Julia Sweeney joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” during the 1990-91 season. She is known for her wide-ranging characters and impersonations, including the sexually ambiguous Pat, singer Ethel Merman and NBC News’ Jane Pauley. After four successful seasons, Sweeney chose to leave the show to pursue other opportunities.

A native of Spokane, Washington, Julia Sweeney attended the University of Washington in Seattle, graduating with degrees in European history and economics. She came to Hollywood in the 1980’s with aspirations of being a business executive at the studios and started climbing the corporate ladder as an accountant for Columbia Pictures before realizing that acting— not accounting— was her true calling.

In 1984, while maintaining her day job, Sweeney joined an improvisational class with the Los Angeles comedy troupe, The Groundlings, and began performing with the group’s main cast in 1987.

It was at The Groundlings that she first created and performed the Pat character. In 1990, “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels came to The Groundlings...