Moon Zappa

"Moon unit" redirects here. For the space vehicle, see lunar rover.
Moon Zappa
Born Moon Unit Zappa
(1967-09-28) September 28, 1967
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Author
Years active 1982–present
Spouse(s) Paul Doucette (m. 2002; div. 2014)
Children 1
Parent(s) Frank Zappa
Gail Zappa
Relatives Dweezil Zappa (brother)
Ahmet Zappa (brother)
Diva Zappa (sister)

Moon Unit Zappa (born September 28, 1967) is an American actress and author.

Personal life

Moon Zappa was born in New York City, the eldest child of Gail (née Sloatman) and musician Frank Zappa.[1] She has three younger siblings, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva Muffin. Zappa's father was of Sicilian, Greek-Arab, and French ancestry, and her mother is of French, Irish, and mostly Danish ancestry.[2] Zappa attended Oakwood School in North Hollywood, California. She married Paul Doucette, former drummer and current rhythm guitarist for American pop group Matchbox Twenty, in June 2002. They have one child, Mathilda Plum Doucette, born December 21, 2004 (the same day and month as grandfather Frank.) Zappa filed for divorce in January 2012.[3] The divorce was finalized in early 2014. [4] Zappa briefly dated comedian and podcast host Marc Maron.

Career

Apart from the novelty of her and her siblings' names, she first came to public attention in 1982, at the age of 14, as a vocalist on her father's Top 40 hit single, "Valley Girl". The song featured Moon Zappa delivering a monologue in "valleyspeak", a collection of slang terms popular with teenage girls in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. In the mid-1980s, Moon and her brother Dweezil were frequent guest VJs on MTV. "Valley Girl" was Frank Zappa's biggest hit in the United States, and popularized phrases from the lyric such as "grody to the max" and "gag me with a spoon". The song appeared on her father's 1982 album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch. She later made another recording titled "My Mother Is a Space Cadet", with guitar accompaniment by her brother Dweezil.

As a child, she acted in the television series CHiPs, The Facts of Life, and the film Nightmares.[1]

As an adult she has worked as a stand-up comic, magazine writer, and actress, appearing in the films National Lampoon's European Vacation and Spirit of '76, the television sitcom Normal Life, and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show. She appeared as a niqab-clad Muslim woman in one episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, as Ted Mosby's cousin Stacy in an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and on an episode ("Pampered to a Pulp") of Roseanne.[5] Most recently, she was the voice of Mrs. Lamber on FOX Broadcasting's Animation Domination High-Def series High School USA!.

In 2000 she appeared as guest vocalist on Kip Winger's third solo album "Songs from the Ocean Floor".

She is the author of the novel America, the Beautiful, published in 2001.[6] She has also written for The New York Times.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Moon Unit Zappa Biography (1967–), Filmreference.com
  2. Miles, Barry (2004). Zappa. Grove Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-8021-1783-0.
  3. "Frank Zappa Daughter Moon Unit Files Divorce". Daily Mail. 2012-01-04. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  4. "Moon Zappa Divorce -- Our Kid Will Still Get the Star Treatment". TMZ.com. 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  5. "Pampered to a Pulp" at the Internet Movie Database
  6. Zappa, Moon Unit. America the Beautiful: A Novel. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 2001. ISBN 978-0-7432-1383-7
  7. Zappa, Moon Unit (2001-11-18). "One Street at a Time; Positively Third Street". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-11-04.

External links

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