ELIZABETH PERKINS Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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ELIZABETH PERKINS

Name: Elizabeth Perkins                                                                   
Born: 18 November 1960 Queens, New York, U.S.                                             
                                                                                         
Elizabeth Perkins (born November 18, 1960) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe award-nominated   
American film, television and theater actress.                                           
                                                                                         
Perkins was born in Queens, New York City, the daughter of Jo Williams, a drug           
treatment counselor and concert pianist, and James Perkins, a farmer, writer and         
businessman. Her paternal grandparents were Greek immigrants who anglicized               
their surname from "Pisperikos" to "Perkins" when they immigrated to the United           
States. Perkins was raised in Vermont; her parents divorced in 1963. After               
finishing high school at Northfield Mount Hermon School she spent three years in         
Chicago studying acting at the famous Goodman School of Drama. In 1984, she made         
her theatrical debut on Broadway in Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs", and           
afterward worked in a number of ensemble companies, including The New York               
Shakespeare Festival and the Steppenwolf Theater. She has always considered               
theater work to be a priority in her career.                                             
                                                                                         
She was listed as one of the twelve "Promising New Actors of 1986" in John               
Willis' Screen World, and she has since landed numerous film roles. Perkins made         
her film debut in 1986 in Edward Zwick's About Last Night... and had a career             
breakthrough co-starring with Tom Hanks in Big. She received critical acclaim             
for her performance in Barry Levinson's Avalon, and was the stand-out actor               
opposite William Hurt in The Doctor (1991), in which she received critical               
acclaim for her performance as a terminal cancer patient.                                 
                                                                                         
In 1993, Perkins made her television debut in For Their Own Good. She later               
starred in the comedy series Battery Park and If These Walls Could Talk, and has         
since regularly appeared in television films. Recently, Perkins appeared as a             
psychiatrist in the 2005 suspense thriller, The Ring Two, starring Naomi Watts.           
Perkins plays Celia Hodes, upstanding PTA mother, alongside Mary-Louise Parker           
and Justin Kirk on the Showtime series Weeds. Thanks to her work on Weeds,               
Perkins has received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress in         
a TV Series, Miniseries or Made for TV Motion Picture (in 2006 and 2007). She             
has also been nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a               
Comedy Series. At a screening of the season 2 finale of Weeds, at the Museum of           
TV and Radio on October 25, 2006, Perkins said that she considers playing Celia           
Hodes her favorite role in her career because she is so different than                   
characters she is usually cast for.