Louie Anderson | |
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Born |
Louie Perry Anderson March 24, 1953 Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
Occupation | Actor, comedian, game show host, author |
Years active | 1984–present |
Website | louieanderson |
Louie Perry Anderson (born March 24, 1953) is an Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, actor and television host. Anderson created the cartoon series Life with Louie, has written three books, and was the initial host of the third revival of the game show Family Feud, from 1999 to 2002.
Anderson won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Christine Baskets on the FX series Baskets.
Growing up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Anderson was the second-youngest of 11 children in his family (in 2016, Anderson told interviewer Marc Maron that his mother actually gave birth to 16 children, but 5 of them—the first baby and then 2 sets of twins—died in childbirth). He went to Johnson Senior High.
On November 20, 1984, Anderson made his network debut as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show.
In late 1985, Anderson was cast as Lou Appleton alongside Bronson Pinchot on the pilot episode of Perfect Strangers for ABC (which was known in this early stage as The Greenhorn). When the show was picked up, Anderson was replaced by Mark Linn-Baker in the role of Appleton (whose first name was then changed from Lou to Larry) as the producers didn't think the chemistry between Anderson and Pinchot was quite right. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC.
In 1986, Anderson had a small role in the singing telegram scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.