Hodge was born in
Wilmington, Ohio, the daughter of a college professor and schoolteacher. In 1980s, she began working as a stand-up comedian, and appeared in films including
Big Top Pee-wee (1988) and
I, Madman (1989). In 1990, Hodge made her television debut with co-starring role on the short-lived CBS sitcom
Sugar and Spice. Later, she starred alongside
Cynthia Stevenson in the syndicated variety comedy
My Talk Show. In 1991, she released her stand-up comedy special,
Stephanie Hodge: Straight Up. In 1991, Hodge went to star in the NBC sitcom
Nurses, a spin-off of
The Golden Girls. The show was created by
Susan Harris as a
star vehicle for Hodge, but later was more ensemble cast. She left the series in 1993, after two seasons. The following year, she went to star in the CBS sitcom
Muddling Through playing the role of ex-convict trying to turn her life around. The series received negative reviews and was canceled after one season. In 1995, she began starring alongside
Geoff Pierson in
The WB sitcom
Unhappily Ever After. The series was initially supposed to be a starring vehicle for Hodge, whose character Jennie was the focus of the first few episodes. The series concept was later re-worked. By the show's third season,
Nikki Cox became a breakout character. The producers tried to kill off Jennie's increasingly-unnecessary character and return her as a ghost; negative audience reaction made them quickly reverse this action. The character was brought back to life in a deliberately-bizarre sequence in which a network executive wandered onto the set and announced that she was no longer dead. Nevertheless, Hodge decided to leave the show in 1998, and several episodes after Jennie's bizarre reappearance, she abandoned her family for a lesbian lover and was never seen again. After leaving
Unhappily Ever After, Hodge appeared in the 2001 science fiction film
Evolution. The following years, she guest-starred in a number of sitcoms, including
Reba,
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,
The War at Home,
Dog with a Blog, and on several episodes of
Funny or Die. Her dramatic credits include
NCIS,
Bones,
Scandal and
The Rookie. == Personal life ==