Speakers Julia Sweeney: Actor, comedian, playwright
Julia Sweeney is an actor and writer who does comedic solo shows that tackle deep issues: cancer, family, faith. Her next book is "If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother," on parenting and being parented. She performs regularly with Jill Sobule, telling stories alongside Jill's songs, in their "Jill & Julia Show."
Why you should listen to her:
Known for her four-year run on Saturday Night Live and her powerful solo shows, Julia Sweeney is carving out her own territory in entertainment, one that moves between the personal and the political, the controversial and the comical. Her recent piece, Letting Go of God, traces a spiritual journey that takes an unexpected turn toward science (a turn that, incidentally, also led her to TED) and ends with atheism.
In this, as in all her performances, Sweeney projects a warmth and sincerity on stage that's unmatched in today's theater; you immediately feel you're chatting with an old friend. And this gift of intimacy allows her to achieve the impossible: an utterly disarming show that honestly confronts the most controversial topic of our times. Her earlier shows, God Said “Ha!” and In the Family Way also garnered praise and prizes for their pairings of humor and poignant truth.
"Without breaking her affably conversational tone, in Letting Go of God she inhabits the emotional memory of each step on her path."New York Times
Quotes by Julia Sweeney
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“Our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to come visit … Santa, who was jolly — but, let’s face it, he was also very judgmental.”
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“I had taken my little eight-year-old’s hand and taken her right into Internet porn.”
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Julia Sweeney: Letting go of God
- 16:32 Posted: Jul 2006
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The Jill and Julia Show
- 06:14 Posted: Feb 2008
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Julia Sweeney has "The Talk"
- 05:16 Posted: May 2010
Julia Sweeney on the Web
Related Speakers
Conferences
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- TED2007