Many know her as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife – but she’s a famous Hollywood actress
Cheryl Hines is one of those actresses who age like a fine vine. Best known for portraying the role of Larry David’s wife, Cheryl, on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hines got herself a place under the Hollywood sky.
However, nothing was ever given to her on a plate, but she fought hard to get to where she is today.
Hines’ family was middle-class, yet she and her siblings were all expected to attend college.
Her charm and whit helped her land some minor roles which later led to greater things.
Cheryl Hines was born on September 21, 1965, in Miami Beach, Florida, but was raised in Tallahassee in a Catholic household. From an early age, Cheryl found that she had a passion for acting and got involved with the Young Actors Theatre during her high school days. Looking back, Cheryl says that her sense of humor and style of comedy were influenced by her father, James Hines.
“He was definitely my first exposure to comedy, and what it meant to be funny. He was quick-witted with his own set of phrases and made us laugh until the end,” Cheryl said after her father’s passing in 2015.
Once she graduated from university, Hines decided to purse acting career so she soon found herself in Los Angeles. As she tried to make a name for herself, the Tallahassee-raised actress completed an unpaid intern going through headshots.
Sadly, she soon realized that the place where dreams are made, Hollywood, wasn’t what she expected it to be. Hines recalled that a female boss once told her that she needed to go under the knife and get bigger boobs if she wanted to succeed, but Hines wasn’t ready to pay that price for the sake of landing roles.
“At that time, I hadn’t even thought about it — and it did not seem like it was necessary,” she said. “I went home and started thinking about all the actresses that I really admired and whether breast size had anything to do with it. Like: ‘Goldie Hawn doesn’t have big ones,’” Cheryl told Yahoo.
She, however, decided not to go under the knife because she wasn’t ”dying to be on Baywatch.”
Before landing her breakthrough role, Hines wasn’t a famous name. At that point, she only did some minor roles and made guest appearances, but then Larry David wanted someone “unknown” to be his TV wife and Hines fit just perfectly although at the time she had no idea who David was.
”I said well how old is that guy? Isn’t he … old?” she recalled before meeting David.
The audition itself turned out to be chaotic. Before Cheryl even stepped into the room, the casting director gave her a rather strange warning.
“Don’t touch Larry. He doesn’t like for people to touch him,” the casting director explained and went on to explain how the show was supposed to feel like a documentary: “So if at any point it feels fake … the audition will be over.’ And … here’s Larry.”
Well, Cheryl did great, and according to Larry himself, she nailed the audition and was the perfect choice for the role.
“When the show first came out people from Tallahassee thought, ‘Well, maybe Cheryl got married’,” Cheryl recalled, and that was just another evidence of how good she was.
Cheryl appeared in over 100 episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. However, her character broke up with Larry at the end of season 8. After the breakup, Cheryl started a relationship with Larry’s friend, Ted Danson.
Cheryl has been part of a number of films and shows, including the road comedy RV where she starred opposite late Robin Williams whom, like many of us, she loved for his generosity and kindness.
RV marked Cheryl’s first major film role, in which she plays a stressed-out mom forced to survive a family vacation crammed inside a chaotic camper.
Cheryl has been married twice. She and her first husband, Paul Young, married in 2002 but split around seven something years later. They share a daughter together.
Today, she is married to environmental lawyer and author Robert F. Kennedy Jr., late President Kennedy’s nephew. Since 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. serves as the 26th United States secretary of health and human services.
“Larry David was my first husband because when I started doing ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ I was single and had never been married before,” she joked in an interview with Fox News.
“Then I married Paul Young, and then I married Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”
Hines and Kennedy were introduced to each other by Larry David.
”He introduced us — just because we were at the same event,” Hines said in a podcast and continued,”But then later Larry was like, ‘That’s a terrible idea. No, no, no — don’t get involved.’ Cut to we’ve been married for eight years.”
Speaking of her husband, Cheryl said, “We share the same values. Family first. We like to have a good time and work hard.”
Since meeting and falling in love, Cheryl has shared how her life has transformed for the better. She’s been amazed by the wide-reaching influence of Kennedy and his renowned family.
“Someone will come up to Bobby basically in tears and say, ‘What you and your family have done for our country and human rights and democracy has been so important to me and my family,’” Cheryl shared.
In 2011, Cheryl Hines joined the cast of the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. Already an acclaimed and respected actress, she brought strong talent to the show, which, however, lasted only three seasons.
Cheryl starred as Dallas Royce, a “110% upper middle-class suburban mother” with tanning solution, fake nails, tight clothing, dead hair, silicone rubber, and Red Bull.
She is considered one of the kindest actors in Hollywood. It is not clear if she has ever used any beauty procedure such as Botox injections, a facelift, nose surgery, breast implants, and cheek implants. However, her role in Suburgatory provided a comical view of how she would look with excessive beauty procedures. During an episode of the show, her character Dallas Royce used too much Botox for comedic purposes, and Cheryl wore silicone on her forehead, cheeks, and lips, giving her an almost scary look. Fortunately, she was able to go back to her natural look after the episode ended.
She earned Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2003 and 2006 for her role on Curb Your Enthusiasm and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.
Cheryl Hines, 60, has also tried herself as a director with the Artificial Fruit episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm’s 10th season in 2020. Right now, she is a panelist on the musical game show I Can See Your Voice.
She is both successful and beautiful, a perfect combination.
