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Elizabeth Perkins (born November 18, 1960) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in films including '' About Last Night'' (1986), '' From the Hip'' (1987), ''
Big Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * Big (film), ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big'', a 2023 Taiwanese children's film starring Van Fan and Chie Tanaka * ''Big!'', a ...
'' (1988), '' Enid Is Sleeping'' (1990), ''
The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...
'' (1994), '' Moonlight and Valentino'' (1995), ''
The Ring Two ''The Ring Two'' is a 2005 American supernatural horror film and sequel to the 2002 film '' The Ring'', which was a remake of the 1998 Japanese film '' Ring''. Hideo Nakata, director of the original ''Ring'', directed this film in place of G ...
'' (2005) and '' Hop'' (2011). She is also well known for her role as Celia Hodes in the Showtime TV series ''
Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...
'', for which she received three Primetime Emmy nominations and two
Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...
nominations.


Early life

Perkins's paternal grandparents were Greek immigrants from
Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
who anglicized their surname from "Pisperikos" to "Perkins" when they moved to the United States. Perkins was raised in Colrain, Massachusetts; her parents divorced in 1963. She began working in theatre with Arena Civic Theatre, a non-profit community theatre group based in
Greenfield, Massachusetts Greenfield is the county seat, and sole city, of Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. Greenfield was first settled in 1686. The population was 17,768 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Greenfield is home to Greenfield Commun ...
.''Arena Civic Theatre''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
August 10, 1978
Perkins attended Northfield Mount Hermon School, an elite preparatory school, and then spent 1978 to 1981 in Chicago attaining her Certificate in Acting from the
Goodman School of Drama 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. Originally associated with the Goodman Theatre, its first class was conducted at ...
at
DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...
. In 1984, she made her theatrical debut on Broadway in
Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...
's '' Brighton Beach Memoirs'' and afterward worked in a number of ensemble companies, including The New York Shakespeare Festival and the Steppenwolf Theater.


Career

Perkins was listed as one of the 12 "Promising New Actors of 1986" in John Willis' Screen World. She made her film debut in 1986 in
Edward Zwick Edward M. Zwick (born October 8, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He has worked primarily in the comedy drama and historical drama, epic historical film genres and was awarded an Academy Awards, Academy Award, as well as a British Academy Film Aw ...
's '' About Last Night...'' and had a career breakthrough co-starring with
Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
in ''
Big Big or BIG may refer to: * Big, of great size or degree Film and television * Big (film), ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks * ''Big'', a 2023 Taiwanese children's film starring Van Fan and Chie Tanaka * ''Big!'', a ...
''. She received critical acclaim for her performance in
Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984 ...
's '' Avalon'',Elizabeth Perkins Biography, '' Dreamworks'' April 11, 2005 and was a standout opposite William Hurt in ''
The Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...
'' (1991), receiving critical acclaim for her performance as a terminal cancer patient. In 1993, Perkins appeared in the television project ''For Their Own Good''.Elizabeth Perkins Biography, ''
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
''
She later starred in the comedy series ''
Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan#Manhattan Island, Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. The park is bounded by Battery Place on the north, with Bowling ...
'' and has appeared in television and films, including 1994's ''
The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...
'' (starring as Wilma Flintstone) and '' Miracle on 34th Street'' (starring as Dorey Walker), and 2000's '' 28 Days'' (starring as
Sandra Bullock Sandra Annette Bullock (; born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and film producer. The List of highest-paid film actors, highest-paid actress of 2010 and 2014, Sandra Bullock filmography, Bullock's filmography spans both comedy and drama, ...
's sister). Perkins also played a small voice role in 2003's ''
Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Lee Unkrich, and produced by Graham Walters, from ...
'' as Coral, a clownfish who is Marlin's wife and Nemo's mother who is killed and eaten by a
barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...
at the beginning of the film. Perkins also appeared as a psychiatrist in 2005's ''
The Ring Two ''The Ring Two'' is a 2005 American supernatural horror film and sequel to the 2002 film '' The Ring'', which was a remake of the 1998 Japanese film '' Ring''. Hideo Nakata, director of the original ''Ring'', directed this film in place of G ...
'', starring Naomi Watts. From 2005 to 2009, Perkins played Celia Hodes, an alcoholic and image-obsessed
parent–teacher association A parent–teacher association/organization (PTA/PTO), parent–teacher–friend association (PTFA), is a formal organization comprising parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a school. A parent–te ...
(PTA) mother, alongside Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Kirk on the Showtime series ''
Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...
''. For her work on ''Weeds'', Perkins received two
Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...
nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Miniseries or Made for TV Motion Picture (in 2006 and 2007). She was also nominated three times for an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on ''Weeds''. 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 Celia Hodes her favorite role in her career. On May 6, 2010, she announced that the fifth season of ''Weeds'' was her last despite the cliffhanger her character had in the season finale. She starred in the ABC comedy series '' How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)''. She played Birdie in the Netflix original series '' GLOW''.


Personal life

Perkins married
Terry Kinney Terry Kinney (born January 29, 1954) is an American actor and theater director, and a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as Tim McManus on HBO's prison drama ...
in 1984; they divorced in 1988.
Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
''Perkins doctors up career after 'Big' break'' by Luaine Lee, August 30, 1991
She has one daughter with Maurice Phillips. In 2000, she married Argentine-born cinematographer Julio Macat, gaining three stepsons: Maximillian, Alexander and Andreas. In 2005, at the age of 44, she learned that she had latent autoimmune diabetes, a form of
type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone require ...
that is most often diagnosed in middle age. In 2017, Perkins held a sign naming actor James Woods above the hashtag #MeToo during a rally against sexual harassment in Los Angeles.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Elizabeth 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Massachusetts American film actresses American people of Greek descent American television actresses American voice actresses Living people Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni People from Colrain, Massachusetts People with type 1 diabetes 1960 births