Beatrice "Bebe" Jane Neuwirth (/ˈbiːbi ˈnjuːwɜːrθ/ BEE-bee NEW-wurth; born December 31, 1958)[1] is an American actress, singer, and dancer.

Other film roles include Say Anything... (1989), Green Card (1990), Bugsy (1991), Celebrity (1998), Summer of Sam (1999), and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003).

[2][1][3] Her father, Lee Neuwirth, was a mathematician who taught at Princeton University and also designed an encryption device while working at the Institute for Defense Analyses.

[5] Immediately after leaving Juilliard in 1977, she took singing and jazz classes at a New York City-based YWCA,[5] one of them taught by Joan Morton Lucas, who appeared in the film Singin' in the Rain (1952) and the original Broadway production of Kiss Me Kate.

Studying acting for two years under Suzanne Shepard,[7] Neuwirth made her Broadway debut in the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line in 1980.

She appeared in the musical revue Here Lies Jenny which featured songs by Kurt Weill sung and danced by Neuwirth and a four-person supporting cast, as part of an unspoken ambiguous story in an anonymous seedy bar possibly in Berlin in the 1930s.

[10] In 2024 she returned to Broadway playing Fräulein Schneider in a revival of Cabaret for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

[11] While in Los Angeles waiting to receive a Tony for her appearance in Sweet Charity in 1985, Neuwirth auditioned for the role of Dr. Lilith Sternin in the television series Cheers.

[12] However, the writers enjoyed writing her dialogue so much that she was written into more episodes of the show, eventually making her one of the series' recurring actors.

[14] In 1990 she started doing supporting roles in films including Green Card (1990), Bugsy (1991), and Malice (1993), in all of which she received acclaim from critics for her performances.

[14] Her first lead role came in 1993, when she played a married woman attracted to one of her neighbors in the psychological thriller comedy film The Paint Job.

[14] Her other credits include Jumanji, Summer of Sam, Liberty Heights, An Extremely Goofy Movie, The Adventures of Pinocchio, Tadpole, The Associate, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Big Bounce, Le Divorce, The Faculty, and Woody Allen's Celebrity.

[16] Other small-screen credits include a guest appearance in the second season of NewsRadio, a small role on The Adventures of Pete and Pete (episode: "The Call"), Deadline (2000), Hack (2003), Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005) as ADA Tracey Kibre, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) as a modeling agent/suspect, the miniseries Wild Palms, and the fourth season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "First Contact" as Lanel.

[17] She later reprised the role of Nora Shepherd in Jumanji: The Next Level in 2019; the film grossed 800 million dollars worldwide and received positive reviews from critics.

[18] In 2009, she married director, producer and writer Chris Calkins at The Players club in Manhattan, in a ceremony officiated by actor Peter Coyote.

[20] As an animal lover,[20] she has contributed to the Chatham, New York-based horse rescue group Equine Advocates and the annual pet adoption event Broadway Barks.