Julie Brown

Brown was born in Van Nuys, California, the daughter of Celia Jane (née McCann) and Leonard Francis Brown. Her father worked at NBC in the advertising scheduling department and her mother was a secretary at the same studio complex. Both of Brown's grandfathers had worked in the film business. Her great-grandfather was character actor Frank O'Connor. She attended a Catholic elementary school as a child, and later Van Nuys High School. After attending Los Angeles Valley College, she enrolled in the American Conservatory Theater.

Brown began her career performing in nightclubs. She was a contestant on the game show Whew! (as Annie Brown). She started working on television with a guest spot on the sitcom Happy Days. She also appeared in the 1981 cult film Bloody Birthday. Following a small role in the Clint Eastwood comedy film Any Which Way You Can, comedian Lily Tomlin gave her a part in her 1981 film The Incredible Shrinking Woman. She made subsequent appearances on Laverne & Shirley, Buffalo Bill, The Jeffersons, and Newhart. In 1984, Brown released her first EP, a five-song album called Goddess in Progress. The album parodies popular '80s music combined with her valley-girl personality. The songs "'Cause I'm a Blonde" and "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" received international radio airplay. In 1987, Brown released her first full-length album, Trapped in the Body of a White Girl. The album's music videos received airplay on MTV. In 1989, she created and starred in the MTV comedy and music-video show Just Say Julie. She played the role of a demanding, controlling, and pessimistic glamour-puss from the valley, making fun of popular music acts, while at the same time introducing their music videos. Her run on MTV overlapped with that of Downtown Julie Brown, causing confusion and dismay. “She’s kind of a loon. The only thing we had in common was our names and that we were on MTV at the same time,” Julie Brown later said of Downtown. “This is my new idea: When people look at me and go, ‘Are you Downtown Julie Brown?’—and they’re obviously not seeing a Black woman—I think I should go ‘Yes.’” In 1989, CBS commissioned a pilot titled Julie Brown: The Show, featuring Brown as the hostess of a talk show. She would interview celebrity guests, interspersed with scripted scenarios. The pilot was aired, but the show was not picked up. Brown's film career began in 1988 with the release of the film Earth Girls Are Easy, written by, produced by, and featuring Brown. It was based loosely on a song by the same name from her debut EP. The film also starred Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, and then-unknown comedians Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans. In 1990, she appeared in the film The Spirit of '76. In 1991, NBC commissioned a half-hour comedy pilot titled The Julie Show. Created by Brown, Charlie Coffey, and director and executive producer David Mirkin, it followed actress Julie Robbins (Brown), who goes to great lengths to land an interview with teen singer Kiki (Kim Walker) in the hopes of getting hired as a tabloid-TV celebrity journalist. Developed under the working title The Julie Brown Show, it starred Marian Mercer as Julie's mother, June; DeLane Matthews as Debra Deacon, a reporter on the fictional series Inside Scoop; Susan Messing as Julie's roommate Cheryl; and Kevin O'Rourke as Inside Scoop producer Tony Barnow. Brown also served as producer and performed the theme song. In 1992, Brown starred on the Fox sketch comedy show The Edge. The same year, she released the Showtime television film Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful, a satire about Madonna and her backstage documentary, Truth or Dare. She followed with another satire, Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 In. Women, which lampooned the violence of ice skater Tonya Harding toward rival Nancy Kerrigan, as well as that of widely publicized mutilator Lorena Bobbitt. Brown has contributed voices to various cartoons, including Animaniacs as the voice of Minerva Mink, Aladdin as Saleen, and as the original voice of Zatanna in Batman: The Animated Series. She guest-starred on Tiny Toon Adventures as Julie Bruin, a cartoon bear version of herself, in which she guest-starred in her own segment "Just Say Julie Bruin", a reference to her music video show. Brown appeared as Coach Millie Stoeger in the 1995 film Clueless, reprising the role on ABC's 1996–1999 spin-off television series, for which she also served as a writer, producer, and director. In 1998, Brown appeared in the parody film Plump Fiction. In 2000, she created the series Strip Mall for Comedy Central network. Since 2004, Brown has been a commentator for E! network specials, including 101 Reasons the '90s Ruled, 101 Most Starlicious Makeovers, 101 Most Awesome Moments in Entertainment, and 50 Most Outrageous TV Moments. In 2005, Brown purchased the rights to her Trapped album from the record label and reissued it herself. She also self-released a single, "I Want to Be Gay". The single was originally released on Compact Disc only in a cardboard sleeve and made available exclusively through her website, or through eBay (via her own sales representative). It later became available for digital download. In 2007, she also purchased the rights to her 1984 E.P. Goddess in Progress and re-released it as a full-length record with compiled unreleased tracks. Later that year, she began touring with her one-woman show, Smell the Glamour. In 2008, Brown co-wrote and appeared as Dee La Duke in the Disney Channel television film Camp Rock. The same year, she joined the cast of the Canadian television series Paradise Falls, and began releasing one-track digital singles. In 2011, she released an album called Smell the Glamour, which features satires of Lady Gaga and Kesha, and updated versions of her Medusa songs. Beginning in 2010, Brown began a recurring role as Paula Norwood, a neighbor and friend of the Heck family, on the ABC sitcom The Middle. From 2010 to 2015, she was a writer for Melissa & Joey, and played a gym teacher in one episode of the show. In 2012, she appeared with Downtown Julie Brown as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race.

In 1983, Brown married writer and actor Terrence E. McNally. They co-produced her first single, "I Like 'Em Big and Stupid". They divorced after six years. In 1994, Brown married Ken Rathjen, and together they have one son. She said in 2007 that she had recently divorced for the second time.

"I Like 'Em Big and Stupid" (w. B-side "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun") "Trapped in the Body of a White Girl" "Girl Fight Tonight!" "I Want to Be Gay" (sometimes titled "I Wanna be Gay") "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" "The Art of Being Fabulous" "Another Drunk Chick" (a parody of the Kesha song "Tik Tok") "Big Clown Pants" (a parody of the Lady Gaga song "Bad Romance")