Cheryl Hines

Before getting her break in Hollywood, Hines worked as a waitress, television reporter, and telephone operator, as well as as a personal assistant to Rob Reiner, when she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Though Reiner did not play a critical role in her career, he would watch her shows when she began acting. She would guest appear on TV shows such as Swamp Thing and Unsolved Mysteries. Hines began her acting career by doing improvisational comedy at The Groundlings Theater. Among the people she studied with was Lisa Kudrow. She also learned to write comedy sketches, which served her well when working on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm as Larry David's fictional wife, Cheryl. The show is written using the retroscripting technique, in which the plot outlines are generally and loosely drawn, and the individual actors improvise to create the dialogue.

"When the show first came out, people from Tallahassee thought, 'Well, maybe Cheryl got married'", she recalls of the show's initial reception. "Sometimes, I do feel like I live two lives." Read Less