‘Parks and Recreation’ Star Retta Sirleaf

Celebrity Q&A
on July 20, 2012
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Fill us in on Retta Sirleaf, who plays sassy Donna on Parks and Recreation.
—Laura Wright, Gilbert, Ariz.

Born Marietta Sirleaf in Newark, N.J., to immigrant parents from Liberia, she is a Duke University graduate who worked in pharmaceutical research before she became a stand-up comedian in 1996. On getting the role in the NBC sitcom, she says, “I don’t think I got the part based on my audition but on the fact that I was such a chatty Cathy.” Her other TV credits include Moesha, 7 Deadly Hollywood Sins and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Her movie credits include Slackers, First Sunday and Fracture. She collects DVDs and owns more than 1,000 TV series and boxed sets. 

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