<Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> Actress / Comedian </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 1986--present </Td> </Tr> <P> Kathy Kinney (born November 3, 1954) is an American actress and comedian . She gained considerable popularity in the late 1990s for playing Mimi Bobeck, the outrageously made - up, flamboyantly vulgar, and vindictive nemesis of Drew Carey on the sitcom The Drew Carey Show . She had been involved with television, feature films, and stage work for years . </P> <P> Kinney was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, the daughter of Irish Americans Marian and Harold Kinney, an automobile dealer . Her father died when she was 15 years old . For two years after high school, Kathy Kinney worked for the California Conservation Corps between 1972 and 1974 . After completing a six - month Back Country season in Kings Canyon, she left the program with thousands of dollars in scholarships . She attended the University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point, and in 1976 moved to New York City, where she found work as a secretary at WCBS - TV . Her boss enjoyed hunting, and sometimes she chatted with him about his hunting trips, occasionally quipping, "So, did you kill anything this week?" She used this experience to inspire herself for the role of Mimi . During this time at WCBS she also worked nights at New York comedy clubs to improve her improvisational comedy skills . This eventually led to a job teaching improv classes . One such class had in its attendance Bill Sherwood, a director . He later wrote a part for her in his 1986 film, Parting Glances . </P>

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