Cheryl Ruth Hines was born September 21, 1965, in Miami Beach, Florida. Her parents were Rosemary Graham Harbolt and her father, who was a self-confessed redneck. Hines was subsequently raised in Tallahassee, Florida, where she attended high school and Young Actors Theatre. She pursued her secondary education at West Virginia University, but later transferred to Florida State University. She transferred one last time to University of Central Florida where she majored in communications and minored in theater.
Finding the acting scene a bit stagnant in Florida, Hines moved across the nation to the acting hub of Los Angeles, California. Rather than dive right into auditions for commercials, television, or film, Hines decided to first hone her skills. To that end, she began studying improvisation comedy at The Groundlings Theater. She even studied with Friends superstar Lisa Kudrow. In addition to improvisation, Hines also received extensive practice and training in writing sketch comedy.
Finally ready to put her new skills to the test, Hines made her onscreen debut in 1996 with the film short Cheap Curry and Calculus. Subsequent work, however, proved slow. She did manage to land several one-episode appearances on popular television shows such as Suddenly Susan, starring Brooke Shields, Kathy Griffin, and Judd Nelson, but she was by no means a well-known face to the public.
That changed, however, in 1999. She auditioned for and landed a lead in the mock-umentary HBO television series Curb Your Enthusiasm, opposite Seinfeld creator Larry David. The pilot was picked up, and the resulting show ran for six successful seasons. Notable guest appearances included Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Wanda Sykes, Julia Louis Dreyfus, and Mel Brooks.
Hines’s background in improvisation proved especially helpful for her role as Cheryl David. With only a general plot line but no actual script to work with, the actors improvised their way through each episode. For her fast-thinking, quick-talking wit, Hines was awarded an Emmy nomination in 2006.
Supplementing her success from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hines also voiced a character on the short-lived but well-received animated television series Father of the Pride. Other actors to lend their voice talents were John Goodman, Carl Reiner, and Orlando Jones.
She also appeared in Herbie Fully Loaded in 2005, opposite all-star cast Lindsay Lohan, Michael Keaton, Matt Dillon, Breckin Meyer, and Justin Long.
In recent years, she appeared with Robin Williams, Jeff Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Hutcherson, and Joanna Levesque (JoJo) in the poorly received RV, and she had a more successful turn in the romantic comedy Waitress, with Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion.
Hines married chairman of The Groundlings Theater, Paul Young, on December 30, 2002. They welcomed their first child, Catherine Rose, on March 8, 2004.
YUDDY
