Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Joy Handler[1] (born February 25, 1975)[2][3] is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, television host, and producer. She hosted the late-night talk show Chelsea Lately on the E! network from 2007 to 2014 and released a documentary series, Chelsea Does, on Netflix in January 2016.[4] From 2016 to 2017, Handler hosted the talk show Chelsea on Netflix.[5]
Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Joy Handler
February 25, 1975
Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.
- Stand-up
- television
- film
- books
2001–present
Early life and education[edit]
Handler was born in Livingston, New Jersey, the youngest of six children of Rita (née Stoecker), a homemaker, and Seymour Handler, a used-car dealer.[8][9][10] Her American father was Ashkenazi Jewish; her German mother, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1958, was a Mormon.[8][11] Commenting on her religious upbringing, Handler said: "I grew up as a Jew and a Mormon... I chose Jewish obviously. Mormonism is so ridiculous. But I related to... that conflict of religion for both parents."[12] Handler was raised in Reform Judaism, and had a Bat Mitzvah ceremony.[13][14][15] As an adult, she discovered that her maternal grandfather served in the German army during World War II, on the TLC series Who Do You Think You Are? in 2013.[16][17]
She summered in Martha's Vineyard, where her parents owned a house.[18] She attended Livingston High School, where she was a reluctant student who objected to the school's "student-teacher-asshole ratio".[19]
Handler has two sisters and three brothers; her eldest brother, Chet, died when he was 21, in a hiking accident in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. She was nine years old at the time.[20] At age 19, she moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles, where she lived in her aunt's home, in Bel Air,[21] and pursued acting while working as a waitress to support herself.[22] At 21, Handler decided to pursue stand-up comedy after telling her story about being arrested for driving under the influence to a class of other offenders, who found it funny.[23]
Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989[2] and battled the disease for over 15 years before dying of it in 2006.[24]
Career[edit]
Television work[edit]
Handler was a member of the all-female cast of Oxygen's hidden camera reality television series Girls Behaving Badly,[25] which aired from 2002 to 2005. Other shows on which Handler has appeared include Weekends at the D.L., The Bernie Mac Show, My Wife and Kids, and The Practice. She was a regular commentator on E! and Scarborough Country as well as a correspondent on The Tonight Show. She hosted the first episode of the reality TV show On the Lot but quit before the second episode aired, saying later that she left "because I smelled the disaster happening before it did."[26] The show, produced by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, was a competition for aspiring filmmakers vying for a chance at stardom. It lasted one season. Handler was replaced by former Robin & Company entertainment anchor Adrianna Costa.
Public image[edit]
In 2010, Handler was ranked on the Forbes Celebrity 100 at No. 98. In 2012, Time named Handler one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual Time 100 list.[6][7]
In 2009, she posed nude for the May issue of Allure magazine.[68]
That same year, she appeared on one of the two covers for the December edition of Playboy. Inside the magazine, Handler posed for a non-nude pictorial.
She was also featured on the cover of Shape in April 2010, The Hollywood Reporter in June 2011, on Redbook's March 2012 issue, and on the cover of the September 2012 issue of Marie Claire.[69][70][71]
Handler often receives press coverage for her parody images on Instagram.[72] These include imitating a "thirsty" selfie by Martha Stewart in her swimming pool, sitting on a horse topless like Vladimir Putin, and showing her naked behind like Kim Kardashian's cover for the magazine Paper.[73]
