Top One Fat Girls In Television History
In the aftermath of America Fererra’s Glamour cover being airbrushed all to hell, it occurred to me that while the character of Ugly Betty is not thin, I suspect that she’s supposed to be normal rather than the extreme version of thin that exists in the fashion industry. Which is weird, because I always felt like Ugly Betty was one of my home girls (and apparently, somewhere along the way, I have started to use the phrase “home girls”).
So then I was going to write a post about the top ten fat girl characters in the history of television (avoiding reality shows) because I was interested in checking to see if there were any writers who were able to treat being fat as just another facet of the character rather than an opportunity for automatic jokes. And then I realized that while I could think of scores of fat guys on television (each with his own hot wife) and lots of older, fat ethnic women who are somehow allowed to be fat by their cultures, I could only think of one fat white chick under the age of 40, which was Natalie Green from The Facts of Life. I suppose you can count Roseanne Barr, but that role was specifically written for the actor and not some fanciful fat girl created during a late night session around the writer’s room.
So, BFDivas, I’m going to leave this to you. Tell me about your favorite fat girl characters from television, both from current shows or the golden age of television.
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I am going to give a shout out to Eve Myles from Torchwood because she isn’t a stick figure.
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/Eve%20and%20John.jpg
L. Scott Caldwell from LOST
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/35/Rose_Lost.jpg/250px-Rose_Lost.jpg
Sara Ramirez from Gray’s anatomy.
Melissa McCarthy (Sookie) from Gilmore Girls.
Susannah Constantine from the BBC “what NOt to Wear”.
Liz Snyder on Yes dear.
One more I forgot… Aida Turturro who played Tony’s sister on the Sopranos. Even though she was freaking mess, she was no more of a mess than any other of the characters on the show. But she is hot, and she did have love interests. And, she didn’t take no shit.
How did I forget Phyllis from The Office!?
The form letter from Glamour about the AF cover shot claims that she is a size 6-8 on top and a 10 on the bottom (or vice versa, but I remember the numbers). And I have seen Meryl Streep quoted as saying something about how her 14 Oscar nominations go perfectly with her size 14 body, which I totally don’t believe the second part of.
Damn, I posted a comment before on this thread and it seems to have been moderated out of existance :-(
So – without linkage. Camryn Manheim, Dawn French, Queen Latifah, Sara Ramirez, Vicky Hall and Jennie McAlpine (the final two are british actresses)
Don’t forget Kathy Bates, another one for the plus sized and +40 crowd.
Let’s see, on TV she did Six Feet Under (Bettina), bit parts in many other series, a lot of cartoon voice work, and a number of made for tv movies.
As a movie actress, remember she was the one who stripped naked in all her flabulous glory to skinny dip in the hot tub with Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt.
Natalie was awesome on The Facts of Life! Love that show.
Dawn French is probably my favorite. Vicar of Dibley is GENIUS, just lovely, my favorite show.
There are many bigger characters in Northern Exposure, including, in my opinion, the best character, which is Marilyn. Yes, she’s a woman of color; she’s Native American. She’s so beautiful, and she has her own storylines. Her size is never an issue.
I also love many of the women mentioned above, but for the sake of redundancy, I won’t name them all. :)
What about Cynthia Ettinger, who played Rita Mae on HBO’s Carnivale? Also Amanda Aday and Debra Christofferson from the same show. Both Cynthia Ettinger and Amanda Aday played “cootch” dancers and put on quite the sexy show.
Kathy Kinney ( from Drew Carey show)
Pam Grier (the L word)
Kirsten Vangsness, who plays Penelope Garcia on “Criminal Minds”
Caroline Quentin, anyone?
Another British actress; see [British] Men Behaving Badly or Kiss Me, Kate.
Anyone?
I love Carnivale. Very good call those who mentioned the dancers. Also, the bearded lady was fat. They are all strong characters that are not defined by their weight at all. They just happen to be heavier.
I love Caroline Quentin.
I’m glad someone mentioned Babes, because I couldn’t remember the name of the show, but I loved it. One of the sisters became a plus-sized model. They loved their bodies and their lives and they also talked about enjoying food in a way that felt natural. Their mother was played by Barbara Barrie, and I enjoyed that they broke free of the “fat breeds fat” stereotype. Clearly three fat sisters has a genetic component, but I have a small mom too (who doesn’t get it), so I related to that.
Sara Ramirez is amazing, her size is never mentioned, and she just dwarfs all the tiny women on that show.
Also I loved Amanda Aday on Carnivale. There was an explicit scene of her doing her strip show, and she was so boldly comfortable in her larger body (she’s Meatloaf’s daughter).
Linked here from the Big Fat Carnival. I have to also give a shout out to Lesly Boone from Ed. I also have to share my frustration with that character and story line. They started to explore the chemistry between Ed and Molly (Leslie’s character) but it never went anywhere. Its like it was so out of the ordinary that it couldn’t even be explored, even though IMO there was more chemistry between Ed and Molly than Ed and the other one (I forget the characters name).
And as with Ugly Betty, I’m not a fan because it seems to be the same old thing, “shes fat, shes ugly, blah blah blah, oh she gets the guy and its all good. when is she going to get some balls?
Nurse Kellye from M*A*S*H. Always competent, always socially popular, and her weight was not an issue. It’s true that she wasn’t in the inner circle of the group, but she was a constant from the early days of the show, and was always totally awesome.
Laura House on “Austin Stories,” but that was an ace comedian pretty much playing herself.
Mary Jo Pehl on “Mystery Science Theater,” but she was a writer for the show before getting on-air.
I love Phyllis on “The Office” (also a writer for the show who got on-air), but they do joke about her looks, at least. When she got flashed, Michael was all “They flashed Phyllis? Did they not see Pam? Or Karen from behind?”
Natalie Green rocks! “Who wants to be a skinny pencil? I’m a happy Magic Marker.”
Also, Bailey and Callie on “Grey’s Anatomy.”
It is hard to think of actresses, because even when a part calls for a fat actress, they cast a thin person and just put them in a fat suit.
Is it just me or is that demeaning as hell? I studied theatre all through college, and I knew that it wouldn’t be a career option. Even onstage, directors would rather cast a beautiful, young thin person and use make up and fat suits to make them fit a part for an older, plainer heavier person. It is a shame because there are many fat actresses that range from plain to beautiful to chose from.
Think about Gweneth in Shallow Hal, even Charlise in Monster. These beautiful women win oscars for having being made up to be fat and/or ugly. Why not give an actual fat woman a chance?
I’ve always had a spot (not soft) for Lisa Tarbuck.
Apart from the fact she’s very attractive and has a lovely womanly figure, she’s both sexy and funny. What a combination!
http://www.coolsmartphone.com/images/stories/lobster700/lisa-tarbuck.jpg
Check out picture and video of her!
http://www.rdfmanagement.com/clients/liza_tarbuck.html
Laura Harring from the Punisher and Sara Rue in Less that Perfect, but then Sara got all gangly and thin, but she had a leading part at a size 18. Also Sherri Shepherd had a role in Less Than Perfect and she’s no skinflint. I love all three!
I can’t believe it took that long to mention Kirsten Vangsness. She is super hot.
Ooh, Caroline Quentin! Now that’s a good actress. Also I suppose Beatie Eadney (sp?) is “TV fat”, though like Ferrerra she’s not what I’d call actually fat.
It’s sad actually to realise how many more average looking people there are on TV in the UK compared to America. And it does have an effect on people, because I know how much my own self image changed when I moved from the UK to America. As a kid I used to hear American men whining about that, how not everyone (by which they meant the women) on British TV is beautiful. Which was like…yeah, and? Are we really supposed to believe a neighborhood in the East End is populated mostly by models who for some reason have ordinary jobs?
Apparently that IS what we’re supposed to believe in America.
what about “Dena” (Melissa Mccarthy again) from “Samantha Who?”
i think they show real problems that fat girls confront (“Andrea” did mock her, “Sam” used to ignore her till the accident, etc)
and i really like America Ferrera, but she’s almost thin! What’s the matter with her size?
here, in brazilian soap operas, fat girls are always eating, being humiliate and getting alone (i mean, single) along the plot
Plus she was like a size 14 back when she did ‘Real Women Have Curves’ and has only been losing a dress size a year since and plateau fairly recently to like an 6 on top 8 on bottom which is still quite a normal size compared to the normal sticks of Hollyweird and NY/Paris Fashion
Also what about the chick who played November on Dollhouse? http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2229700608/nm2829954 (on the right) and Polly Walker of Caprica. SciFi is pretty good about having women from the superstick to the superfat and not commenting on it at all.
I like the dog in the first picture , what breed is it? Thanks