Rachel Dratch

Rachel Dratch
Rachel Dratch, an alum of NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live appears as Denise Battaglia, Spence's on-and-off again girlfriend on "The King of Queens".
Birthname	Rachel Susan Dratch
Born	(1966-02-22) February 22, 1966
Birthplace	Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, comedienne, author
Years active	1987-present
Character on King of Queens	Denise Battaglia
Seasons/Episodes	6 episodes, 2 seasons, 2002-04

Rachel Dratch (born February 22, 1966) who plays Denise Battaglia on The King of Queens is an comic actress, best known for her roles as a cast member of Saturday Night Live.

Biography

Early life and education

Rachel was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, the daughter of Elaine, a transportation director, and Paul Dratch, a radiologist. Her younger brother, Daniel, is a television producer and writer, most recently on the USA Network series Monk. Dratch grew up the "class clown type", attending William Diamond Middle School and then Lexington High School there in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Rachel then attended the National Theater Institute in the fall of 1986, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1988, where she majored in drama and psychology and was a member of the improvisational comedy group "Said and Done".

Career

Dratch was a member of the mainstage cast of the Second City comedy troupe for four years. She received the Joseph Jefferson award for Best Actress in a Revue for the latter two revues in which she performed: Paradigm Lost and Promisekeepers, Losers Weepers. At Second City, she performed alongside future SNL head writers Adam McKay and Tina Fey, as well as future 30 Rock performer Scott Adsit. The first incarnation of her SNL "Wicked" sketch was performed in Second City's Paradigm Lost. In addition to acting, Dratch also played the cello onstage. The theater also hosted the first incarnation of Dratch & Fey (her critically praised two-woman show with Tina Fey), which was later performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, where it was dubbed "the funniest thing to be found on any New York comedy stage" by Time Out New York.

Rachel wrote , directed, and performed in The Vagina Monologues which was shown in 2001 at the New York Comedy Film Festival.

Rachel has appeared in several movies, including Martin & Orloff, The Hebrew Hammer, Down with Love, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Click, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Spring Breakdown, and My Life in Ruins. She also has joined fellow SNL cast members on A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T.: Improv, which aired September 7, 2005, on the Bravo channel. Dratch also made television appearances on NBC's Third Watch and in a recurring role on King of Queens (playing Denise, the on-off girlfriend of Spence, who worked in a bowling alley). Other television appearances include Monk, Frasier, Wizards of Waverly Place, 30 Rock, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and, more recently, the season three finale of Ugly Betty. She recently appeared online with comedian Billy Eichner in a spoof of rapper Jay-Z's and Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind," titled "Forest Hills State of Mind."

Dratch was originally cast in the role of Jenna on 30 Rock, and the original pilot episode features her in the role. It did not test well, and the role was recast. She went on to play a variety of small guest roles in several episodes of the first season, including Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Taylor, a cat trainer, a maid and a blue monster.

Rachel, who has also appeared on the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba!, also voices Koi and Esmargot from the show Fish Hooks.

On March 19th, 2012, Dratch's first memoir, Girl Walks Into A Bar: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle was published. In Girl Walks Into A Bar... Dratch recounts her experiences after being recast in the 30 Rock pilot, including the birth of her first child.

External links

• Rachel Dratch at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)