Elizabeth Littleford (born July 17, 1968) is an American actress and comedian known as an original correspondent on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'' from 1996 to 2000. For performing on ''The Daily Show'', she won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

in 2015. Outside of ''The Daily Show'', Littleford has acted in the sitcoms ''Spin City'' (1998–2000), '' I'm in the Band'' (2009–2011), ''The Hard Times of RJ Berger'' (2010–2011), and '' Dog with a Blog'' (2012–2015). Her film appearances include the romantic comedy ''Crazy, Stupid, Love'' (2011) and the anthology comedy ''Movie 43'' (2013).

Early life

Littleford was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, the daughter of Jackie, a professor, and Philip O. Littleford, a cardiologist and inventor. She grew up in Winter Park, Florida and attended the Park Maitland School. Her father and brother died when she was sixteen in a pontoon plane accident during an Alaskan fishing trip. A

National Merit Scholarship Program The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships. The program is managed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded not-for-profit ...

finalist in high school, she attended

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

in Pennsylvania for three years before taking up acting classes at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

; she eventually graduated from

The New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR), previously known as The University in Exile and The New School University, is a graduate-level educational division of The New School in New York City, United States. NSSR enrolls more than 1,000 stud ...

Career

Early in her acting career, Littleford worked in improvisational theatre with the Chicago City Limits group, founded a

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

troupe, and wrote her own one-woman show, ''This Is Where I Get Off'', which she performed with the Circle Repertory Company. Littleford is perhaps most famous for her pioneering role as one of the original female correspondents on ''

''. Littleford's segments on the show were satirical celebrity interviews in the style of

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (September 25, 1929December 30, 2022) was an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, she appeared as a host of numerous television programs, ...

, and used soft focus

cinematography Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (optics), lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sen ...

for comic effect, in that almost nothing in the interviews were visually discernable to the viewer. In 2015, Littleford received a

for her groundbreaking work on ''

with

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...

'' from 1996 to 2000 as the show's "Original Female Correspondent." Her time on the ''Daily Show'' brought her to the attention of actor/producer

Michael J. Fox Michael Andrew Fox (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American actor and activist. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom ...

. Fox was the lead and executive producer of the Sitcom '' Spin City''. Two years after she began on ''The Daily Show,'' she secured a recurring part of Deirdre West on Fox's show, ''Spin City''. She has guest-starred on numerous television programs beginning in the late 1990s: ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'', ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'', and ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...

''. Littleford was also a celebrity commentator on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

's '' I Love the 80s Strikes Back'' in 2003, '' I Love the 90s'' in 2004, '' I Love the 90s: Part Deux'' in 2005, '' I Love the New Millennium,'' and ''The Great Debate'' in 2009. She was the female lead on the short-lived Fox series ''

Method and Red ''Method & Red'', sometimes written ''Meth and Red'', is an American television sitcom that originally ran on Fox from June 16 to September 15, 2004. It starred hip hop recording artists Method Man & Redman, portraying fictionalized versions o ...

'', and also starred as Ben Tennyson's mother Sandra in '' Ben 10: Race Against Time'', and reprised the role in the '' Ben 10: Alien Force'' episode 20 and again in '' Ben 10: Ultimate Alien''. She has appeared in TV commercials for Laughing Cow cheese, Cascade, and a hotel chain. Littleford starred in the

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Entertainment units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years old ...

original show '' I'm in the Band'', the 2010 Disney Channel film '' Starstruck'', and played Suzanne Berger on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's '' The Hard Times of RJ Berger,'' Dana on ABC's ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

,'' and the realtor on ''The Fosters''. More recently, she had a starring role as Ellen Jennings in the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

original series '' Dog with a Blog'' and a guest appearance on '' Dead to Me'' on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. In 2021, Littleford was in the film '' Senior Moment'' starring

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

Jean Smart Jean Elizabeth Smart (born September 13, 1951) is an American actress. Jean Smart filmography, Her work includes both comedy and drama, and List of awards and nominations received by Jean Smart, her accolades include six Primetime Emmy Awards a ...

and Christopher Lloyd.

Personal life

Littleford lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. She was married to Rob Fox, a director and producer who worked alongside her on ''The Daily Show'', from 1998 to 2015; they had a son (b. 2005) and an adopted daughter (b. 2012). Fox died in 2017.

Filmography

Film

Television

Podcasts

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Littleford, Beth American women comedians Living people Actresses from Nashville, Tennessee Actresses from Florida Swarthmore College alumni New York University alumni The New School alumni American television actresses American film actresses American voice actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Comedians from Nashville, Tennessee Comedians from Florida 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians 1968 births