Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett (Carol Creighton Burnett, born April 26, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, singer and writer who has played both comedic and dramatic roles on stage, television and film.

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, she later moved with her family to Hollywood, attended Hollywood High School and went on to study theater and musical comedy at UCLA. She then moved to New York, performed in nightclubs, and broke through on Broadway in 1959 in the musical Once Upon a Mattress, which earned her a Tony Award nomination. She soon became a regular on The Garry Moore Show and won her first Emmy Award in 1962.

From 1967 to 1978 she hosted and starred in the CBS comedy-variety series The Carol Burnett Show, an 11-year run; she was the first woman to host a comedy-variety series. The show combined comedy sketches, song and dance, and film parodies, and both she and the show won numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. Her films include Annie (1982). On television she won an Emmy for a guest role on Mad About You, and in recent years she has appeared in Better Call Saul (2022), Palm Royale (2024) and Hacks (2025).

In all she has won seven Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards, and she won a Grammy Award for recording the audiobook of her memoir In Such Good Company. Her other honors include a Special Tony Award in 1969, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2015. In 2019 the Golden Globes created the Carol Burnett Award for career achievement in television, and she was its first recipient.