Julie Brown

Julie Ann Brown (born August 31, 1958) is an American actress, comedienne, screen/television writer, singer-songwriter, television director. Brown is perhaps best known for her work in the 1980s, where she often played a quintessential valley girl character. Much of her comedy has revolved around the mocking of famous people (with a strong and frequently revisited focus on Madonna).

Personal Life
Brown was born in Van Nuys, Calfornia, the daughter of Celia Jane (nee McCann) and Leonard Francis Brown. She attended Catholic elementary school as a child and later Van Nuys High School and Los Angeles Valley College and then attended American Conservatory Theater.

In 1983, Brown married writer and actor, Terrence E. McNally, a frequent collaborator. They co-produced her first single "I Like'em Big and Stupid" They divorced after six years. In 1994, Brown married Ken Rathgen and together they have one son. In an article which appeared in the San Francisco Bay Times on October 18, 2007, she was quoted as saying that she recently divorced for the second time.

Career
Brown began her career in the clubs of Los Angeles where rather than portraying a valley girl herself she told joked about them. She established herself in the gay community there and played at gay venues. Brown began experimenting in short films and made several underground movies which often played on the video screens at clubs. One of them, "5 Minutes Miss Brown", was a fictionalized account of her rise to fame.

She began working on television with a guest spot on the sitcom Happy Days. She also appeared in the 1981 cult film Bloody Birthday. After a small role in the Clint Eastwood comedy Any Which Way You Can, comedian Lily Tomlin saw Brown at a comedy club and gave her first big break, a part in her 1981 film The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Tomlin and Brown eventually became close friends. A string of guest starring appearance in a variety of television shows followed including: Laverne & Shirley, Buffalo Bill, The Jeffersons and Newhart.

In 1984, she released her first EP, a five-song album called Goddess in Progress. The album, parodies of popular '80s music combined with her valley girl personality, was quickly discovered by the Dr. Demento Show. The songs "Cause I'm a Blonde" and "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" were given radio airplay across the world. The later was a traditional 1950s songs about teen romance, (a la "It's My Party"), with cheerleaders' heads and pompoms being blown to pieces.

In 1987, Brown released her first full-length album, Trapped in the Body of a White Girl. The album highlighted her comedic talent and her valley girl personality. The album's highlights were "I Like'em Big and Stupid" and the reprised "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" (The album was reissued on CD in 2010 by Collector's Choice Music on its Noble Rot label.) Music videos were recorded and received heavy airplay on MTV. In 1989, Brown starred in that cable network's comedy and music-video show Just Say Julie. She played the role of a demanding, controlling and pessimistic glamour-puss from the valley, making fun of popular music acts while at the same time introducing their music videos. (She was known as "Miss Julie Brown" at the time to differentiate her from Downtown Julie Brown, who was on the network at the same time.)

Brown's film career began in late 1989 with the release of the film Earth Girls Are Easy written, produced by and starring Brownm it was based loosely on a song by the same name from her debut EP. The film starred Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Brown then cast then-unknowned comedians: Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans. In 1990, Brown had a brief part in the movie The Spirit of '76, as an intellectual stripper.

NBC commissioned a half-hour pilot, ultimately unsold and airing Sunday, July 28, 1991 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, titled The Julie Show. Created by Brown, Charlie Coffey and director and executive producer David Mirik, it was a comedy about actress Julie Robbins (Brown), who in this initial story, goes to great lengths to land in an interview with teen singer Kiki (played by Kim Walker) in the hopes of getting hired as a tabloid-TV celebrity journalist. Developed under the working title The Julie Brown Show, it also starred Marian Mercer as Julie's mother, June; DeLane Matthews as Debra Deacon, a reporter on the fictional series Inside Scoop; Susan Messing as Julie's roommate Cheryl; and Kevin O'Rouke as Inside Scoop producer Tony Barnow. Brown was also a producer with John Ziffren and performed and co-wrote the theme song. Walker, Don Sparks, Robin Angers and Deborah Driggs were guest performers in this production from Mirkinvision and New World Television.

Another pilot was filmed for CBS, Julie Brown: The Show and feature a similar theme in which brown was the hostess of a talk show and she would interview actual celebrity guests, interspersed with scripted scenarios. The pilot was aired but the show was not picked up; years later it was leaked on the internet.

In 1992, Brown starred in her own FOX sketch-comedy show The Edge, two of its regulars, Jennifer Aniston and Wayne Knight later became sitcom stars, while Tom Kenny went on to voice Spongebob Squarepants. That same year, she released the Showtime television movie Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful, a satire about Madonna and her backstage documentary, Truth or Dare. (Brown's co-star was Kathy Griffin).

Brown followed with another satire, Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 Women, which lampooned the violence of ice skater Tonya Harding toward rival Nancy Kerrigan, as well as that of widely publicized castrator Lorena Bobbitt.

She has continued to make television guest appearance and contributed voices in various cartoons, including Animaniacs (as the voice of Minerva Mink), Aladdin (as the bratty mermaid Saleen) and as the original voie of Zatanna in Batman: The Animated Series cartoon. Prior to this, she also guest starred on a Tiny Toon Adventures episode as Julie Bruin (a cartoon bear version of herself) in which she guest starred in her own segment Just Say Julie Bruin, a reference to her music video show. The Just Say Julie Bruin cartoon also was a music video show and in her segement Elmer Fudd guest starred as Fuddonna, (parody of Madonna) and a reference to Julie Brown herself regularly mocking her.

Brown appeared as Coach Millie Stoeger in the film Clueless, reprising her role on ABC/UPN's 1996-1999 TV spin-off TV series, for which she was a writer, producer and director. In 1998, Julie appeared in the parody movie Plump Fiction. In 2000, Brown created the series Strip Mall for the Comedy Central networkl it ran for two season.

Since 2004, Brown has been a commentator on E! specials, including 101 Most Starlicious Makeover, 101 Most Awesomme Moments in Entertainemnt and 50 Most Outrageous TV Moments.

In 2005, Brown purchased the rights to her Trapped album back from the record label and reissued it herself. She also self-released a single, "I Want to Be Gay". In late 2007, she also purchased the rights to her 1984 E.P. "Goddess in Progress" and re-released it as a full-length record with complied unreleased tracks recorded during that era. Brown began touring the late 2007 with her one-woman show Smell the Glamour.

In 2008, she co-wrote and appeared in the Disney Channel original move Camp Rock, which starred The Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato. She also joined the cast of her current television series, Paradise Falls that same year.

In late 2008, Brown began releasing one-track digital singles, starting with "The Ex-Homecoming Queens Got a Gun", it was a rewrite of "Homecoming Queen" with lyrics about Sarah Palin. This was first aired in September 2008 on The Stephanie Miller Show. In 2011, she released an album "Smell the Glamour", which features satire Lady Gaga, Ke$ha and updated versions of her Medusa songs.

In the 2010-2011 television season, Brown began a recurring role as Paula Norwood, a neighbor and friend of the Heck family, on the ABC comedy The Middle. And in 2010 to the present she has been a writer and played the gym teacher on Melissa and Joey. Also in 2012, she appeared with Downtown Julie Brown as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race.

Shows appeared
Remote Control

Hollywood Squares

Weakest Link

Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge

GSN Live

RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked!

RuPaul's Drag Race

Links
Her Official Website

Her Official Facebook Page

Her Official Twitter Page

Her Official Youtube Page