Melanie Chartoff Movies and Career Information

Melanie Chartoff (born December 15, 1950) is an American actress. Among her most prominent roles are her voice role in Rugrats, her comedic work on the ABC series Fridays from 1980-1982, and on the early 1990s Fox sitcom Parker Lewis Can't Lose. She was born on December 15, 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut and attended West Haven High School. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Adelphi University. Chartoff's first TV role came in 1976 when she played a nurse on Search For Tomorrow, after which came an appearance in the 1978 motion picture American Hot Wax. Chartoff first became a nationally known figure on ABC's Fridays; that network's attempt to create its own version of Saturday Night Live. She immediately stood out on the series; partly thanks to her regular role as the anchor on the show's fake newscasts, but also due to her comedic skills (particularly a devastating impression of Nancy Reagan) and her remarkable good looks. On one episode of Fridays, she was cold-cocked on live TV when guest host Mac Davis failed to pull his punch during a skit. Between the demise of Fridays in 1982 and her return to a regular series in 1990 with Parker Lewis Can't Lose (in which she