Kathy Najimy parents Samia ("née" Massery) and Fred Najimy, a postal worker. She was raised Maronite Catholic and attended Crawford High School. Najimy's film career began in the early 1990s, with a number of off-beat minor roles, but her first major role was in the 1992 comedy "Sister Act", in the role of Sister Mary Patrick. She reprised this role in 1993 in "Sister Act 2". She also starred in "Hocus Pocus" with Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker as the Sanderson sisters. She appeared with Ellen Degeneres in three episodes of her sitcom "Ellen", playing a different character each time (including
Bette Midler in Watertown, New York, who, determined to give her daughter all the opportunities she never had, ultimately makes a selfless sacrifice to ensure her happiness. The movie scored mediocre reviews, while Midler received her first Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress. She co-starred with Woody Allen in the 1991 film "Scenes from a Mall", again for Paul Mazursky. In the film, Allen's character reveals to his author wife Deborah, played by Midler, after years of a happy marriage, that he has had an affair, resulting in her request for divorce. The movie performed poorly, and received a mixed reception by