<Li> John Travolta as Edna Turnblad , Tracy 's mother and laundry business owner , who is agoraphobic and ashamed of her obesity . Travolta 's casting as Edna continued the tradition of having a man in drag portray the character , going back to the original 1988 film , which featured drag queen Divine as Edna and at Hairspray 's Broadway version , which featured Harvey Fierstein as Edna . Executives at New Line Cinema originally expected the part to be filled by an actor accustomed to playing comic roles , tossing around names such as Robin Williams , Steve Martin , and Tom Hanks . However , Travolta was aggressively sought after by producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for this role because he had starred as Danny Zuko in Grease , the second most successful movie musical to date , beaten only by Mamma Mia ! . </Li>
<Li> John Travolta as Edna Turnblad , Tracy 's mother and laundry business owner , who is agoraphobic and ashamed of her obesity . Travolta 's casting as Edna continued the tradition of having a man in drag portray the character , going back to the original 1988 film , which featured drag queen Divine as Edna and at Hairspray 's Broadway version , which featured Harvey Fierstein as Edna . Executives at New Line Cinema originally expected the part to be filled by an actor accustomed to playing comic roles , tossing around names such as Robin Williams , Steve Martin , and Tom Hanks . However , Travolta was aggressively sought after by producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for this role because he had starred as Danny Zuko in Grease , the second most successful movie musical to date , beaten only by Mamma Mia ! . </Li>
who plays tracy 's mom in the original hairspray
who plays tracy 's mom in the original hairspray
Divine
Divine