Today is Lily Tomlin’s birthday. Born on this day, September 1, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan, Mary Jean “Lily” Tomlin graduate of Cass Technical High School . Tomlin attended Wayne State University where she originally studied biology. She auditioned for a play which sparked her interest in a career in the theater and she changed her major.
After college, Tomlin began doing stand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and later in New York City. She continued studying acting at the HB Studio. Performing Off-Broadway during the 1960s., her breakout role was performing as a cast member on the variety show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In from 1969 until 1973.
She currently stars on the Netflix series Grace and Frankie as Frankie Bergstein. Her performance as Frankie garnered her three consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Her one actor play “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,” which opened on Broadway in 1985, won Tomlin the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play.
She won her first Emmy Awards in 1974 for writing and producing her own television special, Lily.
Tomlin won a Grammy Award for her 1972 comedy album This Is a Recording.
In 2014, she was given Kennedy Center Honors and in 2017 she received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.