Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Charlie DayandMary Elizabeth Ellishave charmed audiences ever since they began costarring onIt’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiatogether.
The couple met at a bar in 2001, years before they became an on-screen couple on the long-running FX sitcom. They got married in 2006 andwelcomed their sonfive years later. Dayconfirmed their pregnancyto PEOPLE and said at the time, “We’re five months along, and she’s feeling great. We’re excited. We decided now is the time, and we were fortunate that it happened.”
Of their experience working together onIt’s Always Sunny, Day toldKelly Clarksonduring an appearance onThe Kelly Clarkson Show, “It’s good, I mean I feel a certain amount of pressure if we’re in the writer’s room and no storylines have popped up for her character I’m like ‘Well can’t go home and tell her this.’ " He added jokingly, “But it’s a blast, although she’s very mean to me on the show … She really enjoys it. I think that’s also healthy, though, she gets to act out all her frustrations.”
Read on for everything to know about Charlie Day’s wife, Mary Elizabeth Ellis.
She worked as a hostess before becoming an actress
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Like a lot of actors and actresses, Ellis worked a few odd jobs before heading to Hollywood. As shetoldGQin a February 2016 interview, these jobs included hostessing at an Olive Garden and catering at a Jewish Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
At the time, Ellis saw those jobs as a kind of rite of passage, especially hostessing. “That’s definitely one of those jobs where you’re like, ‘You know what I’m doing? I’m paying my dues. And something good is going to happen to me because I’m paying my dues,’ " she said.
Years later, Ellis was cast as The Waitress on Day’s showIt’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
She met Day after he beat a friend at arm wrestling
Ellis and Day met in 2001 when they were both at the same bar in New York City. As Daylater told Sean EvansonHot Ones, he and a friend both saw Ellis at the bar and wanted to talk to her. The actor then challenged his friend to an arm-wrestling competition to determine who could go talk to her. He explained, “[He was] One of my skinniest, weakest friends. And I was able to beat him in an arm-wrestling competition. We arm-wrestled and I won, and I met my wife.”
But Ellis tells the story a little differently. In a2016 interview with Conan O’Brien, she said that she didn’t even notice the match. She joked, “It’s usually the first thing I do when I walk into a bar is see where the arm wrestling is happening. But I didn’t notice any that night. There was a very, very drunk Irish man talking very close to my face …[Day] came and rescued me.”
She married Day in 2006
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The couple tied the knot on March 4, 2006, in New Orleans.
In honor of their15th wedding anniversaryin 2021, Ellis shared a shot from their big day on Instagram and wrote a sweet tribute to her husband in the caption. “Happy 15th wedding anniversary to us, @charliedayofficial! Damn, I miss dancing at weddings with you. When we can, let’s throw a giant party and dance until we fall down,” she wrote.
They have costarred on a few projects
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Prior toIt’s Always Sunny,Day and Ellis costarred as “inbred twins” on an episode ofReno 911!in 2004.
During a 2022appearance onThe Kelly Clarkson Show, theI Want You Backstar explained how he and Ellis nabbed the role. “We auditioned together for an episode ofReno 911!and they used to do improv auditions,” Day explained. “So Mary Elizabeth and I went into the audition and told them we were brother and sister and then we started making out during the audition. They were like ‘Oh my god! We have to cast them.’ "
While talking with reporters on the red carpet at anIt’s Always Sunnyevent in 2019, Day discussed whatprojects he and Ellis will work together onin the future. “My wife is in my filmEl Tantothat I’m finishing up right now that I directed this last year,” he told MEAWW. “Anytime I’m writing something I think ‘Gosh I have to find something for Mary Elizabeth to do in it because she’s the best.’ "
Ellis also made an appearance in Day’s 2023 filmFool’s Paradiseas “makeup woman #1.” Day wrote, directed and starred in the comedy.
“Congratulations to the truly singular @charlie_day on Fool’s Paradise! I’d watch it a million times,” the actress captioned photos from the movie’s Los Angeles premiere onInstagram.
She has one son with Day
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She thinks their son might become a director
Whilespeaking to Conan O’Brienin 2016, Ellis shared that she thinks her son might end up working in Hollywood one day like his parents. “I mean 4-year-olds are just so dramatic but ours, I think he might be a director. He likes to tell us what to do a lot, and it kind of works because we’re both actors,” she said. “He’ll be like ‘I fell down and I’m crying, now you fall down and you cry!’ "
She says she and Day talk about work at home a lot
Mary Elizabeth Ellis Instagram
Ellis has been open about the fact that when it comes to work-life balance, she and Day talk about their work at home a lot. Asshe toldGQ, it’s hard for her to imagine life any other way. “It’s a really beautiful and exciting part about our relationship; I can’t imagine as an actor or an artist not having someone that I couldn’t talk to about [the] process. It’s really an enrichment for me,” she explained.
She starred in a Taylor Swift music video
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In October 2022, Ellis starred in the music video forTaylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” which is a track on the artist’s 10th studio album,Midnights.Thevideo, which Swift wrote and self-directed, features a two-minute comedy sketch about her own funeral. Ellis stars as Swift’s future daughter-in-law Kimber, alongside fellow comediansJohn EarlyandMike Birbiglia, who play Swift’s other adult children.
The money-obsessed kids are distraught over their inheritance, with Ellis' character particularly upset about not being left the beach house.
Swifttweeted about the videoon the day of its release writing, “Watch my nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time … with some help from the excellent @birbigs, @bejohnce, and @meellisday who fabulously portray… get ready for it… my grown sons and daughter in law?”
source: people.com
