Lily Tomlin

The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.

Profile / Biography

On September 1, 1939 Lily Tomlin was born in Detroit, Michigan to Guy Tomlin, a factory  employee, and Lillie Mae Ford, a homemaker.

Beginning at the age of seven, Lily began working.  Lily mailed away “many grubby stuff  that was presented in the rear of a comical book.” The package was eleven dollars and her mother  bought it for her and Lily could not have it until the eleven dollars were paid off. So to get the package, Lily did odd jobs  for the tenants in her apartment complex for only a dime. When Lily Tomlin was 14 years old, she applied for work outside of her apartment complex and worked for quite a large number of years as a receptionist at a chiropractor’s office and as a clerk for numerous Detroit stores.

Lily Tomlin attended Wayne State University, at the age of 19, 1958. When Lily was at Wayne State University she was a premedical student that excelled in math and science. At Wayne State University was where Lily’s interest in the theater and performing arts began. Two years after  Lily attended Wayne State University in 1960, Lily left Wayne State University in her junior year and moved to New York. After college, Lily Tomlin began doing stand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and later, in New York.

Lily Tomlin’s first television appearance was on The Merv Griffin show in the year 1965.

Lily Tomlin was in a lot of television shows starting from 1969 to 2006.

Lily Tomlin has won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Tony Award, the Sarah Siddons Award, the Mark Twain prize for American Humor, and was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of fame. Lily Tomlin now lives in California with her partner Jane Wagner.