CHERI OTERI

'Cheri Oteri' (born 'Cheryl Ann O'Teari' September 19, 1962) is an American actress and comedian known for her work on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

SNL career

Television and film appearences

External links

Biography

Early life

Oteri was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Upper Darby (also the hometown of Tina Fey, another ''SNL'' alum). She went to Archbishop Prendergast High School (on the same campus as Monsignor Bonner High School).

SNL career

Moving to Los Angeles at age 25, she worked at A&M Records for four years and eventually joined the famed comedy troupe The Groundlings. It was there that she was noticed by ''SNL'' and was hired in 1995 as part of a nearly all-new cast brought in to save the show after its disastrous 1994 season.
Oteri would eventually form a third of the so-called "SNL female power trio" that also included Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer and which was responsible, along with Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond and others, for bringing SNL out of its slump. On SNL, she was known for playing perky, upbeat, and hyper characters, including cheerleader-wannabe Orianna (one half of The Spartan Cheerleaders), grouchy Queens resident Rita DelVecchio, prescription pill-addicted Collette Reardon who befriends Justin Brown at the Hard Rock Hotel, butch cable access television host "Mickey The Dyke" (appearing alongside Mark McKinney's Chicken Lady of Kids In The Hall fame), the absurdly hyper child bus passenger "Althea McMahonaman," overly perky "Morning Latte" talk show host Cass Van Rye (re-teaming her with "Spartan Cheerleaders" partner Will Ferrell), and Nadeen, a testy employee who constantly orders everyone to "Simmer down now!" Her dead-on impressions of Barbara Walters, Mariah Carey, Robin Byrd and Judge Judy also bolstered her fame.

Television and film appearences

Oteri left SNL in 2000. She has notably appeared in several Hollywood movies including ''Scary Movie'', ''Inspector Gadget'', ''Liar Liar'', '', and ''Shrek the Third''. She starred in two TV pilots that did not make it to air, ''Loomis'' and ''With You in Spirit''. Her non-''SNL'' television credits include guest spots on ''Just Shoot Me!'', ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and ''Strangers With Candy''. She has also been working with ''Lost'' creator J.J. Abrams on a sitcom idea.

External links

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★ Cheri Oteri at Tv.com