Enjoy an evening of classic Lily Tomlin on February 19 at the Tennessee Theatre at 8:00 pm.

Lily Tomlin, one of
America’s foremost
comediennes, continues to
venture across an ever-widening
range of media, starring in
television, theater, motion
pictures, animation and video.
Throughout her extraordinary
entertainment career, Tomlin has
received numerous awards, including six Emmys; a Tony
for her one woman Broadway show, Appearing Nitely; a
second Tony as Best Actress, Drama Desk Award and
Outer Critics’ Circle Award for her one woman
performance in Jane Wagner’s The Search for Signs of
Intelligent Life in the Universe; a CableAce Award for
Executive Producing the film adaptation of The Search; a
Grammy for her comedy album, This is a Recording as
well as nominations for her subsequent albums Modern
Scream, And That’s the Truth, and On Stage; and two
Peabody Awards—the first for the ABC television special,
Edith Ann’s Christmas: Just Say Noël and the second for
narrating and executive producing the HBO film, The
Celluloid Closet.

Tomlin was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in a
working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of one of
the city’s most affluent areas. Although she claims she
wasn’t funny as a child, Tomlin admits she “knew who
was and lifted all their material right off the TV screen.”
Her favorites included Lucille Ball, Bea Lillie, Imogene
Coca and Jean Carroll, one of the first female stand-ups
on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Tomlin made her television debut in 1966 on The Garry
Moore Show and then made several memorable
appearances on The Merv Griffin Show, which led to a
move to California where she appeared as a regular on
Music Scene. In December 1969, Tomlin joined the cast
of the top-rated Laugh-In and immediately rose to
national prominence with her characterizations of
Ernestine, the irascible telephone operator, and
Edith Ann, the devilish six year old.

Tomlin made her Broadway debut in the 1977
play, Appearing Nitely, written and directed by
Jane Wagner. Appearing Nitely included such
favorites as Ernestine, Edith Ann and Judith
Beasley, the Calumet City housewife, and also
introduced Trudy the bag lady, Crystal the
hang-gliding quadriplegic, Rick the singles bar
cruiser, Glenna as a child of the sixties, and
Sister Boogie Woman, a 77-year-old blues
revivalist. Appearing Nitely was later adapted as
both an album and an HBO Special. Tomlin
next appeared on Broadway in 1985 in a year
long, SRO run of Jane Wagner’s critically-
acclaimed play, The Search for Signs of
Intelligent Life in the Universe. The
Broadway success was followed by a
coast-to-coast, 14-city tour that
spanned four and a half years.

On film, Tomlin made her debut
as Linnea, a gospel singer and
mother of two deaf children in
Robert Altman’s Nashville
(1975); her memorable
performance was nominated
for an Academy Award, and
both the New York Film Critics
and National Society of Film
Critics voted Lily Best
Supporting Actress.

In 2002, Tomlin joined the
cast of the hit NBC series, The
West Wing, playing President
Bartlett’s assistant, Debbie
Fiderer—a role for which
she received a 2003
Screen Actors Guild
nomination for Best
Actress in a Drama
Series. Tomlin
continued in the role
of Debbie through
2006, the final
season of West
Wing. In the fall of
2003, she was
honored as the
2003 recipient of
the prestigious
Mark Twain Prize
for American
Humor in Washington
D.C. Tomlin continues
to make appearances
around the nation and,
in 2006, took her classic
characters to Australia
for shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

Lily has recently joined the newly-launched website for
women, www.WOWOWOW.com, and participates with
other celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg, Candice Bergen,
Liz Smith, Jane Wagner, Peggy Noonan, Marlo Thomas and
Lesley Stahl to create an online community which is owned
and run by women for women of all ages and origins.

Lily’s own website—a collaboration between Lily Tomlin,
Jane Wagner, Allee Willis and the zany and creative,
BUBBLES the artist has produced the magical Lily Tomlin
website. Lily’s entire career in art, text, photos and videos
can be found at www.lilytomlin.com. EK