Julia Sweeney, the ‘Saturday Night Live' Legend Known for Playing Pat, Is Back on the Red Carpet
Julia Sweeney, who rose to stardom on Saturday Night Live, tends to fly under the radar these days.
Sweeney, 66, joined the iconic SNL cast in 1990 and played a variety of legendary characters during her four-year run. However, her most famous character was Pat from the "It's Pat!" sketches, whose gender was impossible to determine. While the character got its own feature film, it was a box office bomb. However, Sweeney scored a variety of hit roles over the years, appearing on shows like Frasier and Shrill. She also worked extensively behind the scenes on successful shows like Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives.
In the present day, the comedy icon hit the red carpet at the 2026 TCM Classic Film Festival opening night gala screening of Barefoot In The Park at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Pat is Back, But a Little Different
While Pat was a fan favorite on SNL, it was later criticized as being hurtful to the nonbinary community. However, the topic was explored in a recent documentary film, We Are Pat, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
"On one hand, I felt really fondly towards Pat...but I do think that Pat also was a little bit of, subconsciously, a cautionary tale about what would happen if you're gender non-conforming or nonbinary or illegible to society, that people are always going to be obsessed with this one thing about you and will hound you and won't leave you alone," We Are Pat director Rowan Haber told Entertainment Weekly.
Sweeney is along for the ride for the documentary, and her understanding of the character has also evolved over the last couple of decades.
"I acknowledge Pat's history and I acknowledge my own journey and my own naivete, but that's the thing the documentary gave me, is to be proud of this work I did so long ago," she told EW.
Check out the trailer below!
Related: ‘Saturday Night Live' Legend Cheri Oteri Is 63 and Stunning in Rare Red Carpet Appearance
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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 11:42 AM.