document_title: Grand Canyon

question_text: is the grand canyon in north or south america

question_tokens: is the grand canyon in north or south america

text: Grand Canyon

text: Geography

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text: The Grand Canyon is a river valley in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata, and is also one of the six distinct physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau province. It is not the deepest canyon in the world (Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is much deeper). However, the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colorful landscape. Geologically, it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that are well preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent.

text: Uplift associated with mountain formation later moved these sediments thousands of feet upward and created the Colorado Plateau. The higher elevation has also resulted in greater precipitation in the Colorado River drainage area, but not enough to change the Grand Canyon area from being semi-arid. The uplift of the Colorado Plateau is uneven, and the Kaibab Plateau that Grand Canyon bisects is over one thousand feet (300 m) higher at the North Rim (about 1,000 ft or 300 m) than at the South Rim. Almost all runoff from the North Rim (which also gets more rain and snow) flows toward the Grand Canyon, while much of the runoff on the plateau behind the South Rim flows away from the canyon (following the general tilt). The result is deeper and longer tributary washes and canyons on the north side and shorter and steeper side canyons on the south side.

text: Temperatures on the North Rim are generally lower than those on the South Rim because of the greater elevation (averaging 8,000 feet or 2,400 metres above sea level).[10] Heavy rains are common on both rims during the summer months. Access to the North Rim via the primary route leading to the canyon (State Route 67) is limited during the winter season due to road closures.[11]

text: Geology

text: The Grand Canyon is part of the Colorado River basin which has developed over the past 70 million years,[12]  in part based on apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometry showing that Grand Canyon reached a depth near to the modern depth by 20 Ma.[13]  A recent study examining caves near Grand Canyon places their origins beginning about 17 million years ago. Previous estimates had placed the age of the canyon at 5–6 million years.[14]  The study, which was published in the journal Science in 2008, used uranium-lead dating to analyze calcite deposits found on the walls of nine caves throughout the canyon.[15] There is a substantial amount of controversy because this research suggests such a substantial departure from prior widely supported scientific consensus.[16] In December 2012, a study published in the journal Science claimed new tests had suggested the Grand Canyon could be as old as 70 million years.[17] However, this study has been criticized by those who support the "young canyon" age of around six million years as "[an] attempt to push the interpretation of their new data to their limits without consideration of the whole range of other geologic data sets."[14]

text: The canyon is the result of erosion which exposes one of the most complete geologic columns on the planet.

text: The major geologic exposures in the Grand Canyon range in age from the 2-billion-year-old Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the Inner Gorge to the 230-million-year-old Kaibab Limestone on the Rim. There is a gap of about a billion years between the 500-million-year-old stratum and the level below it, which dates to about 1.5 billion years ago. This large unconformity indicates a long period for which no deposits are present.

text: Many of the formations were deposited in warm shallow seas, near-shore environments (such as beaches), and swamps as the seashore repeatedly advanced and retreated over the edge of a proto-North America. Major exceptions include the Permian Coconino Sandstone, which contains abundant geological evidence of aeolian sand dune deposition. Several parts of the Supai Group also were deposited in non–marine environments.

text: The great depth of the Grand Canyon and especially the height of its strata (most of which formed below sea level) can be attributed to 5–10 thousand feet (1,500 to 3,000 m) of uplift of the Colorado Plateau, starting about 65 million years ago (during the Laramide Orogeny). This uplift has steepened the stream gradient of the Colorado River and its tributaries, which in turn has increased their speed and thus their ability to cut through rock (see the elevation summary of the Colorado River for present conditions).

text: Weather conditions during the ice ages also increased the amount of water in the Colorado River drainage system. The ancestral Colorado River responded by cutting its channel faster and deeper.

text: The base level and course of the Colorado River (or its ancestral equivalent) changed 5.3 million years ago when the Gulf of California opened and lowered the river's base level (its lowest point). This increased the rate of erosion and cut nearly all of the Grand Canyon's current depth by 1.2 million years ago. The terraced walls of the canyon were created by differential erosion.[18]

text: Between 100,000 and 3 million years ago, volcanic activity deposited ash and lava over the area which at times completely obstructed the river. These volcanic rocks are the youngest in the canyon.

text: History

text: Native Americans

text: The Ancestral Puebloans were a Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States. They were the first people known to live in the Grand Canyon area. The cultural group has often been referred to in archaeology as the Anasazi, although the term is not preferred by the modern Puebloan peoples. The word "Anasazi" is Navajo for "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy".[19]

text: Archaeologists still debate when this distinct culture emerged. The current consensus, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence was around 1200 BCE during the Basketmaker II Era. Beginning with the earliest explorations and excavations, researchers have believed that the Ancient Puebloans[clarify] are ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples.[19]

text: In addition to the Ancestral Puebloans, a number of distinct cultures have inhabited the Grand Canyon area. The Cohonina lived to the west of the Grand Canyon, between 500 and 1200 CE.[20][21] The Cohonina were ancestors of the Yuman, Havasupai, and Hualapai peoples who inhabit the area today.[22]

text: The Sinagua were a cultural group occupying an area to the southeast of the Grand Canyon, between the Little Colorado River and the Salt River, between approximately 500 and 1425 CE. The Sinagua may have been ancestors of several Hopi clans.

text: By the time of the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, newer cultures had evolved. The Hualapai inhabit a 100-mile (160 km) stretch along the pine-clad southern side of the Grand Canyon. The Havasupai have been living in the area near Cataract Canyon since the beginning of the 13th century, occupying an area the size of Delaware.[23] The Southern Paiutes live in what is now southern Utah and northern Arizona. The Navajo, or Diné, live in a wide area stretching from the San Francisco Peaks eastwards towards the Four Corners. Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests the Navajo descended from the Athabaskan people near Great Slave Lake, Canada, who migrated after the 11th century.[24]

text: European arrival and settlement

text: Spanish explorers

text: In September 1540, under orders from the conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to search for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, Captain García López de Cárdenas, along with Hopi guides and a small group of Spanish soldiers, traveled to the south rim of the Grand Canyon between Desert View and Moran Point. Pablo de Melgrossa, Juan Galeras, and a third soldier descended some one third of the way into the canyon until they were forced to return because of lack of water. In their report, they noted that some of the rocks in the canyon were "bigger than the great tower of Seville, Giralda "[25] It is speculated that their Hopi guides likely knew routes to the canyon floor, but may have been reluctant to lead the Spanish to the river. No Europeans visited the canyon again for more than two hundred years.

text: Fathers Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante were two Spanish priests who, with a group of Spanish soldiers, explored southern Utah and traveled along the north rim of the canyon in Glen and Marble Canyons in search of a route from Santa Fe to California in 1776. They eventually found a crossing, formerly known as the "Crossing of the Fathers," that today lies under Lake Powell.

text: Also in 1776, Fray Francisco Garces, a Franciscan missionary, spent a week near Havasupai, unsuccessfully attempting to convert a band of Native Americans to Christianity. He described the canyon as "profound".[25]

text: American exploration

text: James Ohio Pattie, along with a group of American trappers and mountain men, may have been the next European to reach the canyon, in 1826.[26]

text: Jacob Hamblin, a Mormon missionary, was sent by Brigham Young in the 1850s to locate suitable river crossing sites in the canyon. Building good relations with local Hualapai and white settlers, he found the Crossing of the Fathers, and the locations what would become Lees Ferry in 1858 and Pearce Ferry (later operated by, and named for, Harrison Pearce) – only the latter two sites suitable for ferry operation.[citation needed] He also acted as an advisor to John Wesley Powell before his second expedition to the Grand Canyon, serving as a diplomat between Powell and the local native tribes to ensure the safety of his party.

text: In 1857, Edward Fitzgerald Beale was superintendent of an expedition to survey a wagon road along the 35th parallel from Fort Defiance, Arizona to the Colorado River. He led a small party of men in search of water on the Coconino Plateau near the canyon's south rim. On September 19, near present-day National Canyon, they came upon what May Humphreys Stacey described in his journal as "...a wonderful canyon four thousand feet deep. Everyone (in the party) admitted that he never before saw anything to match or equal this astonishing natural curiosity."

text: Also in 1857, the U.S. War Department asked Lieutenant Joseph Ives to lead an expedition to assess the feasibility of an up-river navigation from the Gulf of California. Also in a stern wheeler steamboat Explorer, after two months and 350 miles (560 km) of difficult navigation, his party reached Black Canyon some two months after George Johnson.[citation needed] The Explorer struck a rock and was abandoned. Ives led his party east into the canyon — they may have been the first Europeans to travel the Diamond Creek drainage and traveled eastwards along the south rim. In his "Colorado River of the West" report to the Senate in 1861 he states that "One or two trappers profess to have seen the canyon."

text: According to the San Francisco Herald, in a series of articles run in 1853, Captain Joseph R. Walker in January 1851 with his nephew James T. Walker and six men, traveled up the Colorado River to a point where it joined the Virgin River and continued east into Arizona, traveling along the Grand Canyon and making short exploratory side trips along the way. Walker is reported to have said he wanted to visit the Moqui Indians, as the Hopi were then called by whites. He had met these people briefly in previous years, thought them exceptionally interesting and wanted to become better acquainted. The Herald reporter then stated, "We believe that Captain Joe Walker is the only white man in this country that has ever visited this strange people."[citation needed]

text: In 1858, John Strong Newberry became probably the first geologist to visit the Grand Canyon.[27]

text: In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell led the first expedition down the canyon. Powell set out to explore the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Gathering nine men, four boats and food for 10 months, he set out from Green River, Wyoming on May 24. Passing through (or portaging around) a series of dangerous rapids, the group passed down the Green River to its confluence with the Colorado River, near present-day Moab, Utah and completed the journey with many hardships through the Grand Canyon on August 13, 1869.[28] In 1871 Powell first used the term "Grand Canyon"; previously it had been called the "Big Canyon".[29]

text: In 1889, Frank M. Brown wanted to build a railroad along the Colorado River to carry coal. He, his chief engineer Robert Brewster Stanton, and 14 others started to explore the Grand Canyon in poorly designed cedar wood boats, with no life preservers. Brown drowned in an accident near Marble Canyon: Stanton made new boats and proceeded to explore the Colorado all of the way to the Gulf of California.[30]

text: The Grand Canyon[31] became an official national monument in 1908 and a national park in 1919.

text: Settlers in and near the canyon

text:
Miners: "Captain" John Hance, William W. Bass, Louis Boucher "The Hermit", Seth Tanner, Charles Spencer, D. W. "James" Mooney
Lees Ferry: John Doyle Lee, Emma Lee French (17th of John Lee's 19 wives), J. S. Emmett, Charles Spencer
Phantom Ranch: David Rust, Mary Colter
Grand Canyon Village: Ralph H. Cameron, Emery & Ellsworth Kolb

text: Federal protection: National Monument and Park

text: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Grand Canyon in 1903.  An avid outdoorsman and staunch conservationist, Roosevelt established the Grand Canyon Game Preserve on November 28, 1906. Livestock grazing was reduced, but predators such as mountain lions, eagles, and wolves were eradicated. Roosevelt along with other members of his conservation group, the Boone and Crockett Club helped form the National Parks Association, which in turn lobbied for the Antiquities Act of 1906 which gave Roosevelt the power to create national monuments. Once the act was passed, Roosevelt immediately added adjacent national forest lands and redesignated the preserve a U.S. National Monument on January 11, 1908.[32] Opponents such as land and mining claim holders blocked efforts to reclassify the monument as a U.S. National Park for 11 years. Grand Canyon National Park was finally established as the 17th U.S. National Park by an Act of Congress signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1919.[20]

text: The federal government administrators who manage park resources face many challenges. These include issues related to the recent reintroduction into the wild of the highly endangered California condor, air tour overflight noise levels, water rights disputes with various tribal reservations that border the park, and forest fire management. Federal officials started a flood in the Grand Canyon in hopes of restoring its ecosystem on March 5, 2008. The canyon's ecosystem was permanently changed after the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963.[33]

text: Between 2003 and 2011, 2,215 mining claims had been requested that are adjacent to the canyon, including claims for uranium mines. Mining has been suspended since 2009, when U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar withdrew 1 million acres (4,000 km2) from the permitting process, pending assessment of the environmental impact of mining. Critics of the mines are concerned that, once mined, the uranium will leach into the water of the Colorado River and contaminate the water supply for up to 18 million people.[34] Salazar's so-called "Northern Arizona Withdrawal" is a 20-year moratorium on new mines, but allows existing mines to continue. In 2012, the federal government stopped new mines in the area, which was upheld by the U.S. District Court for Arizona in 2014, but appealed by the National Mining Association, joined by the state of Arizona under Attorney General Mark Brnovich as well as Utah, Montana and Nevada. National Mining Association v. Jewell is pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as of September 2015.[35]

text: South Rim buildings

text: There are several historic buildings located along the South Rim with most in the vicinity of Grand Canyon Village.

text:
Buckey O'Neill Cabin was built during the 1890s by William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill. He built the cabin because of a copper deposit that was nearby. He had several occupations such as miner, judge, politician, author and tour guide. This cabin is the longest continually standing structure on the South Rim. It is currently used as a guest house; booking is required well in advance.
Kolb Studio was built in 1904 by brothers Ellsworth and Emery Kolb. They were photographers who made a living by photographing visitors walking down the Bright Angel Trail. In 1911, the Kolb brothers filmed their journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers. Emery Kolb showed this movie regularly in his studio until 1976, when he died at the age of 95. Today the building serves as an art gallery and exhibit.
The El Tovar Hotel was built in 1905 and is the most luxurious lodging on the South Rim. The hotel consists of 4 stories with a rustic chalet appearance called "National Park Rustic." It was designed by Charles Whittlesley. A gift shop and restaurant are located inside the hotel.
Hopi House was built by Mary Jane Colter in 1905. It is based on structures that were built in an ancient Hopi settlement called Old Oraibi, located on the Third Mesa in eastern Arizona. It served as a residence for the Hopi Indians who sold arts and crafts to South Rim visitors.
Verkamp's Curios, which stands next to the Hopi House, was built by John Verkamp in 1905. He sold arts and crafts as well as souvenirs. Until September 2008, it was run by his descendants; in November 2008, the building reopened as a visitor center focusing on the history of the Grand Canyon Village community.

text:
Grand Canyon Railway Depot was completed in 1910 and contains 2 levels. Gordon Chappell, Regional Historian for the Park Service, claims that this depot building is one of only three log-cabin-style train stations currently standing, out of fourteen ever built in the U.S.[36] The depot is the northern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway which begins in Williams, Arizona.
Lookout Studio, another Mary Colter design, was built in 1914. Photography, artwork, books, souvenirs, and rock and fossil specimens are sold here. A great view of Bright Angel Trail can be seen here.
Desert View Watchtower, one of Mary Colter's best-known works, was built in 1932. Situated at the far eastern end of the South Rim, 27 miles (43 km) from Grand Canyon Village, the tower stands 70 feet (21 m) tall. The top of the tower is 7,522 feet (2,293 m) above sea level, the highest point on the South Rim. It offers one of the few full views of the bottom of the canyon and the Colorado River. It was designed to mimic Anasazi watchtowers, though, with four levels, it is significantly taller than historical towers.[37]
Bright Angel Lodge was built of logs and stone in 1935. Mary Colter designed the lodge and it was built by the Fred Harvey Company. Inside the lodge is a small museum honoring Fred Harvey (June 27, 1835 – February 9, 1901), who played a major role in popularizing the Grand Canyon. In the History Room is a stone fireplace layered in the same sequence as those in the canyon.

text: Weather

text: Weather in the Grand Canyon varies according to elevation. The forested rims are high enough to receive winter snowfall, but along the Colorado River in the Inner Gorge, temperatures are similar to those found in Tucson and other low elevation desert locations in Arizona. Conditions in the Grand Canyon region are generally dry, but substantial precipitation occurs twice annually, during seasonal pattern shifts in winter (when Pacific storms usually deliver widespread, moderate rain and high-elevation snow to the region from the west) and in late summer (due to the North American Monsoon, which delivers waves of moisture from the southeast, causing dramatic, localized thunderstorms fueled by the heat of the day).[38] Average annual precipitation on the South Rim is less than 16 inches (41 cm), with 60 inches (150 cm) of snow; the higher North Rim usually receives 27 inches (69 cm) of moisture, with a typical snowfall of 144 inches (370 cm); and Phantom Ranch, far below the canyon's rims along the Colorado River at 2,500 feet (762 m) gets just 8 inches (20 cm) of rain, and snow is a rarity.

text: Temperatures vary wildly throughout the year, with summer highs within the Inner Gorge commonly exceeding 100 °F (37.8 °C) and winter minimum temperatures sometimes falling below zero degrees Fahrenheit (−17.8 °C) along the canyon's rims.[38] Visitors are often surprised by these potentially extreme conditions, and this, along with the high altitude of the canyon's rims, can lead to unpleasant side effects such as dehydration, sunburn, and hypothermia.

text: Weather conditions can greatly affect hiking and canyon exploration, and visitors should obtain accurate forecasts because of hazards posed by exposure to extreme temperatures, winter storms and late summer monsoons. While the park service posts weather information at gates and visitor centers, this is a rough approximation only, and should not be relied upon for trip planning. For accurate weather in the canyon, hikers should consult the National Weather Service's NOAA weather radio or the official National Weather Service website.[39]

text: The National Weather Service has had a cooperative station on the South Rim since 1903. The record high temperature on the South Rim was 105 °F (41 °C) on June 26, 1974, and the record low temperature was −20 °F (−29 °C) on January 1, 1919, February 1, 1985, and December 23, 1990.[40][41][42]

text: Air quality

text:
The Grand Canyon area has some of the cleanest air in the United States.[44]:p.5-2
[45]
However, at times the air quality can be considerably affected by events such as forest fires and dust storms in the Southwest.

text:
What effect there is on air quality and visibility in the canyon has been mainly from sulfates, soils, and organics. The sulfates largely result from urban emissions in southern California, borne on the prevailing westerly winds throughout much of the year, and emissions from Arizona's copper smelter region, borne on southerly or southeasterly winds during the monsoon. Airborne soils originate with windy conditions and road dust. Organic particles result from vehicle emissions, long-range transport from urban areas, and forest fires, as well as from VOCs emitted by vegetation in the surrounding forests. Nitrates, carried in from urban areas, stationary sources, and vehicle emissions; as well as black carbon from forest fires and vehicle emissions, also contribute to a lesser extent.
[45]
[46]:p.26, 49–51

text:
A number of actions have been taken to preserve and further improve air quality and visibility at the canyon.
In 1990, amendments to the Clean Air Act established the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC) to advise the US EPA on strategies for protecting visual air quality on the Colorado Plateau. The GCVTC released its final report in 1996 and initiated the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP), a partnership of state, tribal and federal agencies to help coordinate implementation of the Commission's recommendations.
[47]
[48]

text:
In 1999, the Regional Haze Rule established a goal of restoring visibility in national parks and wilderness areas (Class 1 areas), such as the Grand Canyon, to natural background levels by 2064. Subsequent revisions to the rule provide specific requirements for making reasonable progress toward that goal.
[49]

text:
In the early 1990s, studies indicated that emissions of SO2, a sulfate precursor, from the Navajo Generating Station affected visibility in the canyon mainly in the winter, and which if controlled would improve wintertime visibility by 2 to 7%.
[50]:p.C-2,C-6
As a result, scrubbers were added to the plant's three units in 1997 through 1999, reducing SO2 emissions by more than 90%. The plant also installed low-NOx SOFA burners in 2009 -2011, reducing emissions of NOx, a nitrate precursor, by 40%.
Emissions from the Mohave Generating Station to the west were similarly found to affect visibility in the canyon. The plant was required to have installed SO2 scrubbers, but was instead shut down in 2005, completely eliminating its emissions.
[51]

text:
Prescribed fires are typically conducted in the spring and fall in the forests adjacent to the canyon to reduce the potential for severe forest fires and resulting smoke conditions. Although prescribed fires also affect air quality, the controlled conditions allow the use of management techniques to minimize their impact.
[52]
[53]:p.86,93

text: Biology and ecology

text: Plants

text: There are approximately 1,737 known species of vascular plants, 167 species of fungi, 64 species of moss and 195 species of lichen found in Grand Canyon National Park.[54] This variety is largely due to the 8,000 foot (2,400 m) elevation change from the Colorado River up to the highest point on the North Rim.[54] Grand Canyon boasts a dozen endemic plants (known only within the Park's boundaries) while only ten percent of the Park's flora is exotic.[54] Sixty-three plants found here have been given special status by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[54]

text: The Mojave Desert influences the western sections of the canyon, Sonoran Desert vegetation covers the eastern sections, and ponderosa and pinyon pine forests grow on both rims.[55]

text: Natural seeps and springs percolating out of the canyon walls are home to 11% of all the plant species found in the Grand Canyon.[55] The canyon itself can act as a connection between the east and the west by providing corridors of appropriate habitat along its length.[55] The canyon can also be a genetic barrier to some species, like the tassel-eared squirrel.[55]

text: The aspect, or direction a slope faces, also plays a major role in adding diversity to the Grand Canyon. North-facing slopes receive about one-third the normal amount of sunlight, so plants growing there are similar to plants found at higher elevations, or in more northern latitudes.[55] The south-facing slopes receive the full amount of sunlight and are covered in vegetation typical of the Sonoran Desert.[55]

text: Animals

text: Of the 90 mammal species found along the Colorado River corridor, 18 are rodents and 22 are bats.[56]

text: Life zones and communities

text: The Park contains several major ecosystems.[10] Its great biological diversity can be attributed to the presence of five of the seven life zones and three of the four desert types in North America.[10] The five life zones represented are the Lower Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, Transition, Canadian, and Hudsonian.[10] This is equivalent to traveling from Mexico to Canada. Differences in elevation and the resulting variations in climate are the major factors that form the various life zones and communities in and around the canyon. Grand Canyon National Park contains 129 vegetation communities, and the composition and distribution of plant species is influenced by climate, geomorphology and geology.[54]

text: Lower Sonoran

text: The Lower Sonoran life zone spans from the Colorado River up to 3,500 feet (1,100 m). Along the Colorado River and its perennial tributaries, a riparian community exists.[54] Coyote willow, arrowweed, seep-willow, western honey mesquite, catclaw acacia, and exotic tamarisk (saltcedar) are the predominant species.[54] Hanging gardens, seeps and springs often contain rare plants such as the white-flowering western redbud, stream orchid, and Flaveria mcdougallii.[54] Endangered fish in the river include the humpback chub and the razorback sucker.[57]

text: The three most common amphibians in these riparian communities are the canyon tree frog, red-spotted toad, and Woodhouse's Rocky Mountain toad.[58] Leopard frogs are very rare in the Colorado River corridor, they have undergone major declines and have not been seen in the Canyon in several years.[58] There are 33 crustacean species found in the Colorado River and its tributaries within Grand Canyon National Park. Of these 33, 16 are considered true zooplankton organisms.[59]

text: Only 48 bird species regularly nest along the river, while others use the river as a migration corridor or as overwintering habitat. The bald eagle is one species that uses the river corridor as winter habitat.[60]

text: River otters may have disappeared from the park in the late 20th century, and muskrats are extremely rare.[56] Beavers cut willows, cottonwoods, and shrubs for food, and can significantly affect the riparian vegetation.[56] Other rodents, such as antelope squirrels and pocket mice, are mostly omnivorous, using many different vegetation types.[56] Grand Canyon bats typically roost in desert uplands, but forage on the abundance of insects along the river and its tributaries.[56] In addition to bats, coyotes, ringtails, and spotted skunks are the most numerous riparian predators and prey on invertebrates, rodents, and reptiles.[56]

text: Raccoons, weasels, bobcats, gray foxes, and mountain lions are also present, but are much more rare.[56] Mule deer and desert bighorn sheep are the ungulates that frequent the river corridor. Since the removal of 500 feral burros in the early 1980s, bighorn sheep numbers have rebounded.[56] Mule deer are generally not permanent residents along the river, but travel down from the rim when food and water resources there become scarce.[56]

text: The insect species commonly found in the river corridor and tributaries are midges, caddis flies, mayflies, stoneflies, black flies, mites, beetles, butterflies, moths, and fire ants.[61] Numerous species of spiders and several species of scorpions including the bark scorpion and the giant desert hairy scorpion inhabit the riparian zone.[61]

text: Eleven aquatic and 26 terrestrial species of mollusks have been identified in and around Grand Canyon National Park.[62] Of the aquatic species, two are bivalves (clams) and nine are gastropods (snails).[62] Twenty-six species of terrestrial gastropods have been identified, primarily land snails and slugs.[62]

text: There are approximately 41 reptile species in Grand Canyon National Park. Ten are considered common along the river corridor and include lizards and snakes.[63] Lizard density tends to be highest along the stretch of land between the water's edge and the beginning of the upland desert community.[63] The two largest lizards in the canyon are gila monsters and chuckwallas.[63] Many snake species, which are not directly dependent on surface water, may be found both within the inner gorge and the Colorado River corridor. Six rattlesnake species have been recorded in the park.[63]

text: Above the river corridor a desert scrub community, composed of North American desert flora, thrives. Typical warm desert species such as creosote bush, white bursage, brittlebush, catclaw acacia, ocotillo, mariola, western honey mesquite, four-wing saltbush, big sagebrush, blackbrush and rubber rabbitbrush grow in this community.[54] The mammalian fauna in the woodland scrub community consists of 50 species, mostly rodents and bats.[56] Three of the five Park woodrat species live in the desert scrub community.[56]

text: Except for the western (desert) banded gecko, which seems to be distributed only near water along the Colorado River, all of the reptiles found near the river also appear in the uplands, but in lower densities.[63] The desert gopher tortoise, a threatened species, inhabits the desert scrublands in the western end of the park.[63]

text: Some of the common insects found at elevations above 2,000 feet (610 m) are orange paper wasps, honey bees, black flies, tarantula hawks, stink bugs, beetles, black ants, and monarch and swallowtail butterflies.[61] Solifugids, wood spiders, garden spiders, black widow spiders and tarantulas can be found in the desert scrub and higher elevations.[61]

text: Upper Sonoran and Transition

text: The Upper Sonoran Life Zone includes most of the inner canyon and South Rim at elevations from 3,500 to 7,000 feet (1,100 to 2,100 m).[55] This zone is generally dominated by blackbrush, sagebrush, and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Elevations of 3,500 to 4,000 feet (1,100 to 1,200 m) are in the Mojave Desert Scrub community of the Upper Sonoran. This community is dominated by the four-winged saltbush and creosote bush; other important plants include Utah agave, narrowleaf mesquite, ratany, catclaw acacia, and various cacti species.[55]

text: Approximately 30 bird species breed primarily in the desert uplands and cliffs of the inner canyon.[60] Virtually all bird species present breed in other suitable habitats throughout the Sonoran and Mohave deserts.[60] The abundance of bats, swifts, and riparian birds provides ample food for peregrines, and suitable eyrie sites are plentiful along the steep canyon walls. Also, several critically endangered California condors that were re-introduced to the Colorado Plateau on the Arizona Strip, have made the eastern part of the Park their home.[60]

text: The conifer forests provide habitat for 52 mammal species.[56] Porcupines, shrews, red squirrels, tassel eared Kaibab and Abert's squirrels, black bear, mule deer, and elk are found at the park's higher elevations on the Kaibab Plateau.[56]

text: Above the desert scrub and up to 6,200 feet (1,900 m) is a pinyon pine forest and one seed juniper woodland.[54] Within this woodland one can find big sagebrush, snakeweed, Mormon tea, Utah agave, banana and narrowleaf Yucca, winterfat, Indian ricegrass, dropseed, and needlegrass.[54] There are a variety of snakes and lizards here, but one species of reptile, the mountain short-horned lizard, is a particularly abundant inhabitant of the piñon-juniper and ponderosa pine forests.[63]

text: Ponderosa pine forests grow at elevations between 6,500 and 8,200 feet (2,000 and 2,500 m), on both North and South rims in the Transition life zone.[54] The South Rim includes species such as gray fox, mule deer, bighorn sheep, rock squirrels, pinyon pine and Utah juniper.[55] Additional species such as Gambel oak, New Mexico locust, mountain mahogany, elderberry, creeping mahonia, and fescue have been identified in these forests.[54] The Utah tiger salamander and the Great Basin spadefoot toad are two amphibians that are common in the rim forests.[58] Of the approximately 90 bird species that breed in the coniferous forests, 51 are summer residents and at least 15 of these are known to be neotropical migrants.[60]

text: Canadian and Hudsonian

text: Elevations of 8,200 to 9,000 feet (2,500 to 2,700 m) are in the Canadian Life Zone, which includes the North Rim and the Kaibab Plateau.[55] Spruce-fir forests characterized by Engelmann spruce, blue spruce, Douglas fir, white fir, aspen, and mountain ash, along with several species of perennial grasses, groundsels, yarrow, cinquefoil, lupines, sedges, and asters, grow in this sub-alpine climate.[54] Mountain lions, Kaibab squirrels, and northern goshawks are found here.[55]

text: Montane meadows and subalpine grassland communities of the Hudsonian life zone are rare and located only on the North Rim.[54] Both are typified by many grass species. Some of these grasses include blue and black grama, big galleta, Indian ricegrass and three-awns.[54] The wettest areas support sedges and forbs.[54]

text: Grand Canyon tourism

text:
Grand Canyon National Park is one of the world's premier natural attractions, attracting about five million visitors per year. Overall, 83% were from the United States: California (12.2%), Arizona (8.9%), Texas (4.8%), Florida (3.4%) and New York (3.2%) represented the top domestic visitors. Seventeen percent of visitors were from outside the United States; the most prominently represented nations were the United Kingdom (3.8%), Canada (3.5%), Japan (2.1%), Germany (1.9%) and The Netherlands (1.2%).[64]
The South Rim is open all year round weather permitting.  The North Rim is generally open mid-May to mid-October.[65]

text: Activities

text: Aside from casual sightseeing from the South Rim (averaging 7,000 feet [2,100 m] above sea level), rafting, hiking, running, and helicopter tours are popular. The Grand Canyon Ultra Marathon is a 78-mile (126 km) race over 24 hours. The floor of the valley is accessible by foot, muleback, or by boat or raft from upriver. Hiking down to the river and back up to the rim in one day is discouraged by park officials because of the distance, steep and rocky trails, change in elevation, and danger of heat exhaustion from the much higher temperatures at the bottom. Rescues are required annually of unsuccessful rim-to-river-to-rim travelers. Nevertheless, hundreds of fit and experienced hikers complete the trip every year.

text: Camping on the North and South rims is generally restricted to established campgrounds and reservations are highly recommended, especially at the busier South Rim. There is at large camping available along many parts of the North Rim managed by Kaibab National Forest. North Rim campsites are only open seasonally due to road closures from weather and winter snowpack. All overnight camping below the rim requires a backcountry permit from the Backcountry Office (BCO).[66] Each year Grand Canyon National Park receives approximately 30,000 requests for backcountry permits. The park issues 13,000 permits, and close to 40,000 people camp overnight.[66] The earliest a permit application is accepted is the first of the month, four months before the proposed start month.

text: Tourists wishing for a more vertical perspective can go skydiving, board helicopters and small airplanes in Boulder, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Grand Canyon National Park Airport (seven miles from the South Rim) for canyon flyovers. Scenic flights are no longer allowed to fly within 1500 feet of the rim within the national park because of a late 1990s crash.[67] The last aerial video footage from below the rim was filmed in 1984. However, some helicopter flights land on the Havasupai and Hualapai Indian Reservations within Grand Canyon (outside of the park boundaries).

text:
In 2007, the Hualapai Tribe opened the glass-bottomed Grand Canyon Skywalk on their property, Grand Canyon West. The Skywalk is about 250 miles (400 km) by road from Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim.[68]
The skywalk has attracted "thousands of visitors a year, most from Las Vegas".[69]

text: In 2016, skydiving at the Grand Canyon become possible with the first Grand Canyon Skydiving operation opening up at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport, on the South Rim.

text: In 2014, a developer announced plans to build a multimedia complex on the canyon's rim called the Grand Canyon Escalade. On 420 acres there would be shops, an IMAX theater, hotels and an RV park. A gondola would enable easy visits to the canyon floor where a "riverwalk" of "connected walkways, an eatery, a tramway station, a seating area and a wastewater package plant" would be situated. Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly has indicated agreement; the tribe would have to invest $65 million for road, water and communication facilities for the $1 billion complex. One of the developers is Navajo and has cited an 8 to 18 percent share of the gross revenue for the tribe as an incentive.[70]

text: Viewing the canyon

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Lipan Point is a promontory located on the South Rim. This point is located to the east of the Grand Canyon Village along the Desert View Drive. There is a parking lot for visitors who care to drive along with the canyon's bus service that routinely stops at the point. The trailhead to the Tanner Trail is located just before the parking lot. The view from Lipan Point shows a wide array of rock strata and the Unkar Creek area in the inner canyon.

text: Grand Canyon fatalities

text: About 770 deaths have occurred between the mid 1800s and 2015.[71][72] Of the fatalities that occurred from 1869 to 2001, some were as follows: 53 resulted from falls; 65 were attributable to environmental causes, including heat stroke, cardiac arrest, dehydration, and hypothermia; 7 were caught in flash floods; 79 were drowned in the Colorado River; 242 perished in airplane and helicopter crashes (128 of them in the 1956 disaster mentioned below); 25 died in freak errors and accidents, including lightning strikes and rock falls; and 23 were the victims of homicides.[73]

text: 1956 air disaster

text: In 1956, the Grand Canyon was the site of the deadliest commercial aviation disaster in history at the time.

text: On the morning of June 30, 1956, a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation and a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 departed Los Angeles International Airport within three minutes of one another on eastbound transcontinental flights. Approximately 90 minutes later, the two propeller-driven airliners collided above the canyon while both were flying in unmonitored airspace.

text: The wreckage of both planes fell into the eastern portion of the canyon, on Temple and Chuar Buttes, near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. The disaster killed all 128 passengers and crew members aboard both planes.

text: This accident led to the institution of high-altitude airways and direct radar observation of aircraft (known as positive control) by en route ground controllers.


document_title: List of Family Guy cast members

question_text: who does mila kunis voice in family guy

question_tokens: who does mila kunis voice in family guy

root

text: List of Family Guy cast members

text: Current cast[edit]

text: From seasons 1 to 4, Family Guy had four main cast members. Since season 5, there have been five main cast members. The casting of Meg Griffin changed after season 1.

tag: p

text: Seth MacFarlane[edit]

text: Seth MacFarlane voices three of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, and Stewie Griffin.[1] MacFarlane chose to voice these characters himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he had already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it.[2] MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design.[3] Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison,[4] especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady.[5] MacFarlane uses his own voice while portraying Brian.[2]

text: MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time only characters, most prominently those of neighbour Glenn Quagmire, news anchor Tom Tucker, Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt and Dr. Hartman.[6] He is the only voice to be in every episode.

text: Alex Borstein[edit]

text: Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt.[7] Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv. She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen".[8] At the time, Borstein performed in a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins.[7][8] The voice was originally slower (and deeper for the original series), but when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less fucking annoying ... and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours."[7]

text: Mila Kunis[edit]

text: Mila Kunis voices Meg Griffin.[6] Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show.[9] MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her.[9] Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat". She further explained, "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in a perpetual mode of humiliation. And it's fun."[10]

text: Seth Green[edit]

text: Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman.[6][11] Green stated that he did an impression of the "Buffalo Bill" character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition.[12] His main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he were speaking through a public address system at a McDonald's.[13]

text: Mike Henry[edit]

text: Mike Henry is the voice of Cleveland Brown, John Herbert The Pervert and various other characters. A Family Guy writer and producer, he began acting on the show as part of the recurring cast repertory (see below) but was promoted to main cast member in 2005. Since the cancellation of The Cleveland Show, he also voices Cleveland's step-son Rallo Tubbs on Family Guy.

text: Recurring cast[edit]

text: In addition to both its main cast and guest stars, Family Guy utilizes a deep bench of regularly appearing supporting voice actors. Some appear in nearly every episode each season, while others appear less frequently. Some of these actors specifically play recurring characters, while others mainly play background citizens of Quahog or characters in cutaway gags.

text: The current supporting cast repertory includes the following actors:

text:
Actor
Character(s)
No. of Episodes
(Out of 245 produced)
Notes

Benjamin, H. JonH. Jon Benjamin
Carl
14
Since 2006.

Breckenridge, AlexandraAlexandra Breckenridge
Various women
60
Since 2005. Currently voices most female “extras” not voiced by Alex Borstein.

Brennan, JohnnyJohnny Brennan
Goldman, MortMort Goldman, Horace the bartender
77

Callaghan, SteveSteve Callaghan
Various
37
Also the current showrunner and executive producer of Family Guy and former showrunner/EP of American Dad!. [14]

Garman, RalphRalph Garman
Various
138

Lakin, ChristineChristine Lakin
Kinney, JoyceJoyce Kinney
23
Since 2010.

LaMarr, PhilPhil LaMarr
Williams, OllieOllie Williams and the Quahog judge
56

MacFarlane, RachaelRachael MacFarlane
Olivia and various women
54
Formerly one of the most frequent female voices. She reduced her number of appearances per season after joining American Dad! in 2005 but still appears several times per season. Seth MacFarlane's sister.

Osment, EmilyEmily Osment
Various
14
Since 2012.

Richardson, Kevin MichaelKevin Michael Richardson
Jerome and Cleveland Jr.
30
Since 2009.

Sheridan, ChrisChris Sheridan
Various
33
Also a Family Guy writer.

Smith, DannyDanny Smith
Various, including Evil Monkey, Al Harrington and Ernie, the Giant Chicken
189
Also a Family Guy writer.

Sulkin, AlecAlec Sulkin
Christ, JesusJesus Christ and various others
147
Since 2005, Also a Family Guy writer.

Tatasciore, FredFred Tatasciore
Various
36

Tilly, JenniferJennifer Tilly
Swanson, BonnieBonnie Swanson
42
Has recurred as the Griffin's neighbor since the first season.

Viener, JohnJohn Viener
Various
182
Since 2005, he has been one of the most frequently heard male voices aside from Seth MacFarlane. Also a Family Guy writer.

Warburton, PatrickPatrick Warburton
Swanson, JoeJoe Swanson
163
Has appeared as the Griffins' neighbor since the first season, and usually appears in most episodes each season. Warburton is the most frequently appearing one-character actor in the supporting repertory.

Wingert, WallyWally Wingert
Various
41

tag: table

text: In addition to the above, the following actors were formerly regularly recurring voice actors in the series:

text:
Actor
Character(s)
No. of Episodes
Notes

Alan, LoriLori Alan
Simmons, DianeDiane Simmons
63
Left the show in season nine when her character was killed off. Was replaced in the series' context by Christine Lakin's Joyce Kinney

Alazraqui, CarlosCarlos Alazraqui
Weed, Mr.Mr. Weed
10
Peter's first boss, Mr. Weed, was killed off early in the series' run.

Barrymore, DrewDrew Barrymore
Russell, JillianJillian Russell
12
Played Jillian, Brian's former girlfriend. The character still appears in background roles

Cole, GaryGary Cole
Various
38
Cole appeared frequently in the earlier seasons, but still pops up now and then to play Meg and Chris' principal, Mr. Shepherd.

Hartman, ButchButch Hartman
Various
8

Henry, MikeMike Henry
Cleveland Brown, Herbert, Bruce, Consuela, and various others

Was promoted to main cast in 2005. Also a Family Guy writer.

Hentemann, MarkMark Hentemann
Opie and various others
45
Recently left Family Guy to work on another Seth MacFarlane project. Also a Family Guy writer.

Fisher, CarrieCarrie Fisher
Angela
19
Has recurred as Peter's boss several times per season since 2005. Died in 2016.

Strong, TaraTara Strong
Various, as well as Meg's singing voice
21
Appeared frequently in the first four seasons. Returned briefly in 2010-2012 and again for one episode in 2014.

Sullivan, NicoleNicole Sullivan
Goldman, MurielMuriel Goldman
27
Muriel was killed off in season nine.

Whitman, MaeMae Whitman
Various
10
Was a recurring younger female voice for several seasons between 2008-2010.

Wild, WellesleyWellesley Wild
Various
14
No longer a recurring voice (since 2013). He was a producer, but left the show.

Wilhoit, LisaLisa Wilhoit
D'Amico, ConnieConnie D'Amico
22
Meg's friend Beth hasn't appeared in the series since 2007, while Meg's bully Connie had stopped appearing in the series after 2012, but eventually resurfaced towards the end of season 15 in early 2017. Her most recent appearance to date is a cameo early in season 16 during late 2017.

West, AdamAdam West
Mayor West, AdamAdam West
93
Played a warped, possibly younger version of himself as the mayor of Quahog. Died in 2017.

text: Recurring guest voices[edit]

text: The recurring guest voices include Adam Carolla as Death, Patrick Stewart as Susie Swanson, Scott Grimes as Kevin Swanson and Sanaa Lathan as Donna Tubbs Brown. Previous recurring guests included Phyllis Diller in three episodes as Peter's Mother, Thelma, and Charles Durning as Peter's father, Francis. Both characters have since died, but Durning returned once to play Francis as a ghost. Early in the show's run, Fred Willard and Jane Lynch had a recurring role as a family of nudists. James Woods as James Woods.

text: Casting changes[edit]

text:
Lacey Chabert voiced Meg for the first production season (14 episodes), but, because of a contractual agreement, was never credited.[15] Chabert left the series due to time constraints with her acting role in Party of Five, as well as schoolwork.[16]
Norm Macdonald voiced the character of Death in a second season episode of Family Guy. He was subsequently replaced by Adam Carolla in all other appearances.
Jon Cryer originally voiced Kevin Swanson in his first appearance, before the role was passed temporarily onto Seth MacFarlane. The character was written out of the series for several years, with Scott Grimes taking over the voice when the character returned.
Fairuza Balk was the original voice of high school bully Connie D'Amico until Lisa Wilhoit took over the character in the third season.

tag: ul

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Year
Actor
Award
Category
Role
Result
Ref.

2000
Seth MacFarlane
Primetime Emmy Award
Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Stewie Griffin
Won
[17]

2009
Seth MacFarlane
Primetime Emmy Award
Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Peter Griffin
Won
[18]

2006
Seth MacFarlane
Annie Award
Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production
Stewie Griffin
Won
[19]

2007
Mila Kunis
Annie Award
Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production
Meg Griffin
Won
[20]


document_title: List of The Drew Carey Show characters

question_text: who played oswald's mom on drew carey

question_tokens: who played oswald 's mom on drew carey

text: List of The Drew Carey Show characters

text: Main characters[edit]

text:
Drew Allison Carey Sr. (Drew Carey) - Drew Carey is the main protagonist of the series. He is a perpetual "nice guy." For most of the series, he works in the human resources department of Winfred-Louder, a multinational department store chain. He's portrayed as a lovable loser, though he's the most successful of his group of friends. Drew is the founder and co-owner of Buzz Beer, a coffee-flavored caffeinated beer (at the time, such drinks were legal but uncommon in the United States). He has a long-standing feud with Mimi Bobeck; his pranks have included destroying her clothes, shredding her vacation requests, and masquerading as Antonio Banderas to taunt her.[1]
Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney) - Mimi Bobeck is Mr. Wick's assistant/secretary and the main antagonist of the series. Much like Fonzie from Happy Days and Steve Urkel from Family Matters, the Mimi character was originally a one-time character, only appearing in the pilot episode.[2] She is an overweight woman who wears a lot of makeup, yet has a very high but unstable self-esteem. (As an in-joke, Mimi's mother was played by Tammy Faye Bakker.) Mimi is Drew's nemesis; she vowed to make Drew's life a living hell after Drew denied her a job based on her makeup. Mimi's pranks have included gluing Drew's hand to a pornographic magazine, covering Drew's desk with garbage, and eventually sending Drew to China while he is unconscious. She is also known for calling him "Pig" and "Doughboy." Mimi's past has a lot of connections to the world of music; she often talks about being a roadie for Foghat and was married to Eddie Money for two weeks after appearing at his first concert. Additionally, she admits to sleeping with both Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton. Frampton still carries a torch for Mimi; he has a tattoo of her likeness on his chest. Later on, Mimi becomes more of a friend to Drew (they agree to put their feud on hold while Mimi dates/marries Steve) and a good, if unconventional, mother to Gus. Early in the series, it was revealed that Mimi was of Polish ancestry, and inherited the title of Duchess of Kraków after her aunt died. However, the episode with this content received a great deal of complaint from the Polish community, and all mention of Mimi's heritage has been removed from the show (with alternative footage placed over these bits in syndication). Starting in 2009, Mimi resurfaced as a guest on The Price is Right during the show's April Fool's episode (hosted by Drew since October 15, 2007), first as a model (2009) and ransacking Mike Richards' position as executive producer on the show (2010). Carey usually promotes Kinney's next project during the closing of that episode.
Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles) - Forms a double-act with Oswald. Lewis, who is tall, lanky, and blonde, is in his forties and can be counted on to nonchalantly say bizarre and offensive things. Ryan Stiles once described Lewis as "Not even a character at first, just a creep really." He possesses an IQ of 162, but works as a janitor for a company called DrugCo. Due to accidentally releasing a strain of bacteria into the population, he was busted down to janitor from a position that required him to wear a lab coat. It's uncertain if he was a scientist or lab assistant, though it's possible he was joking. At one point, he posed as Drew to take his physical exam for him, unexpectedly taking a psychiatric exam as well. He tried to give answers which he thought suited Drew's life and situation, and the results showed him to be mentally unstable and possibly criminally insane. He mentioned in one episode he was adopted.
Oswald Lee Harvey (Diedrich Bader) - Lewis's slightly shorter, dark-haired friend is the dumb one of the double-act, which tends to be his most distinguishing characteristic. Lewis described him once as a "man-child stuck in a sort of prolonged adolescence." At one point Oswald trained to be a nurse, but he proved unsuitable. Oswald was a deejay at the beginning of the first season but later on became a delivery driver for Global Parcel (a fictional package-delivery service whose uniforms are modeled after those of UPS). He later attempted to become a nurse, but he failed the required tests. Drew later got him a job as a delivery man for Never Ending Store, but Oswald was injured on store property. After receiving damages, he bought the Warsaw. His name is a play on Lee Harvey Oswald. In the episode Bus-ted, it is revealed that Oswald joined the group of friends to replace Adam, a childhood friend who fell through the ice on a lake.
Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller) - Friends with Drew, Lewis, and Oswald since they were kids. Kate is a bit of a tomboy and a hothead. She and Oswald almost got married at one point, but she called it off just after Oswald threw her a surprise wedding (essentially leaving Oswald at the altar). Kate later found out about Drew's long-standing crush on her at their high school reunion, and she realized that she had feelings for him too. They dated for a season (even becoming engaged) but broke up when they disagreed about having kids. Drew and Kate were married for a short time in a later season, although this was illegal, as Drew had just become married to his old girlfriend, Nicki. Eventually, Drew's sham was discovered and Kate felt betrayed. Drew eventually regained Kate's trust and they became friends again. Kate left at the beginning of the eighth season, marrying a Naval aviator and moving from Cleveland to Guam.
Nigel Algernon Wick (Craig Ferguson) - Drew's boss after the first season, replacing Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak). English, crude, boisterous and offensive, he was also a cocaine addict before he was forced to go into rehab. For some time, he and Drew were in a same-sex marriage (technically a civil union) in order for Mr. Wick to get his green card and Drew to get his job back. When he first appeared on stage in guest episodes in the last two seasons he was greeted with thunderous applause. Wick always had unusual methods of firing employees (and nearly always fired someone named Johnson). He is almost always referred to as "Mr. Wick," and his first name is rarely used. In the show's first April Fool's Day episode, Mr. Wick was shot in the crotch with a crossbow and had to have one of his testicles removed (a gag that was referred to for the rest of the series). Wick also lost a toe and a nipple in a fox hunt that went terribly wrong. Craig Ferguson initially auditioned at Warner Bros. for a role as a Hispanic photographer on Suddenly Susan, and after he failed his audition, the casting director referred him to The Drew Carey Show which was auditioning across the studio.[3] Ferguson, who is Scottish, played the role with an over-the-top posh English accent "to make up for generations of English actors doing crap Scottish accents." At the end of one episode, though, Ferguson broke the fourth wall and begin talking to the audience at home in his regular Scottish accent.
Steve Carey (John Carroll Lynch) - Drew's cross-dressing brother. He came to Cleveland and got a job in the cosmetics department at Winfred-Louder. He fell in love with Mimi and after one season of dating they married in a ceremony in Drew's backyard, with Drew officiating along with an online minister from an Internet website. In later seasons the concept of Steve being a cross-dresser is abandoned entirely with little explanation (though it is hinted that he gave it up to make Mimi happy). He left, along with Kate and Wick, early in the eighth season.
Kellie Newmark (Cynthia Watros) - Drew's childhood friend. She has had a crush on Drew since high school but never told him. She was married but her husband cheated on her with her sister. Her mother is an alcoholic and leaves her father, eventually hooking up with Lewis. After Kate leaves, Drew realizes that he loves Kellie. Drew is afraid to tell Kellie because it may ruin their friendship like it did with Kate. After Lily leaves Drew, they confess their feelings for each other. When Kellie comes out while Drew is talking to his dad and asks Drew what they are going to do about their feelings for each other, Drew's dad falls off the roof and dies. Eventually during the beginning stage of their relationship Kellie finds out she is pregnant with Drew Jr. but won't marry Drew because she doesn't think he is ready for marriage. During the finale she decides Drew is ready. But her water breaks and she and Drew get married right when the baby is born.

text: Drew's marriages[edit]

text: Much of the show's humor revolved around Drew's single life (in real life, Drew was engaged for the first time in 2007, shortly after becoming a game show host). However, Drew was married a number of times during the show's run. His spouses during the series were:

text:
Diane (Nicole Sullivan) - A cocktail waitress Drew met on a business trip to Las Vegas. She tricked Drew into marrying her because she believed having a husband would give her an edge in winning custody of her children. Drew agreed to help her with the social workers, and they divorced a week later.
Nicki Fifer (Kate Walsh) - A real estate agent whom Drew dated and became engaged to; she dumped him after gaining a large amount of weight while they were dating (and, in her own words, "couldn't be with a man who loved to eat"). She lost the weight, got married and came back to Drew after her divorce (when Drew had just left a mental institution). Drew asked her to marry him on an impulse, and she agreed. Unfortunately, Drew also got married to Kate soon after (thus becoming a bigamist) and she left him. Nicki returned later, having regained all her previous weight, and attempted to kill Drew because she blamed him for all the recent problems in her life. Drew let Nicki stay at his house until she could get back on her feet, after which she was never seen or heard from again.
Kate - The love of Drew's life and his best friend since childhood, Drew and Kate first broke off their engagement after a disagreement about having kids. After Drew's stint in the mental hospital, Kate realized that she still loved Drew and asked him to marry her. Drew agreed (despite having recently married Nicki and still being married to Mr. Wick) and kept both his marriages a secret for a time. Both wives discovered the situation, and Kate, furious, dumped Drew and told the newspapers about the situation; Drew became known as "The Impotent Bisexual Bigamist."
Lily (Tammy Lauren) - A Southern belle who met Drew after Oswald and Lewis started a campaign to find him a wife. Drew brought Lily to Cleveland and attempted to establish a relationship with her, but found it difficult to deal with Lily's night terrors. Drew ended up proposing to Lily on three different occasions: once in his house, another in a movie theater, and finally, back at his home again. After Drew tore up all of his pre-determined wedding plan receipts, Lily agreed to marry him. Lily left Drew after the wedding, driving off without him after giving Drew his ring back. At the reception, Drew and Kellie expressed their hidden love for each other and began their relationship, which would also lead to Drew's final marriage.
Kellie Newmark (Cynthia Watros) - Drew's childhood friend who was introduced in the eighth season. Drew went to a strip club and discovered that Kellie was working as a stripper to support herself after her divorce from her husband. Drew takes her into his home and their friendship blossoms. They were both reluctant to confess their feelings for each other, but they became a couple after Drew and Lily's wedding. Kellie soon becomes pregnant, but refuses to marry Drew for another eight months. On their wedding day and the series finale, Kellie gave birth to Drew Jr.

text: Other characters[edit]

text:
Larry Almada (Ian Gomez) – One of Drew's co-workers, Larry is a bumbling and somewhat unprofessional employee who is often willing to resort to less than savory methods to gain the upper hand. During a competition to determine the new employee representative on the Winfred-Louder board of directors, he managed to obtain the position by having sex with Mrs. Louder, a practice that he repeats several times after being dumped by his wife. He loses his job on the board shortly after receiving the promotion, but continues his secret relationship with Mrs. Louder. He also ends up in jail for selling drugs, but is released and continues his job at the department store. After leaving Winfred-Louder, he set up a reasonably successful dating service which later expanded into a television chat show.
Gerald Hawthorne Bell (Kevin Pollak) – Drew's boss for the show's first season. Mr. Bell only appeared in person for his last appearance. He gets caught having relations with a woman in his office and he and Mrs. Louder have to talk it out, but when he appears, he is wearing a Santa costume. We only heard his voice on Drew's speakerphone, despite the fact that Drew had his desk very close to Mr. Bell's office. Little was known about him, but he did not come across as a nice person. He seemed sexist and self-centered and had an office romance with a staff member (unlike Drew's romance with Lisa, Bell was only after the sex). In the last episode of the first season, Mr. Bell finally appeared on camera as he was seen leaving his office after getting fired from the store. The running joke of his never being officially seen until this moment is referenced in dialogue when he says; "What's the matter, Carey? You act like you've never seen me before!"
Fran Louder (Nan Martin) – Mrs. Louder is one of the executives' "cougars" and partial namesake of the Winfred-Louder corporation who originally inherited the store from her dead husband. She is the CEO of the company that owns the department store, and retains her position even after the corporation is bought out by a larger company located in Amsterdam. As the head of the store, she thinks very little of Drew, and openly expresses surprise at the assertion that he still has dreams of becoming more successful, although on occasion she doesn't hesitate to refer to Drew as a good employee. Mrs. Louder occasionally gives him minor promotions throughout the series, but his personality clashes with her ruthless and businesslike nature. She is last seen accompanying Mimi and Steve on their honeymoon, but is removed from power shortly after when a member of the board improvises a speech slurring every major ethnic group. The insulted employees begin to riot, gaining the attention of the bosses in Amsterdam, who fire and replace her along with the entire board of directors except for Mr. Wick.
Robert Soulard (Mark Curry) – One of Drew's bosses at Winfred-Louder, Mr. Soulard was appointed by the Dutch as Mrs. Louder's replacement after the latter was fired along with the original board of directors. Slightly more open-minded than his predecessor, Mr. Soulard agrees to listen to the employees after he is made the new boss, and quickly appoints Drew to be the new Store Manager when Mr. Wick's incompetence gets him sent to Toledo for retraining.
Beulah Carey (Marion Ross) – Drew's and Steve's mother, married to George Carey (Stanley Anderson).
Kim Harvey (Adrienne Barbeau) - Oswald's mother.
King Augustus Antonio Carey –(Dakota and Ryan Williams) - Gus is Steve and Mimi's son as well as Drew's nephew, who saved Mimi from being fired by Drew in the episode "Drew Pops Something On Kate". Just as Drew is about to fire Mimi, he kicks while in the womb for the first time, causing him to feel compassion for Mimi and preventing him from firing her. Gus was born while Drew was in a coma, and his spirit (voiced by Jon Polito) met Drew up in Heaven before being born. After hearing Drew make jokes about how horrible Mimi was, Gus was afraid to be born. Drew convinced him that Mimi would be a good mother by going back down to Earth and spending time in the baby's body. Drew told this story to the others after coming out of his coma, but nobody believed him. Gus was an infant for most of his time on the show, but received an age boost (putting him somewhere between 5 and 6 years old) for the final season. He burns down his house, initially thought to be with a wood-burning kit that Drew gives him as a gift. Since Mimi and Gus had nowhere to live, Drew offers his home to them, and they stay there almost until the end of the show. It was later discovered that Gus was a pyromaniac and intentionally started a fire in the house.
Lisa Robbins (Katy Selverstone) – Drew's girlfriend from season one, she is prevented from dating him as the rules at Winfred-Louder do not allow management to participate in romantic relationships with their employees. Although this initially forces them to hide their relationship in public, they eventually find a way to overcome this obstacle. She vies for a job as the head of the personal shopper department to become a member of the store's management, prompting a competition with fellow applicants Kate and Mimi. Lisa begins dating Drew after she gets the job, but after a failed attempt to live together they agree to break up. She leaves her dog, Speedy, behind to stay with him and departs for good after her marriage in the second season.
Lord Mercer (Jim Piddock) – An extremely wealthy Englishman, who bought Winfred-Louder and became the new owner after the Dutch divested themselves of the company/store(s). He also brings back Mr. Wick, saying only Englishmen know how to run a business.
Christine Watson (Wanda Sykes) – Hired to replace Nigel Wick as manager, falls in love with Drew.
Jay Clemens (Robert Torti) – Kate's boyfriend from season one.
Evan (Kyle Howard) – Co-owner of Never Ending Store with his brother, Scott (of the two bosses, he is regarded as the 'nice' one). He is a Zen-seeking Buddhist who promotes peace and support, although he himself has a life coach, sees a family therapist with his brother, and takes anti-anxiety pills. He has a tenuous relationship with Scott because they spend so much time together.
Scott (Jonathan Mangum) – Co-owner of Never Ending Store with his brother, Evan. He is more business-minded than Evan, and can get very irritated by Evan's peace-seeking way of life. He teaches computer classes during the summer.
Mrs. Wick (Richard Chamberlain) – Nigel Wick's "Mum" Maggie.
Chuck (Kelly Perine) - Security Guard / Head of Security at Winfred-Louder. Chuck is a fellow employee at Winfred-Louder who seems to have a friendly relationship with Drew, as he, in his first appearance in the episode "No Two Things Are Exactly Alike" in Season 1, he tips Drew to the person who complained about a fellow employee who became offended at a sexually offensive cartoon which he put on a memo in the hopes of boosting company morale. In Chuck's final appearance in the Season 5 episode "Drew and the Racial Tension Play", Chuck is among the many minority employees who become offended at the socially insensitive comments of senior company board member Arthur Crawford (Hansford Rowe) who try to solicit Drew to get Crawford to apologize for his comments or resign.

text: Notable guest stars[edit]

text: Celebrity cameos[edit]

text:
Tim Allen - Himself
David Lander - Himself
Jamie Lee Curtis - Sioux
David Cross - Earl
Tammy Faye - Mimi's Mother
Brian Haley - Drew Look-Alike
Martin Mull - Himself
Michael R. White - Himself
Dan Castellaneta - Stan
Rachel Hunter - Herself
Donald Trump - Himself
Carol Channing - Herself
Rush Limbaugh - Himself
Eugene Levy - Dr. Rider
Joe Alaskey - Daffy Duck
Dick Clark - Himself
Paul Michael Levesque - The Disciplinarian
Bo Derek - Herself
Wayne Brady - Himself
Greg Proops - Himself
Brad Sherwood - Himself
Laura Hall - Herself
Arturo Brachetti - Himself
J.P. Manoux - Malcolm
Cameron Mathison - Kirk

Norm Macdonald - Simon Tate
Heather Locklear - Herself
Dave Mustaine - Himself
Chip Esten - Himself
Kathy Greenwood - Herself
Carmen Electra - Lewis's Boss
Jay Leno - Lewis's Boss
Charles Nelson Reilly - Lewis's Boss
Ben Stein - Heavenly Guide
Gary Coleman - Drew's Double
Jimmie Walker - Lewis's Double
Meshach Taylor - Oswald's Double
Kim Fields - Kate's Double
Thea Vidale - Mimi's Double
Jenny McCarthy - Sketch Player/Marlo Kelly
Amanda Bynes - Sketch Player
Henry Winkler - Mr. Newsome
John Ratzenberger - Himself
Leslie Sykes - Herself
Lacey Chabert - Grace
Roselyn Sanchez - Maria
Kathryn Joosten - Natalie
French Stewart - Buddy
Lorenzo Music - Store Announcer
Jeff Davis - Himself/D'artagnan
Jessica Cauffiel - Milan
Illeana Douglas - Rachel Murray
Tom Poston - Oswald's father
Kathy Griffin
Colin Mochrie - Eugene Anderson
Wayne Knight - Insurance examiner
The Go-Go's

text: Musical artist cameos[edit]

text:
Little Richard
Joe Walsh (initially as himself, then as Ed, lead guitarist of Drew's band The Horn Dogs)
Dionne Warwick
Roy Clark
Dusty Hill
Jonny Lang
Lisa Loeb
Dave Mustaine
Rick Nielsen
Joey Ramone
Slash
Michael Stanley
Henry Rollins
Matthew Sweet
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Eddie Money
Charlotte Caffey

Belinda Carlisle
Gina Schock
Kathy Valentine
Jane Wiedlin
SHeDAISY
Smash Mouth
John Regan
Peter Frampton
Bob Mayo
Uncle Kracker
Sugar Ray
Motörhead
Blue Man Group
Dee Snider
Goo Goo Dolls
The Reverend Horton Heat

text: Sports personality cameos[edit]

text:
Rosey Brown
Dave Winfield
Bernie Kosar
Bob Costas
Kenny Mayne
Lynn Swann
Chris Palmer
Bobby Bonds
Jeff Gordon
Triple H


document_title: Muriel's Wedding

question_text: who does muriel marry in muriel's wedding

question_tokens: who does muriel marry in muriel 's wedding

text: Muriel's Wedding

text: Plot[edit]

text: Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) ("Stupid, fat and useless")[3] who is obsessed with the music of ABBA, is the target of ridicule by the snooty, more fashion-conscious girls she considers her friends. She also is a perpetual daydreamer who yearns for a glamorous wedding and marriage to a man who will help get her out of the dead-end seaside tourist town of Porpoise Spit, improve her personal life, and free her from a tedious life dominated by her demanding and often psychologically abusive father Bill (Bill Hunter), a corrupt politician who verbally lashes out at his weak and subservient wife Betty and their unambitious children at every opportunity. Her former friends Tania, Nicole and Janine shun Muriel because they see her as a directionless and hopeless, as well as due to embarrassment over her past awkward antics. They proceed to continue planning a holiday to Hibiscus Island, without her.

text: While at dinner with some property developers, Muriel runs into her father's mistress, Deidre Chambers, who has done well in a cosmetics pyramid marketing scheme and she recruits Muriel. The following day Muriel's mother writes a blank check to cash intending for the money to let Muriel buy into the scheme. Instead, Muriel uses the blank check to defraud her parents, draining their bank account of $12,000, which she uses to go follow her supposed friends to Hibiscus Island. While on the Island, Muriel's former friends confront her over her stalking, requesting that she leave them alone. Later in the evening, Muriel runs into Rhonda Epinstock (Rachel Griffiths), a fellow social outcast from her high school days who is also more outgoing. Rhonda confronts Muriel's former social group who also bullied her in high school. As Rhonda and Muriel catch up, Muriel invents a fantasy of a fiancé.

text: At the end of her holiday, Muriel returns home only to be confronted by her mother over the fraud. Muriel immediately leaves the house and moves to Sydney where she shares a flat with Rhonda and changes her name to 'Mariel'. Several months later on a typical night, Rhonda and Mariel go to a nightclub. Rhonda meets two American sailors while Muriel takes a nice man, Brice Nobes, she met at her job in a local video store. Later, while engaged in foreplay, Muriel and Brice accidentally break a window. The sailors that were in Rhonda's bedroom go out to investigate and assume that Muriel's companion is attempting to rape her. It is during this episode that Rhonda falls down, apparently paralyzed.

text: While waiting overnight in the emergency room in Sydney, Muriel calls her family home where she learns that the Australian Federal Police are investigating her father for corruption. Rhonda discovers she has a malignant tumour pressing on her spine and requires urgent surgery. Muriel then uses Rhonda's health crisis as the basis of a deception to obtain a free photo shoot from a bridal shop. During one of Rhonda's rehab sessions, Muriel promises that she will take care of Rhonda and that they will never need to return to their hometown. Later, Rhonda discovers that Muriel has tried on every wedding dress in Sydney and confronts her, forcing Muriel to confess the depth of her deception.

text: Rhonda's cancer returns, necessitating more severe surgery and leaving her permanently paralyzed. Desperate to get married, Muriel enters into a conspiracy to commit visa fraud marrying South African swimmer David Van Arkle so that he can stay in Australia and compete in the upcoming Olympics. Muriel agrees to marry David hoping to pay her father off. At Muriel's elaborate wedding, her former friends serve as the bridesmaids, while Rhonda is bound to her wheelchair is relegated to being a guest. Muriel had asked Rhonda to be a bridesmaid but Rhonda turned her down. Muriel's father is accompanied by his mistress. Muriel's mother arrives late to the wedding, missing the actual ceremony. Muriel doesn't notice her mother at the back of the church and just walks past. Rhonda moves back to Porpoise Spit with her mother as she can no longer live in Sydney without any help, as Muriel moves in with her new husband.

text: After the ceremony, Muriel and David return to David's apartment and he gives her a perfunctory tour of the place. After showing Muriel to her bedroom, David makes his contempt for Muriel known asking "what kind of person marries someone they don't know?" to which she replies "you did." She says that she too wants to win. Realizing that their relationship will always be platonic, Muriel sits on her bed and contemplates the view.

text: Meanwhile, back in Porpoise Spit, Muriel's distraught mother accidentally shoplifts a pair of sandals from a supermarket. Bill arranges with the police for the charges to disappear and takes Muriel's mother home where he announces his intention to divorce Betty and marry his mistress, Deidre Chambers. Betty sets the backyard on fire, then commits suicide by taking sleeping pills.

text: Realising that Betty lived only for her family and that her constant marginalization and being married to a man that didn't really love her broke Betty's will to live, Muriel breaks down and realizes that all the frauds, falsehoods and lies only lead to pain. David comforts Muriel and they finally consummate their marriage. Muriel realizes that she can move beyond her family issues, that her actions have consequences and that her choices matter. The next morning Muriel asks David, who has decided that he likes having her around, for a divorce. However, she leaves him at the hotel wishing him good luck in the games.

text: Bill asks Muriel to stay and help raise the kids; she refuses. She repays $5,000 of the $12,000 she stole, saying that she will repay the rest when she gets a job back in Sydney. She also states that she will no longer put up with his rude and emotionally abusive treatment of her and her siblings. Although a little taken aback by her new more assertive personality at first, he nonetheless respects her decision and gives her his blessing to move back to Sydney.

text: Muriel visits Rhonda at her mother's house and offers to take her back to Sydney. Rhonda accepts who in turn tells off Muriel's former friends. When one of them tries to make an insulting comeback Muriel and Rhonda just laugh it off as Muriel with her more confident attitude no longer cares about what they think of her. They take a taxi cab to the airport and along the way they say goodbye to various Porpoise Spit "attractions" (such as the shopping mall, the beach, the tourists, and the condos) and ride off to a more promising future.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Toni Collette as Muriel Heslop
Rachel Griffiths as Rhonda Epinstall
Bill Hunter as Bill Heslop
Sophie Lee as Tania Degano
Jeanie Drynan as Betty Heslop
Gennie Nevinson as Deidre Chambers
Daniel Lapaine as David Van Arkle
Matt Day as Brice Nobes
Roz Hammond as Cheryl
Belinda Jarrett as Janine
Pippa Grandison as Nicole
Daniel Wyllie as Perry Heslop
Gabby Millgate as Joanie Heslop

text: Production[edit]

text: The film used Tweed Heads as the locale for Porpoise Spit,[4] although the scene of Muriel and Rhonda leaving Porpoise spit was filmed in Coolangatta.[5] Other filming locations included Moreton Island, Darlinghurst, the Gold Coast, Parramatta, Surfers Paradise and Sydney.

text: The location of the actual Heslop house used in the film is located at 18 Octavia Street in Narrabeen, Sydney.[citation needed]

text: For the role of Muriel, Toni Collette gained 18 kg (40 lb) in seven weeks.[6]

text: Release[edit]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Muriel's Wedding received positive reviews from critics and has a "certified fresh" score of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews with an average rating of 6.8 out of 10. The critical consensus states "Heartfelt and quirky, though at times broad, Muriel's Wedding mixes awkward comedy, oddball Australian characters, and a nostalgia-heavy soundtrack."[7] The film also has a score of 63 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 14 critics indicating 'Generally favorable reviews'[8]

text: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said the film "is merciless in its portrait of provincial society, and yet has a huge affection for its misfit survivors... [it] has a lot of big and little laughs in it, but also a melancholy undercurrent, which reveals itself toward the end of the film in a series of surprises and unexpected developments... The film's good heart keeps it from ever making fun of Muriel, although there are moments that must have been tempting."[9]

text: Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle stated, "With such recent hits as Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Australia seems to be cornering the market for odd but delightful comedies laced with substance and romance. The latest, Muriel's Wedding, is another bright, occasionally brilliant, example... The movie is much meatier than its larky comic sheen leads you to think at first... There's poignant drama in this brash, sometimes overstated film, and Muriel's transformation is truly touching."[10]

text: Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it "exuberantly funny... a crowd pleaser that spices a tired formula with genuine feeling... In the final scenes, when Hogan dares to let his humor turn edgy, Collette's performance gains in force, and Muriel's Wedding becomes a date you want to keep."[3]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Muriel's Wedding grossed $15,765,571 at the box office in Australia.[11]

text: The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 1994 and opened in Australia the following month. It earned US$244,969 on 14 screens in its opening weekend in the US and eventually grossed US$15,119,639 in the United States.[12]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Award
Category
Subject
Result

AACTA Awards
(1994 AFI Awards)
Best Film
Lynda House
Won

Jocelyn Moorhouse
Won

Best Direction
P. J. Hogan
Nominated

Best Original Screenplay
Nominated

Best Actress
Toni Collette
Won

Best Supporting Actor
Bill Hunter
Nominated

Best Supporting Actress
Jeanie Drynan
Nominated

Rachel Griffiths
Won

Best Editing
Jill Bilcock
Nominated

Best Sound
David Lee
Won

Glenn Newnham
Won

Livia Ruzic
Won

Roger Savage
Won

Best Production Design
Paddy Reardon
Nominated

Best Costume Design
Terry Ryan
Nominated

APRA Award
Best Film Score
Peter Best
Won

BAFTA Award
Best Original Screenplay
P. J. Hogan
Nominated

Golden Globe Award
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Toni Collette
Nominated

Chicago Film Critics Association Award
Most Promising Actress
Nominated

Chicago International Film Festival
Mercedes-Benz Audience Award
P. J. Hogan
Won

FCCA Awards
Best Actor – Female
Toni Collette
Won

Best Supporting Actor – Female
Rachel Griffiths
Won

Writers Guild of America
Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
P. J. Hogan
Nominated

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: The music of ABBA forms the backbone of the film's soundtrack. Songwriters Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson allowed their use in the film and permitted one of their hits, "Dancing Queen", to be adapted as an orchestral piece.

text: Additional popular tunes heard in the film include "Mamma Mia", "Waterloo", "Fernando", and "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", all performed by ABBA, "Sugar Baby Love" by The Rubettes, "The Tide Is High" by Blondie, "I Go to Rio" by Peter Allen, "Happy Together" by The Turtles, and Schubert's "Ave Maria".

text: Stage adaptation[edit]

text: In September 2016, it was announced that Sydney Theatre Company will produce a musical adaptation of Muriel's Wedding. Muriel's Wedding The Musical will incorporate songs by ABBA as well as original music by Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall. P. J. Hogan will write the musical's book, Simon Phillips will direct, and Gabriela Tylesova will design the set and costumes.[13] The musical will run at the Roslyn Packer Theatre from November 6 through December 30, 2017.[14]