Southern-born, live-wire comedienne who, after regional stage and television experience and a stint as Tina, the tour guide at the Alamo in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" (1985), gained attention as an ideal cast regular on the iconoclastic NBC perennial, "Saturday Night Live". Best known for her outlandish yet on-target impersonations of figures from Tammy Faye Bakker and Diane Sawyer to Bette Davis and Ann-Margret, Hooks enjoyed personal triumphs when she essayed conflicting pairs of media notables (e.g. Ivana Trump and Marla Maples, Nancy Reagan and Kitty Dukakis). From 1991-93, Hooks left the rigors of live TV to join the cast of the Southern-fried sitcom, "Designing Women", playing the naive, countrified Carlene, sister of the similarly befuddled Charlene (Jean Smart, who left the series).
Milestones
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1980 Starred in WTBS (Atlanta, Georgia) series, Tush
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1983 Relocated to Los Angeles
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1983 Worked as a regular on The Half Hour Comedy Hour
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1985 Made feature film debut in Pee-Wee s Big Adventure
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1986 Was a cast regular on NBC s popular late-night variety program, Saturday Night Live
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1991 Joined the cast of popular CBS sitcom, Designing Women , as Carlene Dobber
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1994 Cast as Meg on The Martin Short Show (NBC)
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1995 Returned to New York stage in A.R. Gurney s Sylvia (replacing Sarah Jessica Parker)
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1996 Had recurring role as Vicki Dubcek on 3rd Rock From the Sun (NBC)
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1998 Appeared in the film Simon Birch as Miss Leavey
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2001 Cast as Martin Short s wife on Comedy Central s Primetime Glick
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2005 Reprised role of Dixie Glick in Jiminy Glick in La La Wood
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Grew up in Decatur, Georgia
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Was a member of the comedy group The New Wits End Players; performed at the Off Peachtree Theatre