Ricki Lake was born in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York as a blonde. She has one sister, Jennifer who is one year her junior. Their father Barry is a pharmacist and their mother Jill is a homemaker; the two currently reside in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ricki attended Hastings Elementary, went on to Farragut Middle, then attended Hasting High for two years.

At the end of her sophomore year, Ricki transferred to the Professional Children's School in New York City to focus on perfecting her acting craft. She had also starting singing professionally at age 9, in cabarets and clubs. After finishing high school, Ricki attended Ithaca College for one year; during her final exams, she received a call from her agent, telling her to audition for the lead in a John Waters film. Unsurprisingly, she landed the role as "Tracy Turnblad." Thus, Hairspray (1988) marked Ricki Lake's movie debut. She went on to act in 15 more movies, and she had a recurring role in ABC's China Beach (1988) for one season.

At one point in her life, she hit rock-bottom, then decided to take charge of her life and make a dramatic change. She began to eat right and exercise, and soon she had lost 125 pounds.

In 1993 Ricki was chosen out of 100 people to host her own daytime talk show, and after only three years, Ricki Lake (1992) became rated second in its time frame. Also in 1993, she met the man of her dreams. At a Halloween party, she locked eyes with Rob Sussman, a political illustrator who was to become her husband. It was love at first sight, on both sides. The two married in Las Vegas in March 1994--but divorced in 2004.

Ricki Lake at an event for The Business of Being Born (2008)

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Ricki Lake and Heather Gay in Heather Gay & Ricki Lake (2025)

Ricki Lake and Cynthia Nixon in Cynthia Nixon & Ricki Lake (2025)

Ricki Lake in Dan Savage's New Threat to Rick Santorum (2011)

Divine, Debbie Harry, Ricki Lake, and Vitamin C in Hairspray (1988)

Johnny Depp, Traci Lords, Ricki Lake, Iggy Pop, Jonathan Benya, Darren E. Burrows, Kim McGuire, and Scout Raskin in Cry-Baby (1990)

Dana Delany, Marg Helgenberger, Ricki Lake, Concetta Tomei, and Nancy Giles in China Beach (1988)

Matthew Lillard, Kathleen Turner, Ricki Lake, and Sam Waterston in Serial Mom (1994)

Johnny Depp and Amy Locane in Cry-Baby (1990)

Michelle Pfeiffer, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney, James Marsden, Elijah Kelley, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, and Nikki Blonsky in Hairspray (2007)

Ricki Lake

Ricki Lake

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