Amy Sedaris's Real Name: Amy Sedaris

Quick answer: The comedian works under her own name, Amy Sedaris. An Encyclopedia.com reference entry gives her birth as March 29, 1961, in Endicott, New York, and a Library of Congress record gives the same date and town. The Second City says she was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the sister of writer David Sedaris, with whom she wrote plays as "The Talent Family."

Real name and early life

The Encyclopedia.com reference entry gives "Born March 29, 1961, in Endicott, NY," and names her parents as Lou, an IBM employee, and Sharon, a homemaker. The Library of Congress authority file independently records the same date and birthplace.

Encyclopedia.com says she was raised in North Carolina with two brothers and three sisters and that the family wrote and performed their own plays. The Second City's alumni page specifies Raleigh. Encyclopedia.com says she worked at a Winn-Dixie grocery store and in restaurants after high school, then moved to Chicago on David's advice.

Career highlights

The Second City says she joined the company in the late 1980s, rose through its Touring Company, and by 1990 was on the resident stage at Second City Northwest in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, performing in revues with Steve Carell and Paul Dinello before moving to the Mainstage. Encyclopedia.com dates her joining to the early 1990s, so the two accounts differ slightly. Encyclopedia.com says she created early characters with Dinello and Stephen Colbert.

Both sources say she and David wrote plays together as the Talent Family. Encyclopedia.com lists Stitches (1994), One Woman Shoe (1995), which earned an Obie special citation, Incident at Cobbler's Knob (1997), and The Book of Liz (2001). It also lists a 2002 Lortel Award for outstanding featured actress.

The Second City says she co-developed the Comedy Central sketch show Exit 57 with Dinello, featuring Colbert, and then wrote Strangers with Candy with Dinello and Colbert. Encyclopedia.com says she played the show's main character and dates it to 1999–2000; both note the 2006 film version. Encyclopedia.com lists TV roles on Sex and the City, Monk, and My Name Is Earl and films including Six Days, Seven Nights, Maid in Manhattan, and Shrek the Third.

The Second City says she voiced Princess Carolyn on BoJack Horseman and began starring in At Home with Amy Sedaris in 2017, which it calls a send-up of Martha Stewart. Both sources list her book I Like You, and the Second City adds Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Amy Sedaris are looking for the comic actress. David Sedaris is her brother, not an alias, and "The Talent Family" is the name the siblings used for their joint plays.