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
Sarah Jessica Parker she starred in the independent romantic comedy "All Roads Lead to Rome", as an American journalist revisiting Italy with her rebellious daughter. Beginning in 2016, Parker has executive produced and starred in the HBO dramedy series "Divorce", as a married woman who has an affair which precipitates her divorce. Drawn to the "complexity and promise" of the story she was also intrigued by the doubtful likeability of her character, remarking: "I like that Frances is very real to me. She's both honorable and messy. She’s both exacting and untethered, but I think she's a very real person." The series has