Brooke Elliott

Brooke Elliot is an American Singer and Actress who was born on November 16, 1974 in Fridley, Minnesota. Brooke likes to sing; her parents have said that she began to sing when she was three years old and that they have video of her singing “You Light Up My Life. Brooke’s father is Robert Elliot and her mother is Kathleen Elliot. Brooke’s family moved quite a bit when she was young and she lived, at various times, in Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Illinois, until finally settling down in Riverview, Michigan. It was there that Brooke attended Gabriel Richard Catholic High school and began singing with her friends.  She was in the production of high school productions like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Richard III. Brooke sang the song “Friends” by Michael W. Smith at her high school graduation. Brooke Elliot then studied Musical Theatre Performance at Western Michigan University where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in 1988. She struggled when she was still young as she worked temp jobs or as a waitress. She once had a job in a 1950’s themed restaurant where she was required to dance on the tables every hour.

Brooke Elliot was taught how to act by Bob Krakower and she did voice classes from Jane Grace Kennedy.  Brooke Elliot got her first professional theatre role as Sugar Bowl in the US touring version of “Beauty and the Beast”. For her first Broadway role, Elliot credits Rosie O’Donnell, saying she made it possible for her to appear in Taboo together with Boy George. Even if the show closed after only 100 performances, it opened up a career for Brooke Elliot. Booke Elliot later appeared in Schonberg and Boublil's original Broadway musical, “The Pirate Queen”. She was in the original cast of the First National Tour of “Wicked” as well as the Broadway tour of Disney's “Beauty and the Beast”.

Mel Gibson’s “What Women Want” gave Brooke Elliot the acting breakthrough she needed.  Brooke Elliot’s first television role was in an episode of  “Law and Order: Trial by Jury”. In 2009, Brooke Elliot became the lead character in Lifetime Television’s “Drop Dead Diva” playing the character of Jane Bingum.  This helped her to increase her popularity and she got positive reviews for her role in the show. Brooke Elliott was the star of Lifetime's hit television series “Drop Dead Diva” for six seasons.  She is also the person who sang on the soundtracks to the series.

Brooke Elliott’s character, Jane Bingum, was embraced by woman everywhere as being the best thing that could happen to woman who have suffered or are still suffering from poor body image. In a blog in the Huffington Post, Kristen Houghton wrote “I love the fact that Brooke Elliott dresses beautifully and looks sexy. I remember too many times when shopping for a “something elegant, something sexy” outfit was made into pure torture by sales clerks who seemed to have it in for anyone over what they considered to be a “normal” size. ‘That won’t look good on you, dear’, I was told when I was looking at an elegant evening dress for a college formal. ‘That’s for slender girls.’ She goes on to say “Weight can dominate many aspects of a woman’s life, impacting everything from hairstyles (“Your face is too chubby for long hair”), to the color of the clothes we wear (“Black will make you look thinner”), to the way we are positioned in a picture (“Stand sideways; you’ll look skinnier”). A “little something extra” is considered to be a horrible thing!” Brooke Elliott has spoken freely of Hollywood’s disregard of plus-size women and the negative implications made about body image. Brooke Elliot is a plus size star who appreciates her weight. She encourages women who look like her to appreciate themselves as the way they are instead of aspiring for something different.

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In talking about the show “Drop Dead Diva”, Elliot is known for her famous quote “The majority of women in America look like me”.  In a 2010 interview, she argued that the average American woman could relate more to a plus-sized woman than your typical actress in Hollywood. This has since become an inspiration for many plus sized women. The New York Times described Elliot as “convincing, and even affecting at every turn.” She is plus fashion’s strongest promoter; even when she wears a size sixteen dress. She is not in hurry to lose weight.  She campaigns against weight loss in order to get a slender body and tells everyone to be happy with the weight they are at. Brooke Elliot is a happy girl and won the Gracie Award in the year 2010 in the Category of the Outstanding Female Rising star within the Comedy Series for the role she played in “Drop Dead Diva”. She was also nominated in the Prism Awards with the Satellite Award in the Performance in the Comedy series and in the Satellite Award for the Best actress in a series.

There is no record of Brooke Elliot’s ever having been married. However, some rumors say that she got married secretly but the name of the husband was not disclosed.  There is no information about any affair or any boyfriend that she may had but speculations as to who may end up as her future husband seem to hit the tabloid at least once a year.

Brooke Elliott most recently directed Season 1 of the new web-series, In Real Life, to be released soon and is currently eyeing a return to primetime. The actress is set as the female lead in ABC's untitled family comedy from Bobby Bowman. The Hollywood Reporter says that the show is inspired by Bowman’s childhood and that “the project revolves around a dysfunctional family that perseveres despite their differences and finds happiness in unexpected places.” Elliot will be featured in the role of the Mother. Elliott is repped by Innovative Artists and Gochman Law Group.

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