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Versatile character actress Kathy Kinney gained considerable popularity in the late '90s for playing Mimi Bobeck, the outrageously made-up, flamboyantly vulgar, and vindictive nemeses of Drew Carey on the ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show, but she had been involved with television, feature films, and stage work for years. Fans of the long-running CBS comedy Newhart may remember Kinney for playing Miss Goddard, the town librarian. She started out as an improvisational comedienne, performing in various New York comedy clubs. It was her friend Bill Sherwood who provided her film debut, when he cast Kinney as an artist who throws a going away party for a homosexual friend who has just broken up with his longtime lover in Parting Glances (1986). Armed with this success, Kinney moved to Los Angeles the following year and became a hard-working character actress. Her other film credits include appearances in This Boy's Life (1993), Stanley and Iris (1990), and Three Fugitives (1989).