Actress Catherine O'Hara Has Rare Condition

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, the sixth of seven children, Catherine O'Hara was bound to grow up with a sense of humor.

Indeed, with that many people in one house, about the only way to get attention was to get a laugh. Her dad loved telling jokes and her mother did imitations of people she met. Which explains why O'Hara has done so many impersonations, everyone from Katharine Hepburn to Dinah Shore, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Lucille Ball.

Those impersonations were done during her stint on Second City in Toronto and Second City TV (SCTV). It was during her work at SCTV that O'Hara got to know legendary Gilda Radner while her brother, Marcus, was dating Radner. And O'Hara herself was an understudy for Radner.

"She was the first person I knew that was a professional comedic actress," O'Hara has said. "I mean, I knew I wanted to do this kind of thing in school, but to actually have somebody that would bring you into that world, that was really exciting, you know?" [1]

Her quirky artistic character Delia Deetz in Tim Burton's "Beetle Juice (1988)" truly launched O'Hara's film career. "Home Alone (1990)" and "Home Alone II: Lost in New York (1992)" as Kevin McCallister's forgetful mother Kate McCallister helped make O'Hara a recognizable actress.

Her long list of credits include voice acting in Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)." She has also appeared in "Best in Show (2000)," "Where the Wild Things Are (2009)," and "Wyatt Earp (1994)."

Although raising a family has not interfered with O'Hara's career, she is choosey about the roles she does. Married to director Bo Welch since 1992, the two have two sons, Matthew and Luke. O'Hara is also the sister of singer/songwriter Mary Margaret O'Hara.

But one of the most interesting things about O'Hara is the rare condition she has. O'Hara was born with Situs Inversus with Dextrocardia. [3] Only about one in 10,000 people have this condition.

Situs Inversus with Dextrocardia means that a person's internal organs are reversed. In other words, organs such as the heart, stomach and spleen, organs normally located on the left side of the abdomen, are transposed and located on the right side.

The condition does not affect a person's functional ability and most people with the condition are capable of leading normal, healthy lives. As proven by actress Catherine O'Hara.

Catherine O'Hara has two stars on Canada's Walk of Fame, one awarded in 2002 and another in 2007.

She is scheduled to appear in two upcoming movies, "Killers" (in post-production) and "Cat Tale" (in production, voice). [2]

[1] The Star
[2] Internet Movie Database
[3] The Hour