Ricky Lake

Ricki Lake
Lake in May 2015
Born	Ricki Pamela Lake (1968-09-21) September 21, 1968 (age 49) Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Ithaca College (attended)
Occupation	Actress television host producer
Years active	1987–present
Known for	Tracy Turnblad – Hairspray Ricki Lake
Spouse(s)	Rob Sussman (m. 1994; div. 2004) Christian Evans (m. 2012; div. 2015)
Children	2

Ricki Pamela Lake (born September 21, 1968) is an American actress, television presenter and producer. Lake is best known for her talk show which was broadcast internationally from September 1993 until May 2004. When Lake's show debuted, she was 24 and credited as being the youngest person to host a syndicated talk show at the time. In autumn 2012, Lake embarked on a second syndicated talk show project The Ricki Lake Show (dubbed as The New Ricki Lake Show), which aired on weekdays. In 2013, the series was canceled after one season but Lake won her first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host.

Lake was born to Jill (a homemaker) and Barry Lake (a pharmacist), in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, but was largely brought up by her paternal grandmother, Sylvia Lake, until Sylvia's death in 1978. Lake attended Ithaca College for one year.

Lake made her film debut as Tracy Turnblad, the lead character in John Waters's 1988 cult-classic Hairspray. Lake also starred in other Waters films including Cry-Baby (with Johnny Depp and Susan Tyrrell), Cecil B. Demented (with Melanie Griffith and Stephen Dorff), and Serial Mom (with Kathleen Turner and Sam Waterston). She starred in Mrs. Winterbourne with Shirley MacLaine and Brendan Fraser, Cabin Boy, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Cookie, and Inside Monkey Zetterland.