Kelly Bishop as Emily Gilmore:
Birthday: February 28
Hometown Colorado Springs, CO
Actress Bio:
Veteran actress Kelly Bishop has portrayed many memorable roles in film,
television and the theater since her breakout performance as one of the original
cast members of the hit Broadway musical A Chorus Line.
The Colorado Springs native grew up in Denver, Colorado, where she trained to be a ballet dancer. At 18, she headed to New York and landed her first job dancing in a year-round ballet company at Radio City Music Hall. Bishop danced in Las Vegas, summer stock and on television until she was cast in 1967 in Golden Rainbow, her first Broadway role.
Her big break came when she was cast as the sexy, hard-edged Sheila in A Chorus Line. She won Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performance, giving her the confidence she needed to eventually leave the acclaimed original ensemble to pursue a dramatic acting career.
It wasn't long before she was cast opposite Jill Clayburgh in Paul Mazursky's big-screen drama An Unmarried Woman. She went on to play "mom" to several high-profile stars in numerous features. Jennifer Grey's mother in the box-office hit Dirty Dancing, Howard Stern's mother in the Betty Thomas-directed comedy Private Parts and Tobey Maguire's mom in Wonder Boys. Her additional feature credits include Blue Moon, Cafe Society, Miami Rhapsody, Queens Logic and Me and him.
On television, Bishop starred in the Mike Nichols series The Thorns and played Lisa Ann Walter's mother on My Wildest Dreams. She has guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Murphy Brown.
Bishop's extensive theater credits include the lead in the Broadway production of Six Degrees of Separation, as well as Broadway productions of Neil Simon's Proposals, the Tony Award-winning The Last Night of Ballhoo and Bus Stop. She also has starred in numerous regional theater and off-Broadway productions.
When she's not working, Bishop practices Pilates and aerobics, and enjoys gardening and hiking near her home in New Jersey, where she lives with her husband, TV talk show hose Lee Leonard.
Besides Gilmore Girls Kelly has been in the following movies and TV shows: My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception, Wonder Boys, Private Parts, Miami Rhapsody, Cafe Society, My Wildest Dreams, Six Degrees of Separation, Summer Stories: The Mall, Queens Logic, One Life To Live, Ich und Er, The Thorns, As The World Turns, Dirty Dancing, Solarbabies, The Recovery Room, O'Hara's Wife, Advice to the Lovelorn, An Unmarried Woman, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Murphy Brown, Law & Order, Kate & Allie, and Hawaii Five-O.
Character Bio:
Emily is Lorelai's mother. She wanted the best for her daughter, unfortunately
her daughter just wanted to make it on her own. Now that Lorelai needs money,
Emily wants to make sure she gets the family togetherness she always wanted.