The Chef

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Born in Endicott, New York on March 29, 1961, Sedaris was the fourth of six children in a Greek Orthodox family. Her father, Louis Harry 'Lou' Sedaris, was an IBM engineer, and her mother, Sharon Elizabeth, was a homemaker. When she was four, her family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where she grew up with siblings Lisa, David, Gretchen, Tiffany, and Paul. Her sister Tiffany died by suicide in 2013. As a teenager, Sedaris worked at a local Winn-Dixie supermarket, where she would make fake announcements over the loudspeaker. She attended Jesse O. Sanderson High School and was a Girl Scout until graduation. At age 20, she and her mother worked together making and selling spanakopita. After a relationship ended, she moved to Chicago with her brother David and took classes at Second City and Annoyance Theatre, also working as a waitress at Zanies Comedy Club.

In Their Own Story

In the late 1980s, Sedaris was hired to perform with Second City's touring company, where she met Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert. Though she and Dinello did not get along with Colbert at first, they became close friends while touring together. Sedaris left Second City in 1993 and moved to New York City. Her first major television work began in 1995 on the Comedy Central sketch series *Exit 57*, alongside Colbert and Dinello. For her performance, she was nominated for the 17th CableACE Award for Best Comedy Actress. Beginning in 1999, she played Jerri Blank in *Strangers with Candy*, a series she co-wrote with Dinello and Colbert, based on her impression of 1970s-era motivational speaker Florrie Fisher. The show ran for three seasons, and a film adaptation was released in 2005 as a prequel.

Reader's Guide

Sedaris has appeared in numerous films, including *Maid in Manhattan* (2002), *Elf* (2003), *Bewitched* (2005), *Chicken Little* (2005), *Shrek the Third* (2007), *Jennifer's Body* (2009), *Puss in Boots* (2011), *Chef* (2014), *Ghost Team* (2016), *Handsome* (2017), *The Lion King* (2019), *The Boss Baby: Family Business* (2021), and *Smurfs* (2025). She voiced Foxy Loxy in *Chicken Little*, Cinderella in *Shrek the Third*, Jill in *Puss in Boots*, and a Guinea Fowl in *The Lion King* (2019). Her voice work includes Princess Carolyn on *BoJack Horseman* (2014–2020), which some critics consider her best work, as well as roles on *American Dad!* (2009–2012), *SpongeBob SquarePants* (2011–2019), *Star vs. the Forces of Evil* (2016–2019), and *Steven Universe* (2017). She also voiced Audrey Temple in the podcast *Homecoming* (2016–2017).

Did You Know?

• Sedaris was nominated for the 17th CableACE Award for Best Comedy Actress for her work on *Exit 57*.
• She created and starred in *At Home with Amy Sedaris*, which earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.
• Her character Jerri Blank on *Strangers with Candy* was based on her impression of 1970s motivational speaker Florrie Fisher.
• Sedaris worked as a waitress at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago before her television career took off.
• She voiced Princess Carolyn on *BoJack Horseman* from 2014 to 2020, a role some critics consider her best work.