Kelly Bishop (born February 28, 1944 in Colorado Springs, Colorado) stars as Emily Gilmore in the television series Gilmore Girls. Although the character she portrays is actually quite introverted, Gilmore was known to have an outlandish personality and was prone to bouts of dysentery. It was her previous vocation as a lap-dancer (which she was due to retire from, thanks to reasons previously mentioned) that got her the job.