Victoria Jackson

Victoria Jackson (born August 2, 1959) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the series Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1992.

Jackson was born in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Marlene Esther (née Blackstad) and James McCaslin Jackson, a gym coach. From the age of 5 until she was 18, Jackson's father trained her in gymnastics.

After graduating from high school, Jackson attended Florida Bible College in Hollywood, Florida, later transferring to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina on a gymnastics scholarship. At Furman, she was cast in her first play. She transferred to Auburn University in 1979 for her senior year, changing her major to theater. Midway through her senior year, she left Auburn to pursue an acting career.

In the 2000s, Jackson earned a degree in theater from Palm Beach Atlantic University.

While doing summer stock theater in Alabama, Jackson met former child actor Johnny Crawford of the 1950s television series The Rifleman, who cast her in his nightclub act. She moved to Los Angeles in 1981, working various day jobs and performing comedy at night. Her first big break was an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where she recited poetry while doing a handstand. She went on to appear on the show 20 times. In 1984 she appeared in the pilot for W*A*L*T*E*R, a M*A*S*H spin-off that the networks did not pick up.

Following a role in the short-lived 1985 television series Half Nelson, Jackson received an offer to audition for the cast of Saturday Night Live. Because she was not confident her audition had gone well, she performed several impersonations on her next Tonight Show appearance and sent the tape to SNL's Lorne Michaels. After viewing the tape, Michaels asked Jackson to join the show. A regular cast member from 1986 to 1992, Jackson often appeared on the show's weekly Weekend Update segment as a correspondent who goes off topic, reciting poetry and doing backbends or handstands on the desk. She was also known for recurring skit roles where she impersonated Roseanne Barr, Sally Struthers and Zsa Zsa Gabor.

During her tenure on SNL, Jackson was cast in a number of films, including Baby Boom, Family Business, I Love You to Death, UHF, The Pick-up Artist, The Couch Trip, and Casual Sex?. Her film career continued after her 1992 departure from Saturday Night Live, but mostly in unknown or unnoticed films. On television, she was cast as the lead of her own sitcom, co-starring George Clooney. When there was a change in management at Fox, the show was scrapped without being broadcast. In 1994, she appeared as "Beverly" in the In the Heat of the Night episode "Good Cop, Bad Cop", and in 1999 she appeared as the unrequited love of a small-town man who can control the weather in The X-Files episode "The Rain King".

Jackson had a regular role as Patty in the 2000–2001 Comedy Central sitcom Strip Mall and in the 2003–2004 seasons of the Nickelodeon show Romeo!. In 2004 and 2005, she had roles in two romantic comedies, Shut Up and Kiss Me! and Her Minor Thing. During this period, Jackson appeared on the game show Hollywood Squares and participated in the show Celebrity Fit Club. She played multiple characters in the 2014 direct-to-video movie Campin' Buddies.