Cynthia Szigeti

Cynthia Szigeti was a performer and acting teacher best known for her work as an improv instructor with the Los Angeles troupe the Groundlings, and for a bit part on a 1991 episode of Seinfeld. Szitgeti played Sherry Becker, Jerry’s former high-school girlfriend on the classic NBC sitcom.

Szigeti, a Groundlings alum herself, also served as an instructor to comedic actors Lisa Kudrow, Conan O’Brien, Will Forte and Joel McHale.

Additionally, Szigeti appeared on the television shows WKRP in Cincinnati, Gimme a Break!, Roxie, Hunter, Who’s the Boss, Sisters, Empty Nest, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Married with Children, Beverly Hills 90210, Norm, The King of Queens, Curb Your Enthusiasm and What I Like About You.

She also had roles in the films Johnny Dangerously, starring Michael Keaton; The Wrong Guys, with Louie Anderson and Richard Lewis; Up Close & Personal, starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer; and National Lampoon's European Vacation, in which she played the mother of the brainy family that competed against the Griswolds on a game show.

Szitgeti graduated from UCLA with a master’s in acting, after which she signed up for classes at the Groundlings. She eventually auditioned for, and was accepted into, the renowned troupe, leaving later to work with Robin Williams and Martin Short as part of a group called the Comedy Store Players.

She returned to the Groundlings in the 1980s, then started a school at the Acme Comedy Theatre.

Szigeti died August 10, 2016, in Los Angeles. She was 66.