MFA in Acting - New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (1987).

Changed her name when she was 20 years old.

She wrote an off-Broadway play, "Wake Up, I'm Fat" in 1995.

Wears 12 earrings in her right ear to beat someone she knew who had 11.

Brother, Karl Manheim, is a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, CA.

Worked as a sign language interpreter at hospitals, where she would be in delivery rooms while babies were born to deaf mothers and fathers

Has a tattoo of Pegasus on her ankle.

Son, Milo Jacob, born in Los Angeles, weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces. [6 March 2001]

Received a master's degree in drama in 1987 from New York University.