JAMIE FARR
2005 NYAACF Comedy Achievement Honoree

Jamie Farr

He was born Jameel Joseph Farah on July 1, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio, the only son of Samuel, a meat cutter/grocer, and Jamelia, a seamstress. His acting career began at age 11 when Jamie won $2. in a local talent contest. He graduated from Woodward High with honors and was named most outstanding student, having served as class president for three years. He also wrote and acted in two variety shows, was editor of his school paper, president of the Radio Club, and manager of the football and basketball teams. He became a member of the National Honor Society, and after graduation he moved with his family to Southern California where he attended the Pasadena Playhouse.

Jamie Farr won his first film role as Santini in "The Blackboard Jungle", then served two years in the army in Korea and Japan. He then proceeded to carve out a TV career by appearing as a regular on "The Red Skelton Show" and several episodes of the "The Danny Kaye Show" as well as the Chicago Teddy Bears" series. During the first season of M*A*S*H* Jamie was hired for one day's work as a phony transvestite bucking for a section 8 discharge. Something about the chomped cigar under the veil and hairy legs under the flowing skirt and the hook nose immediately clicked with the producers. Jamie became a full member of the cast of the No.1 show on television, playing Corporal Klinger and having even directed several episodes. The weekly show could boast of an amazing audience of 32 million regular viewers, running for eleven years, and was chosen by TV guide as the best television show of all time. The final two and a half hour episode aired February 28, 1983, drawing more than 125 million viewers, a record that may never be broken.

Jamie Farr also has appeared on the big screen in George Stevens' monumental "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and with Burt Reynolds in "Cannonball Run" and "Cannonball Run II". He has toured with John Davidson in "Will Rogers's Follies" and played Oscar Madison in the national tour of "The Odd Couple" with his M*A*S*H* associate, William Christopher. Jamie's Broadway debut was made in the long running "Guys and Dolls" for which he received rave reviews for his portrayal of Nathan Detroit. More recently, he appeared in "Moon Over Buffalo", as well as the comedy-thriller play, "Catch Me If You Can." Jamie is still hoping to get back on a successful TV series and we all hope it will be soon. One of his proudest accomplishments was in 1985 when he received a "Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, of course, his Emmy nomination for M*A*S*H. And in 1983 Jamie received an honorary Doctor of Performing Arts Degree from the University of Toledo. Jamie's greatest passion aside from acting is golf and, as everyone knows by now, he has for over twenty years sponsored the nationally acclaimed Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.


KATHY NAJIMY
2004 NYAACF Comedy Achievement Honoree

Kathy Najimy

Kathy Najimy recently starred as the legendary Mae West in the Broadway play, DIRTY BLONDE. She provides the voice of "Peggy Hill," on the Emmy award winning FOX TV hit KING OF THE HILL. She starred opposite Kirstie Alley as "Olive" on NBC's VERONICA'S CLOSET, for which she received an American Comedy Award nomination. Najimy is known internationally for her portrayal of "Sister Mary Patrick" in SISTER ACT, which won her an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress. She also played Sharon Stones' gynecologist in HBO's: IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK 2, written and directed by Anne Heche. Najimy's 1996 HBO version of THE KATHY AND MO SHOW entitled KATHY & MO: THE DARK SIDE, won Cable Ace Awards for both her roles as actor and Executive Producer of the special. The original KATHY & MO SHOW: PARALLEL LIVES, which Kathy also starred in and wrote, with Mo Gaffney, garnered her two Cable Ace Awards for the special and an Obie Award for the Off-Broadway stage show. Kathy resides in Los Angeles and New York with her husband, singer/actor Dan Finnerty, their young daughter Samia, and their dogs Happy and Blondie.


TONY SHALHOUB
2003 NYAACF Comedy Achievement Honoree

Tony Shalhoub

Tony Shalhoub won 2003 and 2005 Emmy awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series and a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of the obsessive-compulsive detective "Adrian Monk" in the TV series Monk. He is also executive producer of the series. Well-known to TV audiences as the Italian cab driver Antonio Scarpacci on the NBC sitcom Wings, Shalhoub is also a familiar face on the stage and on movie screens. He made his TV debut playing a terrorist in an episode of The Equalizer. In 1990, Shalhoub made his feature film debut as a doctor in Norman Rene's Longtime Companion; he then portrayed a New York cab driver speaking an unidentifiable language to Bill Murray in Quick Change. He went on to appear as an overeager film executive in the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink, a chess club member in Searching for Bobby Fischer, and one of two brothers who owned an Italian restaurant in Big Night. Other memorable films he made include Spy Kids, Galaxy Quest, The Siege, A Civil Action, The Impostors, Primary Colors, Gattaca, and Men in Black I and II. Married to Brooke Adams, Shalhoub has two daughters.