Product Description
In this New York Times-bestselling inspirational memoir, Camryn Manheim, Emmy Award-winning costar of The Practice, chronicles her journey from a self-hating, "overweight" teenager, who desperately wanted to fit in, to a self-loving, fat activist who is proud to be a misfit.Wake Up, I'm Fat! shares her intelligent, candid, poignant, and often hilarious stories of being fat in a society obsessed with being thin.

Camryn takes us from her days as a motorcycle-riding hippie in Santa Cruz to her enrollment at New York University's prestigious school of drama--where Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner broke the unspoken theater rules of size by casting her in the role of the ingenue--and finally to Hollywood, where she dispelled the fallacy that large women can't be portrayed as sensual, sophisticated, and confident.

Camryn's endearing honesty, sass, and razor-sharp wit will appeal to any reader who has ever felt like an outcast or yearned to make peace with their body.
Amazon.com Review
You already know Camryn Manheim can act. She won the Emmy Award as the don't-mess-with-me attorney Ellenor Frutt on The Practice. Manheim made the ceremony itself entertaining by hoisting her trophy and hollering, "This is for all the fat girls!"

But can she write? Yes. This memoir is by turns funny ("If Barbie werea real woman, she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions")and excruciating. It helps that the material was honed in a one-womanshow that sold out at New York's big-deal Public Theater, but thesubject matter was strange and interesting in the first place. Manheimcould not possibly be a less likely candidate for artistic andcommercial success on TV. Born Debi Manheim in Peoria, the verymetaphor for mainstream culture, Manheim re-created herself as adozen-earringed California biker chick, a Renaissance Faire wench, aprotester who helped drive the Miss California Pageant out of SantaCruz, and one of 28 actors in America accepted at NYU's exclusivegraduate school. In her book, Manheim gets even with her cruel,fat-bashing teachers; credits the director who gave her her firstingenue lead role (Tony Kushner, who cast her in Fen); andtells how the same temper that got her booted from school and arrestedalso won her the TV role that made her name.

There's good gossip for drama buffs. Manheim ribs her famous boss David Kelley within an inch of her livelihood; rips into Celeste Holm for cattiness backstage in Clare Boothe Luce's The Women; and opines that Bridget Fonda, whom she got naked next to in a movie, "could use a sandwich." But it's the private-life stuff that sticks with you. Read her touching, hilarious account of a personal-ad date from hell, and how she got even by picking up the hunky model who plays the Marlboro Man. She is not making this up! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (123)

Really People?
I will never make FUN of fat people, however why are we glorifying being overweight? HELLO!!! Do we not care about the health risks to ourselves? The example we are setting for younger generations? I don't care about looks, I care about living longer, running faster and jumping higher! I want to live to see my grandchildren, not die of a heart attack at age 30! There is NO excuse for being overweight. I work in a pharmacy, i have heard all the excuses and seen all the people driving those stupid motorized carts because they can't walk, their fat sagging over the edges. Do you REALLY want to live like that? I have no sympathy. WORK HARD, STAY HEALTHY AND LOSE WEIGHT!

Very funny
Camryn Manheim ("The Practice," "Ghost Whisperer," etc.) tells her life story in a humorous memoir about her long battle of the bulge.Stories of her teenage drug use, grad school tribulations, dating woes, and eventual successes in TV are told with wit and sassy charm.

I've never seen Manheim in movies or TV, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of her book.She's an excellent writer.In the nineties, she wrote and starred in a one-woman show called, "Wake up, I'm Fat!," and much of the show's material is in the book so it reads like a good stand-up comedy routine.She balances humor with the sadness and frustration of being overweight and a plea for fat acceptance. This is an entertaining and eye-opening book.

funny and inspiring
Camryn gives a very entertaining glimpse into her tribulations and growth at the hands of the entertainment business.I especially enjoyed the chapter telling how Tony Kushner cast her as the ingénue.I'm so glad actorjourneys.com recommended this book; you're sure to cheer for the underdog triumph.

Great book, but she seems to have altered her opinion about fat and health
I love Camryn Mannheim and her book. I'd give this a 4.5 if I could, because since she wrote the book, she's lost quite a bit of weight and puts the reasoning for it on being a mother.

I hated it when Carnie Wilson went from being a NAAFA member and spokesperson for loving yourself at any size to being obsessed with being thin. She's admitted to lying about why she had WLS and has made a snootful of money pimping it to others. She has been a major factor in the deaths of hundreds of (mostly) women who didn't make it after the surgery and her recommendation of it.

And I am very saddened by Mannheim's abandonment of her principals of fat-acceptance and the people who have supported her and her book.

Isn't there anyone out there who will stay committed to the cause and not cave in when someone runs some cash under their noses or threatens their career if they don't lose weight?

Ack. Love the book. Disappointed in Mannheim today.

Read This
This was both an intertaining a introspective read. Camryn Manheim is funny, smart, human, and beautiful. This book made me look at the excuses I make for my failures and the things I allow to stand in the way of my success.I was able to relate to Camryn much more than I could relate to Oprah when I read her book. It is a book for all women, all mothers, and a book I would want my boyfriend to read. Thank you Camryn, I wish we could meet some day. ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! CamrynManheim is an American actress knownprimarily for her roles as attorney Ellenor Frutt onABC's The Practice and Delia Banks on CBS's GhostWhisperer and as Elvis Presley's mother in the 2005mini-series Elvis.Manheim was born Debra FrancesManheim in Caldwell, New Jersey, but grew up inPeoria, Illinois. She is the daughter of Sylvia, ateacher, and Jerome Manheim, a mathematicsprofessor. Her family is Jewish. Manheim becameinterested in acting after working at a Renaissancefair in high school. Manheim graduated fromUniversity of California, Santa Cruz with a BFAdegree in 1984 and NYU with an MFA degree in 1987 ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 1725. ... Read more