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Tracey Ullman (born Trace Ullman; 30 December 1959) is an English television, stage, and film actress, as well as a comedian, singer, dancer, director, screenwriter, author, and businesswoman of dual British and American citizenship. Her early appearances were on British TV sketch comedy shows ''A Kick Up the Eighties'' (with Rik Mayall and Miriam Margolyes) and ''Three of a Kind'' (with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield). After a brief but high-profile singing career, she appeared as Candice Valentine in ''Girls on Top'' with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. She emigrated from the United Kingdom to the United States where she starred in her own network television comedy series, ''The Tracey Ullman Show'', from 1987 until 1990. She later produced programmes for HBO, including ''Tracey Takes On...'' (1996–99), for which she garnered numerous awards. Ullman's sketch comedy series, ''Tracey Ullman's State of the Union'', ran from 2008 to 2010 on Showtime. She has also appeared in several feature films. She is currently working on a new comedy series for the BBC. Ullman is currently the richest female British comedian; the third richest British comedian overall. She is also the second richest British actress (surpassed by Isla Fisher's marriage to comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as of 2015). ==Early life== Tracey Ullman was born Trace Ullman in Slough, Buckinghamshire,〔 the youngest of two daughters, to Dorin (née Cleaver), her British-Roma mother, and Antony John Ullman, her Polish Roman Catholic father. On the subject of the spelling of her name: "My real name is Trace Ullman, but I added the 'y'. My mother said it was spelled the American way, but I don't think she can spell! I always wanted a middle name. My mum used to tell me it was Mary but I never believed her. I looked on my birth certificate and I didn't have one, just Trace Ullman."〔''Look in TV Annual'' (Independent Television Books Ltd, 1984), p. 67.〕 Antony Ullman served in the Polish Army and was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940. He subsequently worked as a solicitor, a furniture salesman, and a travel agent. He also brokered marriages and translated among the émigré Polish community. Dorin recognized her youngest daughter's talent early on and encouraged her to perform.〔 In an interview with ''Fresh Air'' host Terry Gross, Ullman revealed that when she was six, her father, who had been recovering from a heart operation, died of a heart attack in front of her while the two were alone and as he was reading to her.〔(Tracey Ullman biography ). Movies.yahoo.com. Retrieved on 2 September 2011.〕 He was fifty years old. "When that happens to you as a child, you can face anything. You're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. If something great happens, you're like, 'Wow, that's great that happened, because it could have been crap. The most disappointing thing happened when you were younger ... You're just braver and if good things happen you're really grateful." Ullman, who had been living an upper-middle class life, was transported to Hackbridge with her older sister and her mother, who could barely make ends meet without their father's income. "After () died, our fortunes came and went because Mum couldn’t speak Polish and had to give up the business."〔 Mother Dorin would go on to take a host of odd jobs. "My mother was always doing strange things like driving parts around for a garage, all covered in oil and paid 10 pounds a week. But she was very funny, and our defence against hardship was having a great sense of humour."〔 On a separate occasion, on the subject of her mother's jobs, Ullman recalled: "() worked in a laboratory, testing food, and would bring home samples for our dinner. Sometimes she'd have to report that formula X had been found unfit for human consumption." Despite reality, Ullman's mother maintained that they were middle-class. "My mother always insisted on middle-class because we had money at one time. We're really lower-middle." Ullman credits her sense of humour to a feeling of classlessness as well as her mother's working class roots. "It comes from being classless, I think. My father was Polish and he died when I was six. And from being a little girl who went to gymkhana and had ponies, and went to a private school, and lived in a big house we suddenly didn’t have any money any more and had to go to a state school. And my mother’s family is all from South London, and we have a lot of uncles and friends over there. And when my father died they were very supportive, and they used to come down for the weekend - all these hordes of South London ''oiks''. They used to invade our big Posh Bucks home and use the swimming pool, ride the ponies, and they were so funny these blokes; they really affected my sense of humour ... But I think the man who ''really'' affected my sense of humour was my uncle Butch, he was called Butch Castle. He was a decorator from South London - lazy old sod. An he’s got the sharpest mind I’ve ever known; he’s so hysterically funny. And I wanted to be like him." In the aftermath of her father's death, her mother would slip into a deep depression and spend a lot of time in bed. In an effort to cheer her up, Ullman, along with her older sister, Patti, created and performed a nightly variety show on the windowsill in their mother's bedroom. “It was originally the Patti Ullman Show. So I’m a spin-off of my sister’s show, as she likes to point out.” In the show, Ullman would mimic neighbours, teachers, family members and celebrities such as Julie Andrews and Édith Piaf.〔 "Some kids can play the piano or kick a football; I could just impersonate everyone." She would also perform alone for herself after everyone had gone to bed. "I'd stand in front of the mirror and talk to myself until I fell asleep. I'd interview myself as women with problems. Women in documentaries who had three kids and chain-smoked and husbands in prison that hit them." Her mother would eventuality remarry to a man who Ullman has described as a maniac who drove a London taxi and had a son who stole. "We weren't the Brady Bunch, let me tell you." The marriage brought an end to the children's late night antics. "There was a new person in her bed now and I couldn't do my nightly performance any more. I was nine years old and my show had been cancelled." Alcoholism and domestic violence became a common occurrence in the household.〔 The marriage also resulted in the family moving around the country, with Ullman attending numerous state schools. Her flair for mimicry helped with the transitions as her new classmates didn't take to her upper crust accent. "I had to talk like them to avoid being beaten up." Ullman wrote and performed in school plays, and it was there that she caught the eye of a headmaster who recommended that she attend a "special school." "I thought he meant a school for juvenile delinquents." Eventually her mother agreed and at age twelve she won a full scholarship to the Italia Conti Academy. Despite the encouragement she received from family, friends, and teachers, her big boost of confidence came from a very unlikely source: a clairvoyant who predicted that she would become famous, especially in America.〔Ullman, p. 141.〕 Some of her earliest work included an appearance on ''The Tommy Steel Show'' when she was thirteen, and as a model for ''My Guy'' magazine.〔 She would end up loathing Italia Conti saying, "I hated the pressure that many of the children were under. Many of the kids were forced to grow up too fast, their careers were being decided for them before they were 13. If I went to an audition then they’d always choose the sweetest, prettiest kid. I wasn’t obviously beautiful so I used to miss out." Ullman has also alleged that the owners taught their own children and that a certain level of favourtism seemed to exist. She also felt that the education she was receiving was of very little value. "These stupid teachers would come in and go, 'Good morning, darlings, lets all be dustbins!' I'd go, 'Oh, shut up! I wanna be a banana!'" The treatment she received at school led to her spending more time in pubs than in class. Despite her tardiness, she passed her O levels. Her interest in theatre began to wane and her family could no longer afford tuition; she then set her sights on becoming a travel agent like her late father. At sixteen, she was goaded into attending a dance audition by some school friends, under the impression that that she was applying for Summer season in Scarborough. The audition resulted in a contract with a German ballet company for a revival of ''Gigi'' in Berlin.〔John J. O'Connor (TELEVISION REVIEW; A Case of Multiple Personalities ). New York Times. 24 January 1996〕 The gig provided an escape from her unhappy life in Hackbridge. Upon returning to England, she joined the "Second Generation" dance troupe, performing in London, Blackpool and Liverpool.〔(Tracking Tracey ). Retrieved 1 April 2007.〕 Her dancing career would come to an abrupt halt when she forgot to wear underwear during a performance. She subsequently branched out into musical theatre and was cast numerous West End musicals including ''Grease'', ''Elvis The Musical'', and ''The Rocky Horror Show''.〔(History Of The RHPS ). Retrieved 1 April 2007.〕 Disillusioned with the entertainment industry, she sought full-time employment by working in a paper products distribution company. Her boredom with the job led to her competing in a contest at London's Royal Court Theatre, ''Four in a Million''; an improvised play about club acts.〔(Portman Films: Tracey Takes On ). Retrieved 1 April 2007. 〕 She created the character Beverly, a born-again Christian chanteuse. The performance was a big success and won her the London Theatre Critics Award as Most Promising New Actress.〔(The BPI Awards 1984 ). Retrieved 1 April 2007.〕 At this point the BBC became interested, which led to a successful career in television. She would soon go on to become a household name in Britain, with the British media referring to her as 'Our Trace.' With fame came intense scrutiny of her personal life. The press became increasingly aggressive, printing untrue or exaggerated stories, soliciting information from people who supposedly knew her. An ex-boyfriend sold his story about his life with her to ''News of the World''. "He appeared on television with my dog saying, 'I'm going to tell you about the real Tracey Ullman. Aren’t we Lilly?'"〔Stated in ''Tracey Takes On... "Scandal"''〕 When she hastily married Allan McKeown in 1983, it made front page news all over the country with the press placing bets on how long the marriage would last; it would last nearly thirty years until his death in 2013. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tracey Ullman」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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