Printable Biography of Kirstie Alley

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Kirstie Alley (born January 12, 1951, in Wichita, Kansas) is an American actress. Alley attended college at Kansas State University and the University of Kansas, but dropped out in her sophomore year to pursue acting.

First seen as a contestant on the game shows Password and Match Game in the 1970s, Alley won a supporting role in the 1982 movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, playing Vulcan officer Lieutenant Saavik. Alley turned down the role of Saavik in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock because she didn't want to be typecast as a science fiction actress. Alley also co-starred in a short-lived secret agent television series, Masquerade and the acclaimed miniseries North & South.

Alley rose to prominence in her 1987-1993 role as the neurotic corporate executive Rebecca Howe on the long-running hit TV series Cheers, replacing Shelley Long. She later starred in the movie Look Who's Talking with fellow Scientologist John Travolta. Both that film and its sequel, Look Who's Talking Too earned more than $100 million at the box office.

Her NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet ran for three seasons in the late 1990s. Alley reportedly received $2 million in up-front fees for her work on that series and $150,000 per episode.

Alley has been honored with two Emmy Awards during her career. After being nominated twice for her work on Cheers to no avail, on her third nomination in 1991, she took home the statuette for that series. In her speech, she thanked then-husband Parker Stevenson for giving her "the big one." Talk show hosts, as well as the creators of Cheers, poked fun at the quip for weeks afterward. Alley won her second Emmy for her portrayal of the title role in the made-for-TV movie drama David's Mother (1994).

Kirstie Alley was married to Parker Stevenson from 1983 to 1997. During their marriage, the couple adopted a boy and then later a girl; Alley also experienced a miscarriage as well as a stillbirth. According to media reports at the time of the couple's divorce, Stevenson walked away from the marriage with a healthy $6 million settlement, after asking for $75,000 per month in alimony from Alley. At the time of their split, Alley and Stevenson were joint owners of a mansion in Encino, California, complete with exotic animals, plus vacation homes in Islesboro, Maine, and Kansas. The couple owned two yachts and several high-performance cars. Today, they share joint custody of their children.

In 2005, after her weight increased, she headlined a sitcom for Showtime called Fat Actress. The show details the daily life of an overweight actress trying to make it in Hollywood. Recently Alley stated that she has not had sexual relations in four and one-half years, due to the fact she didn't want to have "fat sex". Alley has become an advocate against obesity and is a spokeswoman for the Jenny Craig weight-loss program; TV ads document her weight loss. [1]

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Kirstie Alley has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd.

She was also the only living Cheers cast member who never reprised her role on the 1993-2004 spin-off sitcom Frasier.