Caroline Rhea is a stand-up comedian, actress, and host of talk show "The Caroline Rhea Show".
Raised in Montreal, Caroline moved to New York in 1989 to study stand-up comedy at the New School of Social Research. She says her true training came from her first gigs at comedy club Catch A Rising Star. Performing around New York City, she quickly gained a reputation, and a name in the city's competitive comedy scene. These performances were augmented with appearances on MTV's Half-Hour Comedy Hour, Comic Strip Live and Caroline's Comedy Hour.
She then decided to move on to Los Angeles for a career in Hollywood, debuting in NBC television series Pride and Joy, with Jeremy Piven. She likely gained most fame for her role as Aunt Hilda on The WB's Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, and being a regular on Hollywood Squares.
Other credits include:
- a supporting role in Jim Carrey's Andy Kaufmann bio-pic Man on the Moon
- supporting role in wrestling movie Ready to Rumble with Oliver Platt, David Arquette and Scott Caan
- host of VH1 series, Fool for Love
- host of Lifetime series, The Great Lifetime Makeover, executive produced by Geena Davis
- guest-starring as Drew Carey's girlfriend on The Drew Carey Show
- guest-starring on HBO's Larry David written show, Curb Your Enthuasism
- starring in television movie, Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire
- regular guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Comedy Central's Pulp Comic
Also to her credit, she had filled in as a guest host for Rosie O'Donnell in the final two seasons of The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
Her talk show actually took over the daytime time slot, studio and much of the format of The Rosie O'Donnell Show, when Rosie decided to leave her post to restart her stand-up career.Transition to talk show
It was easy for Caroline to make the transition to hosting a talk show. She has said to have an innate curiosity which helps her in interviewing celebrities and non-celebrities on her show. Her comedy talent also come into play, as she can spontaneously joke during interviews.