Actress Ricki Lake has played many parts in her career. Her first big one, which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead, was her starring role as Tracy Turnblad in the iconic 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. Guest starring roles on TV and in movies followed, and her popularity as a guest star eventually led to an opportunity to lead her own talk show. The Ricki Lake Show debuted in 1993 and ran for 11 seasons.

That same year, Lake married artist/illustrator Rob Sussman and went on to have two sons, Milo in 1997, and Owen in 2001. Although Ricki and Rob divorced in 2003, it was the birth of her children that led Lake to her latest role as an advocate for greater birthing choices for women. She's put her passion for the topic into a documentary called The Business of Being Born, which debuted at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Now available on DVD, it's an intimate look at the business of being born in the USA.

In America, Lake says, birth is a business and the parents' preferences are often disregarded. In addition, the choices that are made by the medical establishment may not always be the best for the health of either Mother or Baby.

"America has the second worst infant mortality rate in the developed world," Lake says. "Women don't realize that there are choices for them when it comes to giving birth, and they should be informed and be able to give birth on their own terms."

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