harrigan ’n Hart, Ebersole moved to Los Angeles to pursue more film and TV work. She soon booked the 1986 sitcom The Cavanaughs, during which she met and married composer Bill Moloney. After that series, she played the title role in the 1992 sitcom Rachel Gunn, R.N. and appeared as Tessi Tura in the 1993 TV adaptation of Gypsy starring Bette Midler. Below are Linda Hart, Anna McNeely, and Ebersole in “You Gotta Get a Gimmick.”
She next appeared on Broadway in the plays Getting Away with Murder (1996) and Best Man (2000), before returning to musicals with the 2001 revival of 42nd Street, for which she received her first Tony Award and Drama Desk nomination. She followed that with revivals of the plays Dinner at Eight (2002, Tony nomination) and Steel Magnolias (2005). Below is Ebersole singing “Shadow Waltz” in 42nd Street.
She returned Off-Broadway with the play Talking Heads (2003), for which she received a Drama Desk nomination and her first Obie Award, and the musical Grey Gardens, which transferred to Broadway and earned Ebersole her second Tony and Obie awards and her first Drama Desk Award. She closed out the 2000s with the 2009 revival of Blithe Spirit and a recurring role in the USA series Royal Pains (2009-16). Below is Ebersole singing “The Revolutionary Costume for Today” at the 2007 Tonys.
In the past decade, Ebersole starred on the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son (2012-14) and played opposite Patti LuPone in the 2017 musical War Paint, earning her fourth Tony and Drama Desk nominations. Most recently, she has been one of the main characters in the 2019 sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola. Below are Ebersole and LuPone in “Face to Face” at the 2018 Tonys.
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