Sabrina Jalees (born April 19, 1985) is a Canadian comedian, actress, and writer. She has written for various series, and starred as a main cast member alongside

Patricia Heaton Patricia Helen Heaton (born March 4, 1958) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her work on sitcoms, having played Debra Barone on ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (1996–2005) as well as Frances "Frankie" Heck on '' The Middl ...

in the 2019 TV comedy series ''

Carol's Second Act ''Carol's Second Act'' is an American television sitcom created by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, which premiered on September 26, 2019 on CBS. It stars Patricia Heaton along with Ito Aghayere, Lucas Neff, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Sabrina Jalees, Ash ...

.''

Early life and education

The daughter of a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

mother and a Pakistani father, she graduated from

Earl Haig Secondary School Earl Haig Secondary School (EHSS), formerly Earl Haig Collegiate Institute is a public high school with 2,048 students in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to being a public secondary school, the school is also host to the Claude Watson Art ...

, and later from the Radio and Television Arts program at

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

in June 2007.

Career

Jalees wrote a weekly column in the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'''s ID section. She has made many Canadian media appearances, including as a commentator on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

's '' Video on Trial'', '' Stars On Trial'' and '' LOL!'', as well as a role in the drama series '' Flashpoint'', and

Jian Ghomeshi Jian Ghomeshi (born June 9, 1967) is a British-born Persian-Canadian broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and former CBC personality. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In ...

's Monday correspondent on

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...

's '' Sounds Like Canada in the Summer''. She also previously filed a regular segment on '' Go''. She is a former host (until 2010) of ''

Laugh Out Loud LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud and a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to ...

'' on

and a

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

show for children, '' In Real Life'', airing on YTV. She made a cameo in the video for the song ''Break This'' by

Hunter Valentine Hunter Valentine is an alternative rock band formed in 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hunter Valentine have a moderate fan base in southern Ontario. History The current members of Hunter Valentine are Kiyomi McCloskey, Laura Petracca, Lean ...

. She narrates the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

series ''

Rank the Prank Rank the Prank is a hidden camera game show show began on CBBC starting on 3 September 2016. In Canada it began on BBC Kids on 30 January 2017. A first look was released on 18 July 2016. It also premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States on ...

''. She was a writer for ''

Canada's Got Talent ''Canada's Got Talent'' is a Canadian television reality talent show, which debuted on the Citytv network on March 4, 2012. It is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise. As with other series in the franchise, the show is a competition i ...

'' and '' Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock''. In 2020, she appeared in an episode of ''

Canada's Drag Race ''Canada's Drag Race'' is a Canadian reality competition television series based on the American series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and is the Canadian edition of the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by Blue Ant Studios. In a similar format to th ...

'', as co-judge of a mini-challenge in the episode "The Snow Ball". In 2021, she was announced as one of the judges in the upcoming first season of ''

Roast Battle Canada ''Roast Battle Canada'' is a Canadian television comedy series, which premiered on CTV Comedy Channel in October 2021. An adaptation of the American series '' Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle'', the series presents battles in which pairs of comedi ...

''. In 2023 she debuted as host of '' Farming for Love''.

Personal life

Jalees came out as a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

and was shunned by her extended Muslim family, an experience she relates in her 2013 Canadian comedy tour, "Brownlisted." Her wife, Shauna McCann, is a fashion designer. They have a son named Wolfie.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jalees, Sabrina 1985 births Living people Actresses from Toronto Canadian columnists Canadian actresses of Pakistani descent Canadian people of Swiss descent Canadian sketch comedians Canadian stand-up comedians Canadian women comedians Canadian television actresses Toronto Metropolitan University alumni CBC Radio hosts Comedians from Toronto Canadian lesbian actresses Canadian LGBT broadcasters Lesbian comedians Pakistani LGBT people Canadian women radio hosts Canadian women columnists 21st-century Canadian comedians Canadian LGBT comedians 21st-century Canadian LGBT people Canadian television hosts