The Big Gay Sketch Show › Season 1

Amanda Bearse

- DIRECTOR. Best known for her portrayal of Marcy Rhoades D'arcy, the manic, feminist/careerist neighbor on the long running series MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN, Amanda Bearse is also a prominent spokesperson for lesbian and gay rights in the entertainment industry and a very busy director on television. Born in Winter Park, FL, Bearse came to acting through high school and community theater and later moved to New York, where she studied acting with Sanford Meisner. Her first major acting role was as Amanda Cousins on the daytime drama ALL MY CHILDREN from 1982 to 1984. Her early film appearances consisted of small roles in features such as FIRST AFFAIR (made for television) and FRIGHT NIGHT, before MARRIED...WITH CHILDREN came along in 1987. Originally, her portrayal and image were that of a perky supporting player but as the series evolved, the writing for her character did as well and her portrayal became harder, much funnier, and much edgier. Bearse also studied directing at the American Film Institute and U.S.C., and most viewers were less aware of the fact that from the middle of the series' run, she became one of the program's regular directors. During this period she emerged as a spokesperson for gay and lesbian rights, declaring her sexuality openly in October 1993 as part of National Coming Out Day and thus becoming the Human Rights Campaign first 'poster child'. After the end of the series' run of ten seasons, Bearse concentrated largely on directing and has been behind the camera for over sixteen years, helming over 100 episodes of sitcoms. Before BIG GAY SKETCH SHOW, Bearse directed multiple episodes over several seasons of MADTV.

Erica Ash

- Erica Ash was raised internationally as a child of military parents and calls Atlanta, Georgia her home. She started her career in Tokyo, Japan when she "fell into" a gig as a back up singer to a Japanese artist. Erica spent three years there modeling, singing and dancing before moving to New York to get her feet wet as an actor. She loves to travel and has lived in Germany, England, Japan and all over North America. Erica recently starred as Nala in the touring company for Disney's "The Lion King". Always in love with performance and laughter, her love of stage comedy brought her to "The Big Gay Sketch Show".

Dion Flynn

- Dion Flynn is an actor, writer, and improv comic who lives and works in the NYC area. Dion holds an MFA in acting from New York University. He calls the People's Improv Theater his artistic home where he performs with "The Faculty". You've seen him lending on-screen commentary to VH1's "Best Week Ever", "Supersecret TV Formula's" and "Greatest Cheesetastic Videos". He appeared in the Fox sketch-comedy "40 Whacks" with Jimmy Fallon and is half of the tragi-comic duo Farahnakian and Flynn with Ali Farahnakian. He performed stand-up comedy in NYC and the Republic of Korea for troops in US Army, and co-founded an improv troupe. Dion has appeared in Shakespeare in the Park's "Taming of the Shrew" with Alison Janney and the Public Theater's "Hamlet" with Liev Schrieber. Dion has appeared in the indie gay film "Under Heat" starring Lee Grant and wrote, directed, and performed the solo shows: "Unboozeming the Clown" and "How I Forgave the World (...and by 'The World' I mean my mother)". He's appeared in commercials for Sprint, Virgin Mobile, McDonald's (dir. Spike Lee), Coconuts Records and Fleet Bank. Dion brings dynamic talent to ranks of "The Big Gay Sketch Show".

Stephen Guarino

- Stephen Guarino is authentic river trash from the swamps north of Orlando where he swam with manatees and modeled briefly for JC Penney huskies. Stephen has performed improv comedy since he was 18 at SAK Comedy Lab, Florida State University, and Dad's Garage Theatre Co. of Atlanta. His proudest moment in NYC became co-creating and performing in "The Nuclear Family", a completely-improvised musical that transitioned from a downtown phenomenon into a successful Off-Broadway show and finally a Sundance Film Channel television series. Also, catch him on David E. Kelley's new FOX show "The Wedding Bells". Most importantly watch your back this spring on "The Big Gay Sketch Show" when his Ex-KGB-Ukrainian-Assassin-Chorus Girl 'Sveltana' dances up a death storm and Chad Michael dabbles in ice and glitter in Logo Life Tips.

Jonny McGovern

- Jonny McGovern first gained New York City notoriety with his one-man show "Dirty Stuff". As 'The Gay Pimp', an entirely original character persona, Jonny starred in the international hit music videos "Soccer Practice" & "Lookin' Cute/Feelin' Cute", recorded the popular CD "Dirty Gay Hits", appeared on Comedy Central, Vh-1 and was a correspondent for "The Ricki Lake Show". He is currently the host of iTunes #1 gay comedy podcast "Gay Pimpin' With Jonny McGovern" and his new music video "Somethin' For The Fellas (That Like The Fellas)" premieres on Logo April 1st. See more of Jonny at www.gaypimp.com and watch out for him in "The Big Gay Sketch Show" playing Oscar Wilde, swashbuckling on a lesbian cruise and giving homo-hints for everyday living on Logo Life Tips.

Kate McKinnon

- Kate recently graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Theater, and is thrilled to have put all her work with puppets and contact improvisation to good use in "The Big Gay Sketch Show". Now she writes and performs stand-up comedy and solo shows around New York City. She'd like to be Ellen Degeneres one day, but she'd probably settle for being a member of the pop/rock trio, "Hanson." She relishes playing ugly and/or British characters, like Fitzwilliam, the little transgendered boy from Switchinghamshire. Also look out for Kate as Rachael Ray, Heidi Klum, and the cello-playing half of the folk duo "Sappho's Lips".