Ricki Lake weekdays. The series was canceled in 2013 after a single season, but Lake won her first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Lake was born in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, to a secular Jewish family. Her parents are Jill (a homemaker) and Barry Lake (a pharmacist), but was largely brought up by her paternal grandmother, Sylvia Lake, until Sylvia's death in 1978. Lake attended Ithaca College for one year. Lake made her film debut as Tracy Turnblad, the lead character in John Waters's 1988 cult-classic "Hairspray". Lake also starred in other Waters films including "Cry-Baby" (with Johnny Depp and
Ricki Lake (TV series) Ricki Lake (TV series) Ricki Lake is a daytime tabloid talk show hosted by American actress Ricki Lake. The series debuted in syndication on September 13, 1993 and ended first-run episodes on May 21, 2004, though the series continued in reruns through the summer until August 27, 2004. The show specialized in sensationalist topics involving invited guests and incorporated questions and comments from a studio audience. But unlike most of the counterparts of the day, her primary audience was aimed at teenagers, young adults, college students, and urban viewers (who described themselves as "Generation X") rather than the 25+ audience