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Kathy Ann Najimy (; born February 6, 1957) is an American actress and activist. She was first nationally known for her feminist play The Kathy and Mo Show, which she wrote and performed with Mo Gaffney. On film, she is best known for her roles in Soapdish (1991), Sister Act (1992) and its (1993), Hocus Pocus (1993) and its sequel (2022), Hope Floats (1998), The Wedding Planner (2001), Rat Race (2001), WALL-E (2008), Step Up 3D (2010), The Guilt Trip (2012), Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas (2013), A Christmas Melody (2015), Dumplin' (2018), Music (2021), and Single All the Way (2021). On television, she is best known for her portrayal of Olive Massery on the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet (1997–2000) and for voicing Peggy Hill on the animated television series King of the Hill (1997–2010, 2025–present).
Najimy's film career began in the early 1990s, with a number of offbeat minor roles in The Fisher King, Soapdish, This Is My Life, The Hard Way. Her first major role was as Sister Mary Patrick in the 1992 comedy Sister Act, a role she reprised in 1993 in Sister Act 2. She also starred in Hocus Pocus as Mary Sanderson, alongside Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker, and the 1994 made-for-TV movie In Search of Dr. Seuss as Kathy Lane. In 1999, she played the Stepmother in CinderElmo, a primetime special for Sesame Street. In 2001, she co-starred in the hit comedy film Rat Race alongside John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz and Seth Green. She has made four movies with Goldberg ( Soapdish, Sister Act 1 and 2, and Rat Race). Najimy starred in Disney and Pixar's Academy Award winning film WALL-E and Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas.
From film, Najimy expanded into television roles, including a dramatic recurring role on Chicago Hope. She was part of the cast of Veronica's Closet from 1997 to 2000. She played Wendy Keegan in HBO's Veep for four seasons. She appeared with Ellen DeGeneres in three episodes of her sitcom Ellen, playing a different character each time (including a non-speaking cameo in the iconic "Puppy Episode"), and in the TV movie If These Walls Could Talk 2. Najimy was a series regular season 4 of Unforgettable, season 4 of The Big C, and season 3 of Numbers. She guest-starred on That's So Raven, Drop Dead Diva, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, and Franklin & Bash. She starred in TNT's In Search of Dr. Seuss.
Najimy starred as Mae West in the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde. She appeared in V'Day's Vagina Monologues on Broadway and in Nassim Soleimanpour's plays White Rabbit Red Rabbit and Nassim. She is the co-creator and director of the musical revue Back to Bacharach and David, which ran in New York City in 1992 and 1993, and which she directed again in Los Angeles in April 2009.
Najimy starred as Peggy Hill in Fox's King of the Hill from 1997 to 2010. Her voice is featured in the animated films Brother Bear 2, , Cats Don't Dance, and Tinkerbell. She has also lent her voice to hundreds of animated television shows and movies, including BoJack Horseman, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, American Dad!, Hercules, Pepper Ann, and played a role in the Nightmare Ned video game. In 2003, Najimy provided the voice of Margalo in , taking over from Melanie Griffith, and in 2000 took over from Madeline Kahn as Mrs. Shapiro in Little Bill. She stars in Disney Junior's reboot of The Rocketeer and Amy Poehler's Duncanville.
In late July 2015, Najimy appeared in Disney's Descendants as the Evil Queen. Later that year, she took part in the successful Christmas TV movie A Christmas Melody starring Mariah Carey, Brennan Elliott, Lacey Chabert and Fina Strazza. It debuted on the Hallmark Channel on December 19, 2015. The film was viewed by 3.95 million people upon its debut.
She appeared in Netflix's 2018 film Dumplin alongside Jennifer Aniston. Dumplin was released on December 7, 2018, on the platform.
In 2021, she appeared in musical drama film Music, directed by singer-songwriter Sia. In the United States, it was released in select IMAX theatres for one night on February 10, 2021, and was followed by a premium video on demand release across the country on February 12. The same year, she starred in the Netflix Christmas romantic comedy Single All the Way alongside Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers and Jennifer Coolidge.
In 2022, Najimy reprised her role as Mary Sanderson in Hocus Pocus 2 for Disney+.
Najimy has also worked with PETA on a number of animal welfare issues and posed with Todd Oldham for the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign."in May 2014, she posed in an ad in the San Diego airport bashing the locally favorite Sea World. The ad featured an outdated photograph depicting the actor as much younger than her current age. Naked for a Cause," 101.9 Fox, accessed September 20, 2012. PETA gave her their Humanitarian of the Year award in 2000 and their Compassionate Action Award in 2014.Madeleine Marr, " Rock the Night Away at Jingle Ball ," The Miami Herald, October 10, 2014.
Najimy is a strong advocate for women's health and reproductive rights. She contributed to the groundbreaking book, The Choices We Made, which includes testimonials from women who believe in abortion rights. Najimy is vocal about issues regarding body image among women. In August 2006 she voiced her opinions over a remark made by Heidi Klum on the television series Project Runway after Klum said one model's outfit made her look plus-sized, which Najimy called "dangerous" and "irresponsible".
Najimy created and produced the off-Broadway play Gloria: A Life, about the life of activist Gloria Steinem. Starting in 2012, Najimy has been creating, directing, and co-writing personal monologues with actresses including Olivia Wilde, Amy Schumer, Zosia Mamet, Debra Messing, Rosie Perez, and Gabourey Sidibe. The pieces have been performed at Glamour Magazine's live evening of personal monologues titled "These Girls" and at the 2017 and 2018 MAKERS conference. Najimy is currently working on a documentary about the 53% of white women who voted for Donald Trump in 2016. She has performed her solo show, Lift Up Your Skirt, at many venues including the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, ICONS at Fire Island, and Feinstein's at The Nikko in San Francisco. She is also currently producing a television series about the women's movement.
Najimy uses her celebrity status to donate money to charities by appearing on game shows. She appeared as a contestant on a celebrity version of The Weakest Link where she won $50,000 for The Feminist Majority Foundation's Campaign to Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. She won the season 6 tournament of Celebrity Poker Showdown, donating the $100,000 to V-Day, an organization that helps stop violence against women and girls. She was also crowned Grand Champion on CBS's Gameshow Marathon in 2006, donating the $100,000 winnings to Girls Best Friend, a charity that helps empower girls. In 2013, Najimy was a contestant on on Team Rachael where she was playing for PETA, cooking only vegetarian food. She was eliminated on the Feb 3 episode, reaching third place.
Before she became a known actress, in 1981, Najimy was a contestant on Family Feud, which was used as the finale in Gameshow Marathon. Najimy and her family were winners on both shows. Najimy also appeared on the $25,000 Pyramid as a civilian contestant, on the episode dated July 31, 1985. She claimed, on the Pyramid show, that she also had been on American Bandstand. She returned to the "Pyramid" ( The $100,000 Pyramid) on the June 26, 2016, episode as a celebrity guest opposite Rosie O'Donnell. She appeared once again in Season 2, Episode 7 on July 23, 2017, to play against Alexandra Wentworth, helping her contestant partner win the $150,000 grand prize.
| 1991 | The Hard Way | Lang's "Girl Friday" | |
| Soapdish | Tawny Miller | ||
| The Fisher King | Crazed Video Customer | ||
| 1992 | Marge | ||
| This Is My Life | Angela | Credited as Kathy Ann Najimy | |
| Sister Act | Sister Mary Patrick | American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated – MTV Movie + TV Award for Best Breakthrough Performance | |
| 1993 | Hocus Pocus | Mary Sanderson | Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| Sister Mary Patrick | Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | ||
| 1994 | It's Pat | Tippy | |
| Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter | Dr. Jane Femus | Short | |
| 1995 | Jeffrey | Acolyte | |
| 1997 | Cats Don't Dance | Tillie Hippo | Voice role |
| Nevada | Ruth | ||
| 1998 | Hope Floats | Toni Post | |
| Zack and Reba | Ivy Simpson | ||
| Bride of Chucky | Motel Maid | ||
| Chil | Voice role; Direct-to-video | ||
| 2000 | Attention Shoppers | Penelope | |
| 2001 | The Wedding Planner | Geri | |
| Rat Race | Beverly 'Bev' Pear | ||
| 2005 | Bam Bam and Celeste | Legba | |
| 2006 | Say Uncle | Maggie Butler | Associate producer |
| Brother Bear 2 | Aunt Taqqiq | Voice role; Direct-to-video | |
| 2008 | WALL-E | Mary | Voice role |
| Tinker Bell | The Minister of Summer | ||
| 2010 | Step Up 3D | Mrs. Alexander | |
| 2012 | Rose | ||
| Secret of the Wings | The Minster of Summer | Voice | |
| Stars in Shorts | Sid's Mother | ||
| The Guilt Trip | Gayle | ||
| 2013 | A Madea Christmas | Kim Williams | |
| 2016 | No Letting Go | Dr. Nancy Harris | |
| 2017 | A Change of Heart | Ruthie | |
| Dating My Mother | Lisa | ||
| Between the Shades | Herself | Documentary | |
| 2018 | Dumplin' | Ms. Mitchellchuk | |
| 2021 | Music | Evelyn's Mom | |
| Single All the Way | Carole | Direct-to-streaming | |
| 2022 | Hocus Pocus 2 | Mary Sanderson | |
| Celebrity Guests: Constance McCashin & LeVar Burton |
| Television special; also writer CableACE Award (shared with Mo Gaffney) (1993) Nominated – CableACE Award (shared with Mo Gaffney) (1993) |
| Television movie |
| 3 episodes: "So Funny" (Season 2) / "Go Girlz" (Season 3) / "The Puppy Episode, Part 2" (Season 4) |
| Also writer (1 episode) |
| Television special; also writer CableACE Award (shared with Mo Gaffney, Paula Mazur & Dean Parisot) (1995) CableACE Award (shared with Mo Gaffney) (1995) |
| Episode: "Self-Discipline" |
| Recurring role; 3 episodes Nominated – Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Recurring Player (1996) |
| Episode: "Psychic" |
| Short |
| 2 episodes |
| 67 episodes OFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series (1998) OFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1998) |
| 269 episodes Annie Award (2001) OFTA Television Award for Best Voice-Over Performance (2001) Nominated – Annie Award (1998) Nominated – OFTA Television Award for Best Voice-Over Performance (1998, 2004, 2005) |
| 2 episodes |
| 5 episodes |
| Episode: "Have Yourself a Thornberry Little Christmas" |
| Television film |
| Television movie |
| Television movie; segment: "2000" |
| Short |
| 3 episodes; succeeded Madeline Kahn, the original voice of Mrs. Shapiro, shortly after her death in 1999. |
| 4 episodes |
| Episode: "Tarzan and the Rift" |
| Television movie |
| Episode: "The Enemy of My Enemy" |
| Episode: "The Meatloaf Bandit" |
| Episode: "The Dream Factory" |
| Television documentary |
| Episode: "The Legend of Higgsquatch" |
| Episode: "Sammy's Fortune" |
| Television movie |
| Dr. Heidi Z. Klemmer |
| Video |
| Sunny St. Cloud (voice) |
| Blue Parrot Betty (voice) |
| Direct-to-DVD episode: "Tales from the Crib: Three Jacks and a Beanstalk" |
| Episode: "The Dress Is Always Greener" |
| 9 episodes |
| Episode: "First Day of High School" |
| Video |
| Episode: "The Magic Bullet" |
| Episode: "Careful the Things You Say" |
| Episode: "Million Dollar Smile" |
| Episode: "Country Queens" |
| Episode: "Employee of the Year" |
| Television movie |
| 5 episodes |
| Episode: "Heterotextual Male" |
| Television movie |
| Season 2 participant (Team Rachael Ray) |
| 4 episodes |
| Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2 episodes |
| 10 episodes |
| 8 episodes |
| Series regular, 10 episodes |
| Hallmark television movie |
| Television movie |
| Episode: "The Children's Menu" |
| 4 episodes |
| 4 episodes Also consulting producer |
| 4 episodes |
| 5 episodes |
| Episode: "Rekt in Real Life" |
| Episode: "Commence Fracking" |
| Episode: "I Came Up with Christmas: A President Show Christmas" |
| Episode: "Freebird" |
| Episode: "I Am Ashamed" |
| Episode: "The One Where Diane and Liz Topple Democracy" |
| Episode: "The Road Trip" |
| Episode: "Pride Before the Fail" |
| Main role |
| Recurring role |
| Episode: "Raph's Ride-Along/Donnie vs. Witch Town" |
| Episode: "Ghandi Mulholland in: Plastic Doesn't Get Cancer" |
| Episode: "Heart of The Jaguar" |
| Episode: "My Least Favorite Year" |
| Episode: "Who Would Want This?" |
| Episode: "Super Wheels vs. The Green Queen" |
| Archival recording |
| 1986 | The Further Adventures of Kathy and Mo | Performer | Off-Broadway Also author |
| 1989 | The Kathy & Mo Show: Parallel Lives | Off-Broadway Also playwright | |
| 2000 | Dirty Blonde | Various characters | Broadway |
| 2004 | Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits | Performer | Off-Broadway Also playwright |
| 2016 | White Rabbit Red Rabbit | Performer | Off-Broadway |
| 2018 | Nassim | ||
| 2024 | Gutenberg! The Musical! | Producer | Broadway |
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