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Lily Tomlin

File:Lily_Tomlin_in_2014.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Lily Tomlin

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American actress, comedian and writer

OverviewAI-generated

Lily Tomlin, born Mary Jean Tomlin on September 1, 1939, in Detroit, is an American stage, film, television, and voice actor. She began her professional work period in 1965 and resides in Los Angeles. Tomlin is a citizen of the United States and speaks English. She attended Wayne State University and HB Studio. Her spouse is Jane Wagner.

Tomlin has received several awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, and induction into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. She has also been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her written works include *Beebo Brinker Omnibus* and *Lily for president?*.

Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Wikiquote, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works
2

Top works

  • Beebo Brinker Omnibus
  • Lily for president?

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Detroit, Michigan, USA

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award.

Known for

  • Janis Ian: Breaking Silence — Self2025
  • This Ordinary Thing — Self (voice)2025
  • The World According to Allee Willis — Self2024
  • Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution — Self2024
  • An Unexpected Community — Self2024
  • 80 for Brady — Lou2023
  • Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love — Self - Guest2023
  • Moving On — Evelyn2023
  • Bella! — Self2023
  • The Martha Mitchell Effect — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)2022

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Female
Origin
United States
Active from
1939

Member of

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
2,608
Total plays
18,555

Tags

comedystand-upgay comedysong noir20th Century

She gave away genuine locks of her hair as a bonus for buyers of her home video library in 1993. Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1977" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 29. One of her first "professional" gigs was as a waitress in Howard Johnson's on Broadway near Times Square. Her comments to customers and staff heard over the eatery's microphone attracted her first big-city audience. Was to star in a film called Illegitimate around 1980 but the film was never made. [Origin

via Last.fm · Lily Tomlin

Quotes

  • I've seen these women all my life, I know how they walk, I know how they talk...
  • Truth is, I've always been selling out. The difference is that in the past, I looked like I had integrity because there were no buyers.
  • There's so much plastic in this culture that vinyl leopard skin is becoming an endangered synthetic.
  • What if it's boring... or if it's not boring, it might be too revealing, or worse, it might be too revealing and still be boring.
  • I have always felt that humor was a wonderful vehicle to let us become connected with each other and ourselves… I try to portray the similarities and polarities in men and women, so that we can acknowledge and embrace our collective consciousness.
  • If you can't be direct, why be?

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~25 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career in stand-up comedy and sketch comedy before transitioning her career to acting across stage and screen. In a career spanning more than fifty years, Tomlin has received numerous accolades, including seven Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, two Tony Awards, and a nomination for an Academy Award. She was also awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2017.

Tomlin started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1969 until 1973. Her signature role, which was written by her then-partner (now wife) Jane Wagner, was in the show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which opened on Broadway in 1985 and earned Tomlin the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She won Emmy Awards for the special Lily (1973) and received a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for This Is a Recording (1972), the very first solo female to do so.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lily Tomlin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (10)