This Is My Life

This Is My Life is a 1992 American comedy-drama film that marked the directorial debut of screenwriter Nora Ephron, with a screenplay written by her and her sister, Delia Ephron. Featuring Julie Kavner as a working class single mother trying to break into stand-up comedy—who struggles to juggle fame with her responsibilities as a parent of two young daughters—it was adapted from the 1988 novel This Is Your Life by Meg Wolitzer. Plot Dottie Ingels is a single mother in Queens who works on a Macy's cosmetics counter but aspires to be a stand-up comedian. She and her two daughters, teenage tomboy Erica and pre-teen Opal, live with Dottie's aunt Harriet, who took them in after Dottie left their father, Norm. Dottie dreams of stardom but keeps bumping up against the reality of living paycheck to paycheck, and the only way she can practice her material is while selling cosmetics. When Harriet dies suddenly, Dottie inherits the house. She decides to sell it and use the money to rent an apartment in Manhattan, betting that she can finally break into comedy before going broke. Dressing in polka-dots to make herself more memorable, her first gigs go well. She also makes friends with other struggling comics on the local club circuit, who are shocked and impressed when she lands a meeting with eccentric mega-agent Arnold Moss via his assistant Claudia Curtis.