Overview
Marissa Jaret Winokur (born February 2, 1973), sometimes credited as Marissa Winokur, is an American actress and singer known for her Tony-winning performance as Tracy Turnblad in the Broadway musical Hairspray, an adaptation of John Waters's film, as well as her work on the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked. Some of her other TV credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, Moesha, The Steve Harvey Show, Just Shoot Me!, and Felicity.
She was a contestant on the popular reality competition series Dancing with the Stars and went on to host the similar Dance Your Ass Off. From 2010-2011 she served as a co-host on the daily daytime talk show The Talk, ultimately leaving to focus on her clothing line and a new cable TV show. The cable TV show in question, when it premiered, proved to be a late-night talk show titled All About Sex, whose co-hosting duties she shared with Margaret Cho, Heather McDonald, and Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry, which aired on TLC at 11:00 PM Eastern time on Saturday nights.
In 2018, Winokur participated in the first American season of Celebrity Big Brother, where she was crowned the winner.
Early life
Winokur was born in New York City, the daughter of Maxine, a teacher, and Michael Winokur, an architect. She is Jewish. Winokur was a cheerleader and captain of her high school soccer team at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, New York. She graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in 1993.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).