Julia Sweeney

Julia Sweeney
Julia Sweeney in 2010
Birth name	Julia Anne Sweeney
Born	(1959-10-10) October 10, 1959 (age 57) Spokane, Washington
Medium	Stage, film, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Stephen Hibbert (1989–1994) Michael Blum (2008–present)
Children	1

Julia Anne Sweeney (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for her role as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for her autobiographical solo shows. She played Mrs. Keeper in the film Stuart Little and voiced Brittany in Father of the Pride.

Sweeney was born in Spokane, Washington, the daughter of Robert M. Sweeney and Jeri Sweeney (née Ivers). Her father was an attorney and federal prosecutor, while her mother was a homemaker. Sweeney has an Irish Catholic background. Sweeney is the oldest of five children. She had two brothers, William "Bill" Sweeney, and Michael Ivers Sweeney, who died, and a brother Jim Sweeney, and a sister Meg Sweeney.

Sweeney was raised in Spokane. As a child, she was drawn to imitating voices and inventing characters.

Sweeney attended Marycliff High School and Gonzaga Preparatory School. Despite appearances in high school plays, she graduated with a double major in economics and European history at the University of Washington, where she became a member of Delta Gamma sorority.

After graduation, Sweeney moved to Los Angeles where she worked as an accountant for Columbia Pictures and United Artists.

In 1988, while still working as an accountant, Sweeney enrolled in classes with the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings, eventually being selected to be part of the troupe's Sunday Company. It was at The Groundlings that she began to develop characters, which she would later bring to the stage, film, and television. They include Mea Culpa, the title character of Mea's Big Apology (co-written by then-husband Stephen Hibbert), which won the Best Written Play Award from L.A. Weekly in 1988 and has been developed by Sweeney (in collaboration with Jim Emerson) into a screenplay; and the androgynous Pat, whose impossible-to-determine gender was the basis for Sweeney's popular It's Pat! skits on Saturday Night Live, and later for her feature film of the same name, which never received a national release but has since gathered a small cult following.