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Janice "Jan" Hooks (born April 23, 1957) is an American actress and comedian best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL), on which she appeared from 1986 to 1991.
She was born in Decatur, Georgia, near Atlanta. Hooks began her career as a member of the Los Angeles-based comedy troupe The Groundlings. In 1978–1979, she appeared in The Bill Tush Show on Ted Turner's television station WTCG, which eventually became TBS. She later achieved notice on the HBO comedy series Not Necessarily the News in the early 1980s. Jan also had guest comedian appearances on Comedy Tonight with Mack and Jamie in the mid 1980s.
Hooks was first considered for SNL in 1985, but at that time, the show's producers chose Joan Cusack instead. After SNLs 1985 season proved to be a ratings disaster, returning producer Lorne Michaels offered Hooks a contract in 1986. Together with new recruits Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and others, Hooks helped put the show back in the national spotlight. Her characters included one half of "The Sweeney Sisters" with Nora Dunn. She also performed notable impressions of Bette Davis, Ann-Margret, Betty Ford, Brooke Shields, Nancy Reagan, Sinéad O'Connor, Jodie Foster, Tammy Faye Bakker, Kathie Lee Gifford, Kitty Dukakis, and Hillary Clinton. Her five-year stint on Saturday Night Live is all the more amazing because she has admitted to having extreme stage fright.