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 pop standards "Winter Wonderland"/"Let It Snow" with Johnny Mathis. Well-received, the album garnered a Grammy Award nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2007. The same year, Midler returned to the big screen, appearing in "Then She Found Me", Helen Hunt's feature film directorial debut. Also starring Hunt along with Matthew Broderick and Colin Firth, the comedy-drama film tells the story of a 39-year-old Brooklyn elementary school teacher, who after years is contacted by the flamboyant host of a local talk show, played by Midler, who introduces herself as her biological mother. Critical response to the film was mixed;