Vanessa Hollingshead is an American actress and stand-up comedian who has performed on many comedy programs including '' Comedy Central Presents'', '' Live At Jongleurs'', '' Just For Laughs'', '' The Jim Breuer Show'', and '' Funny Women of a Certain Age''. She has also acted in a number of films, including a small role in the 1999 film, '' Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai''.

Early life

Hollingshead was born in New York City. Her father is

Michael Hollingshead Michael Hollingshead (?–1984?) was a British researcher who studied psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin and LSD, at Harvard University in the mid-20th century. He was the father of comedian Vanessa Hollingshead. He evangelized the use of LS ...

, a British-born researcher who performed some of the first experiments with psychedelic drugs and

hallucinogens Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorized ...

, and who introduced Timothy Leary and Paul McCartney to LSD.

Career

After years working as an office temp, in 1994 Hollingshead performed in an open mic night at the end of a four-hour-long night, claiming at the time "Even Richard Pryor wouldn't be funny at this point". Nine months later Hollingshead performed a twelve-minute slot at

The Comic Strip Live The Comic Strip Live is the oldest stand-up comedy showcase club in New York City, located at 1568 Second Avenue (between 81st and 82nd Streets). History The Comic Strip was opened in 1976. Richard Tienken and Robert Wachs were two of the club ...

on Second Avenue, New York City. As a result of this performance she was offered a number of development deals and an offer to appear on '' The Drew Carey Show'', which she turned down. In 1996 she appeared on the ''Tompkins Square'' show hosted by

Jeffrey Ross Jeffrey may refer to: * Jeffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * ''Jeffrey'' (1995 film), a 1995 film by Paul Rudnick, based on Rudnick's play of the same name * ''Jeffrey'' (2016 film), a 2016 Dominican Republic documentary film ...

in her first television appearance. Further television appearances followed in 1997 and 1998, on '' Live At Jongleurs'' and '' The Jim Breuer Show''. Whilst continuing with both live stand-up and television appearances (most notably when writing and appearing in '' Comedy Central Presents'' in 2004), Hollingshead also appeared in several films. As well as appearing in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, she appeared with ventriloquist act

Otto & George Otto Sol Petersen (July 29, 1960 – April 13, 2014) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, and actor known for his act Otto and George, which he performed with his dummy George Dudley. Petersen began performing with George as a street act in Ma ...

and Jim Breuer again in the 2002 film ''American Dummy'', and opposite

Greg Fitzsimmons Gregory Sebastian Fitzsimmons (born April 5, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, producer and radio host. He hosted ''The Greg Fitzsimmons Show'' on Howard 101 until December 2018. Life and early career Fitzsimmons was born in New Y ...

and Pete Correale in the 2003 film ''The Gynecologists''. Hollingshead also runs comedy workshops for aspiring comedians.

Personal life

Hollingshead was married to Lucien Hold, the founder and manager of The Comic Strip Live in New York, whom she had first met when she appeared there in 1995. Hold died in 2004 from complications arising from scleroderma. This led to Hollingshead becoming an active member o
The Scleroderma Foundation
an organization which campaigns for support for patients and caretakers, education about scleroderma, and research to find a cure.

References

External links

Official websiteHollingshead Productions
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollingshead, Vanessa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American television actresses American stand-up comedians American comedy writers Writers from New York (state) American women comedians American women writers 21st-century American women