Actress/Author Mimi Kennedy of ABC's ``Dharma & Greg'' Brings Hollywood Hints to San Diego's Learning Annex.

SAN DIEGO--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 28, 1999--

The entertainment industry is known for creating a working environment in which many of its players burn the candle at both ends.

On Saturday, Aug. 21, at Hotel Circle in San Diego, actress/author Mimi Kennedy, "Abby Finkelstein" of ABC's "Dharma & Greg," will share a bit of her true-to-life "Abby-esque" practical advice regarding how she kept from burning out, while keeping her motivation aglow throughout her 28-year acting career.

The Learning Annex will showcase Kennedy in a three-hour inspiring educational seminar titled "How to Succeed in Showbiz ... Without Dying Inside" from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

San Diegans will get a Hollywood inside peek at the acting profession with helpful information on how to start and sustain a career in show business.

Entering her third season on "Dharma & Greg," Mimi Kennedy is a diverse, multitalented and multifaceted woman in the entertainment arts. As an accomplished actress whose career spans the acting spectrum of Broadway stage musicals, network television and film, as well as the crossing of genres from drama to comedy, she's done it all.

Kennedy is also a noted writer, published author and engaging educational speaker, putting a realistic spin on breaking into the business and enduring a journey of motherhood, career and spiritual survival, while keeping motivated through the application of creativity, optimism and humor in her everyday life.

Mimi Kennedy began her acting career on stage, playing her first professional role opposite famed TV comedian Sid Caesar. Her theater credits also include her work as Jan in both the national tour and the original Broadway production of "Grease."

Work on television has been plentiful for Kennedy following her leading role on the critically acclaimed musical variety series, "3 Girls 3." She went on to star in the highly touted drama, "Homefront," for which she earned an American Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Kennedy also starred in the series, "Just Friends With Stockard Channing," "The Big Show," "The Two of Us" (with the late Peter Cook), "Spencer" (with Chad Lowe), "Under One Roof" and "Family Man." She has guest-starred on "Homicide," "St. Elsewhere," "Night Court," "The Twilight Zone," "Knots Landing" and Aaron Spelling's "Savannah" (in a recurring role as Eleanor Alexander Burton). She also worked full-time behind the cameras as a writer and story editor for "Knots Landing."

In addition, Kennedy has co-starred in a number of made-for-television movies and miniseries, most notably "Robert Kennedy and His Times"; "Popular Neurotics," with Jeff Goldblum; "Home," with Dana Delany; the perennial Disney Halloween Movie favorites, "Mr. Boogedy" and "Bride of Mr. Boogedy," as well as the Peabody Award-winning adaptation of Beverly Cleary's "The Mouse and the Motorcycle."

Kennedy's feature film credits include roles in "Buddy," "Death Becomes Her," "Immediate Family," "Chances Are" and "Pump Up The Volume," with a soon-to-be-released film "Erin Brockovich," in which she co-stars with Julia Roberts and Albert Finney, shot during this summer's TV hiatus from "Dharma & Greg."

Kennedy's literary debut, a memoir of her Catholic girlhood and her coming-of-age as an actress, wife and mother, is a published hardcover by Smith and Kraus, titled "Taken To The Stage: The Education of an Actress," which has garnered praise from literary and entertainment critics.

Kennedy has been keeping her writing passion and momentum going; she is currently at work on her second book, a novel that she is writing in-between shooting "Dharma & Greg."

For more information on The Learning Annex seminar with Mimi Kennedy, call 619/544-9700. For one-on-one interviews with Mimi Kennedy, call her publicist, Stacey Kumagai, The Southland's Media Monster at 818/506-8675.