Piano Prodigy Jude Kofie to Headline Project Harmony’s 30th Anniversary Gala
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United States Ricki Lake has built an Emmy Award-winning career as an actress, producer, and talk show host, transitioning into a prominent advocate for women's health and informed choices in childbirth and wellness.
Lake launched a podcast, Raised by Ricki, in collaboration with Lemonada Media. Lake and co-host Kalen Allen discuss previous episodes of Ricki Lake and interview celebrity guests.
Twenty years after Ricki Lake's first talk show went off the air, she's teamed up with Stone Road Farms for her own cannabis line.
She also signed a development deal with Gameshow Marathon production company FremantleMedia (now Fremantle) for other ventures, including creating and producing feature and projects.
Ricki Lake, upon becoming a Community Access trustee, gave a touching keynote at the organization’s 48th Anniversary Good Neighbor Gala.
Ricki Lake was born Ricki Pamela Lake on September 21, 1968, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. She attended Hastings Elementary, Farragut Middle, and Hastings High for two years before transferring to the Professional Children’s School in New York City to focus on acting. Professionally, she began singing in cabarets and clubs at age nine. After one year at Ithaca College, Lake secured her breakthrough role as Tracy Turnblad in John Waters’ 1988 film, “Hairspray.” This led to further collaborations with Waters in films like “Cry-Baby” (1990) and “Serial Mom” (1994), and roles in over 15 movies. She also had a recurring role in ABC’s “China Beach” for one season.
In 1993, at 24, Ricki Lake was selected to host her own daytime talk show, “Ricki Lake,” becoming the youngest person to host a syndicated talk show at the time. The show rapidly gained popularity, becoming rated second in its time slot within three years, and ran successfully until 2004. After the show concluded, Lake explored other projects, including hosting CBS’s “Gameshow Marathon” in 2006. A significant turning point in her career came with her executive production of the critically acclaimed 2008 documentary, “The Business of Being Born,” which focused on home birth and midwifery. This documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and sparked a grassroots movement for natural childbirth, leading her to co-author the book “Your Best Birth” in 2009 and become an advocate for birthing options. In 2012, she launched a second syndicated talk show, “The Ricki Lake Show,” which, despite being canceled after one season, earned her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2013.
Lake continued her advocacy through film, co-executive producing “Weed the People” (2018), a documentary exploring medical cannabis, particularly its use in pediatric cancer treatment. Beyond her professional achievements, Lake has openly shared her personal struggles, including drastic weight changes, a fire that destroyed her home in 2010, and a long-term battle with hair loss, which she publicly addressed in 2020. Her candid approach to mental health, especially after her former husband’s suicide, and discussions on trauma, have made her a speaker on these topics. In 2022, she launched the podcast “Raised by Ricki” with Lemonada Media, revisiting past talk show episodes and discussing relevant social issues.
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