Amy Pietz (born March 6, 1969) is an American actress, known for her roles on television. She received the

Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest female acting achievement in a comedy series. Actresses are eligible for the award whe ...

nomination for her role as Annie Spadaro in the NBC sitcom '' Caroline in the City'' (1995-1999). She later had starring roles in the short-lived sitcoms '' Cursed'' (NBC, 2000–01), '' Rodney'' (ABC, 2004–06), and ''

Aliens in America ''Aliens in America'' is an American teen sitcom created by David Guarascio and Moses Port that aired on The CW for one season from October 1, 2007, to May 18, 2008. Guarascio and Port also served as executive producers of the show alongside Tim ...

'' (The CW, 2007–08).

Early life

Pietz was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, the adopted daughter of Nancy, a nurse, and Arnold Pietz, a truck driver. She trained throughout her childhood in

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

and prepared to go professional, but eventually decided against it due to the low pay and shifted her focus elsewhere. She attended the Milwaukee High School of the Arts and graduated from

The Theatre School at DePaul University The Theatre School at DePaul University, previously the Goodman School of Drama (also known as TTS and GSD, respectively) is the drama school of DePaul University. Founded with its first class conducted at the Art Institute of Chicago on January 5 ...

Career

Pietz began her career playing small roles on television series such as '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', as well as films '' Rudy'' (1993) and '' Jingle All the Way'' (1996). In 1995, she was regular cast member on the short-lived

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

sitcom ''

Muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of mus ...

'', before her breakthrough role as Annie Spadaro in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom '' Caroline in the City'' starring

Lea Thompson Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress and director. She is best known for her role as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990) and Beverly Switzler in '' Howard the Duck'' (1 ...

. The series aired from 1995 to 1999. She was nominated for a

for the role in 1999. The following year, Pietz went to star alongside Steven Weber on the NBC sitcom '' Cursed''. The series was canceled after a single season in 2001. She later played

Martha Boswell Martha Foore Boswell Lloyd (June 9, 1905 – July 2, 1958) was an American jazz singer and pianist, and the eldest of the vocal trio the Boswell Sisters. Her younger sisters were Connee and Helvetia "Vet" Boswell. The Boswell Sisters started t ...

in the stage musical ''

The Boswell Sisters The Boswell Sisters were an American close harmony singing trio of the jazz and swing eras, consisting of three sisters: Martha Boswell (June 9, 1905 – July 2, 1958), Connie Boswell (later spelled "Connee", December 3, 1907 – October 11, ...

''. From 2004 to 2006, she appeared in ABC sitcom '' Rodney''. During 2007–08 season, she played the mother in The CW sitcom ''

''. She also had guest starring roles on '' Ally McBeal'', ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

'', ''

The Division ''The Division'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Deborah Joy LeVine starring Bonnie Bedelia. The series focuses on a team of female detectives and police officers in the San Francisco Police Department. The s ...

'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''

Burn Notice ''Burn Notice'' is an American espionage television series created by Matt Nix, which originally aired on the USA Network for a total of seven seasons from June 28, 2007, to September 12, 2013. The show stars Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar ...

'', ''

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a c ...

'', ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televi ...

'', ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...

'', ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a t ...

'', ''

Two and a Half Men ''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, t ...

'', ''

Mom ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

'', and ''

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios ...

''. She had a recurring role as Donna in the NBC comedy series ''

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original ser ...

'' in 2010. In 2011, Pietz played Meredith King, the mother of Chloe King, in the short-lived ABC Family drama series ''

The Nine Lives of Chloe King ''The Nine Lives of Chloe King'' is an American supernatural drama television series which premiered on ABC Family on June 14, 2011, and ended on August 16, 2011. The one-hour drama is based on the book series of the same name by Liz Braswell. T ...

''. In 2016, she was cast as lead character's boss in The CW comedy-drama series '' No Tomorrow''. In 2016, Pietz guest-starred in the 4th season of

Marc Maron Marcus David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'' and has appeared more than fort ...

's IFC series ''Maron'' as Natalie, a fellow rehab patient. In 2019, she starred as Ralph Dibny's mother in ''The Flash''.

Personal life

Pietz married actor Kenneth Alan Williams in 1997 in her native Milwaukee. Pietz gave birth to a son when she was 23, Benjamin, whom she subsequently placed for adoption.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pietz, Amy 1969 births Actresses from Milwaukee American adoptees American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses DePaul University alumni Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American people of German descent