5 December

Mary “Mimi” Claire Kennedy, who plays AA sponsor Marjorie to the destructive Bonnie and Christy (Allison Janney and Anna Faris) in sitcom Mom (2013-current), has been on TV since the 1970s. But her love affair with the arts started when she was 12, in a stage production of Agatha Christie’s Spider Web.

The 67-year-old was part of the original Grease Broadway musical in 1971. She played Jan, who was played by Jamie Donnelly in the 1978 movie. She married little-known actor Larry Dilg in 1978. They met on a blind date in 1966 after being paired up by Operation Match, the world’s first computer dating software. They have two children: daughter Molly and a son named Cisco. Mimi and Molly have a special tradition where they go to redcarpet events together, like the Critics’ Choice Television Awards in May this year, where Mimi was nominated for Best Guest Performer In A Comedy Series for her role as Marjorie. She’s a passionate activist and is involved in numerous causes, like the Artists United To Win Without War. Mimi’s also not afraid to voice her political viewpoints and she’s the chairperson of The Progressive Democrats Of America grassroots action committee. Besides Mom, you can also catch her as CIA director Susan Buckley in the newly cancelled sitcom The Brink (2015) alongside Jack Black, which airs on M-Net Edge, Fridays at 21:30. You may also remember Mimi as Dharma’s (Jenna Elfman) mom Abby in the sitcom Dharma & Greg (1997-2002).