Jane Moore Sibbett (born November 28, 1962) is an American actress. Her most notable roles include Heddy Newman on the Foxtelevision seriesHerman's Head and Carol Willick on the television series Friends.
Sibbett started her acting career as Jane Wilson on the NBCsoap operaSanta Barbara in 1986–87, for which she was nominated for a Best Newcomer Soap Opera Digest Awards.[6][failed verification] In 1989, Sibbett won the role of Laurie Parr on the CBS comedy The Famous Teddy Z, co-starring with Jon Cryer and Alex Rocco. The series lasted one season. In 1991, Sibbett was cast as status-conscious bombshell Heddy Newman on the Fox sitcom Herman's Head,[7] which quickly gained a cult following on the young broadcast network and lasted three seasons. Beginning in 1994, she played the occasional role of Carol Willick on Friends, a part-time stint that lasted until the end of the show's seventh season in 2001. During her Friends association, Sibbett had regular roles on the short-lived CBS sitcom If Not for You (1995), playing the jilted fiancée of her former Herman's Head co-star Hank Azaria, and in the second season of The WB's Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher (1997–98), playing school headmaster Dr. Katherine Emerson.
In 1996, Sibbett was offered the role of Debra Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond. CBS executives felt that she was right for the role and Sibbett signed a deal for the show; however, she vacated the role upon learning that star Ray Romano had not been informed, along with other key staff members, that she had been cast in the part. The role went to Patricia Heaton, who had been the first choice of Romano and show creator Philip Rosenthal. [12][13]
Sibbett has co-starred in the movies Jessica Darling's It List (2016), Winter Wedding (2017), A Date By Christmas Eve (2019), the pilot Manopause (2020), and the 27th Annual Critics' Choice 2022 nominee List of a Lifetime (2021) directed by indie director Roxy Shih.[14][15]
In 2019, Sibbett won the Michael D Publishers Award, a nonfiction writing scholarship to the Story Summit Writer's School, to complete the manuscript of her memoirs, About Jane.[16] As part of the scholarship, Sibbett also joined the Story Summit's group of faculty, supporting other burgeoning writers.[17]
Philanthropy
Sibbett has long been an advocate for survivors of domestic violence, working with the nine shelters of 1736 Family Crisis Center in Los Angeles.[18]
Personal life
In 1989, Sibbett began dating Jon Cryer after working with him for some time on The Famous Teddy Z.[19]
In 1992, Sibbett married Karl Fink, a TV writer and producer who worked on the first two seasons of Herman's Head. Fink and Sibbett divorced in January 2016. They have three children together.[20]