Biography

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Joan Rivers is a force of nature — and one of the hardest working celebrities in the world — comedienne, bestselling author, Tony-nominated actress, playwright, screenwriter, motion picture director, columnist, lecturer, syndicated radio host, Emmy Award-winning television talk-show host, jewelry designer, red-carpet fashion laureate, businesswoman and, most importantly to her, mother and grandmother.

The daughter of immigrant Russian parents, Joan created her own brand of irreverent, unconventional comedy to forge her remarkable rise to stardom in the entertainment world. Enduring humiliation and privation for nearly a decade playing tawdry clubs, Borscht Belt hotel, and Greenwich Village cabarets (“I was insanely persistent,” she says), Joan's career skyrocketed in 1965 when she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Within three years she was hosting That Show With Joan Rivers, one of the first syndicated daytime shows, and went on to become the first sole guest host of The Tonight Show. Her own The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers helped launch the Fox Network in 1986 and, in 1989, she returned to television with The Joan Rivers Show, winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host the following year — and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Using her unique gifts of humor, compassion and tenacity has enabled Joan to triumph over personal tragedy and attain extraordinary professional success. In a brilliant teaming with QVC in 1990, she launched the Joan Rivers Classics Collection of fine fashion jewelry, winning an ACE Award from the Accessories Council in 1997 and achieving unprecedented — and continuing — success with a record-breaking $200 million plus in sales. Using the business expertise she’s developed over the years, Rivers won the 2009 season of The Celebrity Apprentice.

One of the most naturally style-savvy women on the planet, consistently appearing on Best Dressed lists around the world, Joan, along with her daughter, Melissa, hosted E!'s red-carpet events from 1996 - 2004 when they signed a long-term contract with the TV Guide Channel, where they will continue their “must-see” red-carpet coverage as well as developing original programming and participating in the Channel's original specials and series. A Hollywood staple, Joan hosted the reality TV series, How’d You Get So Rich.

A pre-eminent connoisseur of fine art, antiques and vintage jewelry, Joan keeps her finger on the pulse of all the latest trends and is widely considered America's most visible, accessible and authoritative fashion spokesperson. Her firm belief that when women look their best they can be their best inspired her most recent partnering with QVC to launch Joan Rivers Beauty, a continually expanding line that encompasses her uniquely formulated Joan Rivers Results Skin Care line, color cosmetics and her luxury fragrances, Now & Forever and Pink Flowers Eau de Parfum. 

While continuing to headline at prestigious concert venues worldwide, Joan is always working on new projects. In April 2002, she brought her critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival one-woman show, Broke and Alone, to London's Theatre Royal Haymarket, receiving critical raves and the first standing ovation at the theatre in fourteen years. Joan then took the show to the State Theatres in Sydney and Melbourne where it received similar critical and audience response. Subsequent performances, including a week at the Canon Theatre in Los Angeles, have all garnered “hottest ticket in town” status. 

Good news travels fast and, before she knew it, Joan was back headlining at The Stardust in Las Vegas...and, in October of 2004, she returned to the U.K. for her first national concert tour. The Glasgow International Comedy Festival followed in March of 2005. But the U.K. was still clamoring for more, so in the fall of 2005, Joan returned to England for her second major tour in two years. In early 2008 her autobiographical play, The Joan Rivers Theatre Project: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, debuted in Los Angeles at the Geffen Playhouse to glowing reviews. The play is a four-character, part-confession, part-performance comedy drama based on Joan’s own rollercoaster life. While it hilariously presents the Joan that we know from her biographies, TV appearance and live stand-up shows, it also, quite movingly, reveals the woman that the public has never seen before. The performance traveled to the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in Summer 2008 and then moved to London’s West End as the premier production at the newly refurbished Leicester Square Theatre (formerly The Venue).

Author of ten books, she wrote the New York Times bestsellers Enter Talking and Still Talking. Don’t Count the Candles showed women how to be the best they can be and stay youthful, healthy and mellow at any age. In December 2008, Joan published her ninth book, titled Men are Stupid... and They Like Big Boobs: A Woman’s Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery (Simon & Schuster). Following that release, Joan published her most recent book, Murder at the Academy Awards: A Red Carpet Mystery (Simon & Schuster) in February 2009.

From her signature question, “Can we talk?” (officially a Federal trademark), to her red-carpet mantra, “Who are you wearing?” the woman who asks the questions gets the answers America… and the world… wants to hear.