A dark-haired, comic character actress with stage experience, Kathy Najimy played small, outlandish roles (e.g., a crazed video store customer in "The Fisher King" 1991; the observing costume mistress in "Soap Dish" 1991) in several films before her scene-stealing turn as the rotund, maniacally sunny-spirited Sister Mary Patrick in the unexpectedly popular "Sister Act" (1992). She followed up with her role as the obsequious, ever-hungry Mary Sanderson, one of a trio of witches accidentally reincarnated, in the Disney comedy, "Hocus Pocus" (1993) before recreating her religious role in the inevitable sequel, "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit" (1993). Reportedly. For the sequel she reportedly demanded and received $1 million. Oddly, other feature film roles did not follow and she was almost entirely off the big screen until 1995's "Jeffrey", in what amounted to a cameo, and "Nevada" (1997), a contemporary Western about a town seemingly populated only by women.
Najimy's TV career began as an extension of her stage work. She reprised her OBIE-winning performance in "The Kathy & Mo Show" in two HBO specials, "Kathy & Mo: Parallel Lives" (1993) and "Kathy & Mo: The Dark Side" (1995), winning CableACE Awards along the way. Along with partner Maureen 'Mo' Gaffney, Najimy produced, wrote and co-starred in the shows, which were tinges with feminist and Catholic humor. The pair portrayed a variety of characters ranging from teenagers to elderly women to angels. Gaffney also adopted male personae, ranging from a macho date to a gay bartender.
Najimy shed some 100 pounds before she re-appeared on the small screen in 1996 in the recurring role of Dr Barbara Konstadt, a physician struggling with manic-depression, on the CBS medical drama "Chicago Hope". The following year, she provided the voice of the long-suffering wife, Peggy Hill, in Michael Judge's animated series "King of the Hill" (Fox, 1997- ). After giving birth to a daughter in December 1996, Najimy reteamed with her "Nevada" co-star Kirstie Alley for the NBC sitcom "Veronica's Closet" in 1997, a role she departed in 2000 in order to concentrate on her film career.