Ricki Lake

Ricki Lake burst onto the Hollywood scene in 1988 after playing the lead, Tracy Turnblad, in Hairspray. She went on to star in Babycakes, Cry-Baby and Moon Manor.

Her TV credits include China Beach, Gravedale High and King of Queens. Lake appeared in the 2007 movie reboot of Hairspray as a talent agent and made a cameo during 2016’s Hairspray Live! as Pinkette. She is also a producer having worked on Weed the People and The Business of Birth Control.

Lake became the youngest person to host a daytime talk show when her first syndicated series, Ricki Lake, premiered in 1992. She was 24 years old at the time. The show ran until 2004. Her second talk show, The Ricki Lake Show, premiered in 2012 and lasted one season.

In 2019, Lake competed on The Masked Singer as the Raven. That same year, she competed on The X Factor: Celebrity. In December 2024, she collaborated with Stone Road Farms to launch a cannabis product called Ricki Lake & Bake.

The actress was married to illustrator Rob Sussman from 1994 to 2003. The exes share two sons, Milo and Owen. Lake moved on with jewelry designer Christian Evans, whom she wed in 2012. They called it quits in 2014, finalizing the divorce one year later. Lake has been married to Ross Burningham since 2022.