  caroline gilchrist rhea (born april 13, 1964) is a canadian stand-up comedian and actress who was the original host of the reality television show the biggest loser on nbc until she was replaced by alison sweeney after the end of the third season. she is also known for her role as hilda spellman from sabrina, the teenage witch, and for replacing rosie o'donnell as the hostess of her syndicated talk show, renamed the caroline rhea show. rhea provides the voice for linda flynn-fletcher, the mother of phineas and candace flynn and stepmother of ferb fletcher, on the disney channel series phineas and ferb. ==early life== rhea was born and raised in montreal, quebec, the daughter of marjorie, an antiques dealer, and david rhea, an obstetrician and gynecologist. she has two sisters, cynthia and celia. she attended the study, an all-girls private school in westmount, quebec and dalhousie university in nova scotia. ==career== her film debut was as an extra in the film meatballs iii, shot on location near montreal. she moved to new york in 1989 to study stand-up comedy at the new school for social research. rhea has said that her true training came from her first gigs at the comedy club, catch a rising star. performing around new york city, she quickly gained a reputation in the city's competitive comedy scene. these performances were augmented with appearances on mtv's half-hour comedy hour, comic strip live and caroline's comedy hour. she decided to move to los angeles for a career in hollywood, debuting in nbc television series pride & joy co-starring with jeremy piven. she gained fame for her role as aunt hilda on the abc (and late
1964_births 20th-century_Canadian_actresses 21st-century_Canadian_actresses Actresses_from_Montreal Anglophone_Quebec_people Canadian_expatriate_actresses_in_the_United_States Canadian_film_actresses Canadian_stand-up_comedians Canadian_television_actresses Canadian_television_talk_show_hosts Canadian_voice_actresses Canadian_women_comedians Living_people Quebec_comedians The_Biggest_Loser