Mae I have a word with you?

Available as Miss West, North, South, East, and West. Corporate events a specialty

EW! ew! ew!!

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Ellie Weingardt was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. As a child, she studied with Jack and Jill Players, appearing in several roles for the theater company and the famed opera singer, Rosa Raisa, for voice as her youngest pupil. " I remember singing, "In My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown" for my third grade class, and as a senior in high school. when I did a monolog in a drama class from "Joan of Arc" and the bell rang and everyone stayed frozen in their seats. I always believed entertaining was my G-d given pursuit - my singular contribution. Upon graduation from high school, I studied dance and acting for a year in New York with a private coach nights and worked days.

After a few months, I landed a part in an off-Broadway production of "Beauty and the Beast." The play was a combination of "Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella." I started in the role of one of the "Wicked Step-Sisters" and later did the leading role of "Beauty." I returned to Chicago and went to work at CBS in television. While there, I was on the "Music Wagon" radio show and later on "Ted Mack" singing "Got A Lot of Living to Do".

By that time I was already married with one on the way. Four kids later, I did some local community theater and a fellow "thespian" asked me to go to the "big city" with her for acting classes. I studied with W. C. Macy (Fargo) and learned the art of "the method". From there, I went to Second City to learn the art of "improv". I have studied television commercial and film acting from the best, and now I teach "voice-over", myself, at Columbia College in Chicago." She says.

After the "method acting" class, I decided to try my luck at the profession. I got headshots, a resume, and a voice-over demo and have been fortunate to have worked with the tops in the business over the years both on stage, on film and in "the booth".

Recently, I had the privilege of working with Jean Reno in "Just Visiting". A hugely entertaining romp through Chicago by a Medieval Knight. I also am proud to say I was in "Save the Last Dance." I am best known for my film role as "The Charm School Teacher" in A League of Their Own for which I was featured in "Entertainment Weekly" and "Northshore Magazine". The funniest thing is seeing yourself on screen speaking in a different language.

I have played bar-flies to Queens in my career on stage and on film. I appeared in the long running hit , "Shear Madness" on stage as Mrs. Shubert and, more recently, as Phyllis in "Follies" by Steven Sondheim.

I also perform as an improv-impressionist for corporate and social events. Joan Rivers on the red carpet is my most sought after. I also won two trips to Hollywood. One was to the Academy Awards where I walked down the real red carpet. The other was for a Joan Rivers look-alike contest from Fox Television where I ended up On Joan’s Late Show." I also went to Hollywood for the "Lucy-Desi Search" and was featured in Star Magazine.

Voice-overs have been my mainstay in "show business". After winning the highly coveted "Windy Award" for best Chicago voice-actress, I find that my imagination is best served in the quiet confines of a glass booth where you can be a talking bear or a dare-devil. I still have a client of almost twenty years for which I’ve done thousands of voice-over commercials.

My clients have been a who’s who of companies, like Coca Cola, Sears, Kelloggs, Allstate, AT&T, Mc Donald’s and my on-camera commercial work has led me all the way to Europe for Camel Cigarettes in an unforgettable spot where I’m squashed by a falling camel.

My husband finds it hard to believe that I still have time to be a wife, mother, grandmother, and homemaker---and still do good work as a Rotarian along with serving on the Cultural Arts Commission of my hometown.