Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, media personality, and LGBT rights advocate. A self-proclaimed "D-list celebrity", Griffin first gained recognition for appearances on two episodes of Seinfeld, and then for her supporting role on the NBC sitcom Suddenly Susan. She is now the star of the Bravo reality show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, for which she won two Emmy Awards as executive producer. She has also worked as a voice artist and red carpet commentator, in addition to several other career pursuits. In 2008 she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

Griffin was born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, and raised there and in nearby Forest Park. Her family is Irish Catholic, her mother, Margaret "Maggie" (née Corbally), was a hospital administrator; and her father, John Patrick Griffin, was an electronics store manager. She attended St. Bernadine's Elementary School in Forest Park and Oak Park and River Forest High School, where she graduated in 1978. After high school she attended Triton College in River Grove, Illinois later dropping out. Griffin is the youngest of five children — she has two older brothers, John and Gary, and an older sister, Joyce. Her other brother, Kenny, is deceased.

In her 2009 autobiography Official Book Club Selection, Griffin went on the record for the first time about the troubled life of Kenny Griffin. Detailing his history of drug abuse and wife/spousal battering, she also discussed how, though never prosecuted, she believed Kenny was a child molester; and further, how many of his female companions over the years revealed this. She additionally states that when she was eight years old, he would climb into bed with her and cuddle, whispering "sweet nothings" to her (though he never actually molested her.) After being told of his inappropriate contact with minors, Griffin chose to end her relationship with her brother.