Kerri Lee Randles (born June 15, 1971) is an American actress, writer and producer.

Biography

Early life

Randles was born in

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, the daughter of Virginia, a secretary, and Terry, a business owner. She attended the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

with an art scholarship but soon switched her major to Theatre. She studied theatre at Victory Gardens with Steven Ivcich and was part of

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

with

Mick Napier Mick Napier (born December 12, 1962) is an American director and improvisational theater teacher. He is the founder and artistic director of the Annoyance Theatre and a director at The Second City. He has directed Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Ra ...

at the

Annoyance Theater The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successf ...

. She worked on

John Hughes John Hughes may refer to: Arts and Entertainment Literature *John Hughes (poet) (1677–1720), English poet *John Hughes (1790–1857), English author *John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887), Welsh poet *John Hughes (writer) (born 1961), Australian au ...

' films, ''

Home Alone ''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dar ...

'' and ''

Curly Sue ''Curly Sue'' is a 1991 American comedy drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes, and starring James Belushi, Kelly Lynch and Alisan Porter with Steve Carell in his film debut. It tells the story of a homeless con artist a ...

'' as an extra, before earning a chance to audition in Hollywood for ''

Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American television sitcom created by Matt Williams (producer), Matt Williams that originally aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May ...

''.

Career

Randles' first break came in 1993 when

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

gave her a bit part in '' Heaven & Earth'', earning Kerri her

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

card. Her first supporting role came in 1994 when she played Missy in the Showtime

Rebel Highway ''Rebel Highway'' was a revival of American International Pictures created and produced by Lou Arkoff, the son of Samuel Z. Arkoff, and Debra Hill for the Showtime network in 1994. The concept was a 10-week series of 1950s "drive-in classic" B ...

series, Jailbreakers, directed by

William Friedkin William David Friedkin (; August 29, 1935 – August 7, 2023) was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in doc ...

. Subsequent roles after that included

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

, in ''

Introducing Dorothy Dandridge ''Introducing Dorothy Dandridge'' is a 1999 American biographical drama television film directed by Martha Coolidge and written by Shonda Rhimes and Scott Abbott, based on the 1991 biography ''Dorothy Dandridge'' by Earl Mills. Filmed over a sp ...

'' for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

, directed by

Martha Coolidge Martha Coolidge (born August 17, 1946) is an American film director and former President of the Directors Guild of America. She has directed such films as '' Valley Girl,'' '' Real Genius'' and '' Rambling Rose.'' Early life Coolidge was born in ...

, ''

Poor White Trash ''Poor White Trash'' is a crime-comedy film directed by Michael Addis. The film was released on June 16, 2000, and was distributed jointly by Hollywood Independents and the Xenon Group. The film stars an ensemble cast of actors, including Jaime ...

'', and ''

Scenes of the Crime ''Scenes of the Crime'' is a 2001 film directed by Dominique Forma and written by Daniel Golka, Amit Mehta, and Forma. It stars Jon Abrahams, Jeff Bridges, Noah Wyle, R. Lee Ermey, Peter Greene, Mädchen Amick, Morris Chestnut, Bob Gunton, an ...

''. She recently worked with

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie ( ; born Angelina Jolie Voight, , June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Angelina Jolie, numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards ...

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

's, ''

Changeling A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found throughout much of European folklore. According to folklore, a changeling was a substitute left by a supernatural being when kidnapping a human being. ...

''. In June 2010, Randles' brought her one-woman show Can't You Hear Me Knockin? to the stage, opening the first

Hollywood Fringe Festival The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Hollywood, California. Most indoor venues for the festival are in and around Hollywood Theatre Row, a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Founder Ben Hill s ...

, to rave reviews. Taking over 7 years to develop, her collaboration with renowned stage director, Tony Abatemarco, proved a success. Knockin' hits New York for a limited engagement at Off-Off gem,

Manhattan Theatre Source Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entirely ...

November 2010. A memoir will follow the London production in 2011.

Personal life

Kerri is also an avid collector of art and is known to produce shows for artists. She collaborated on the

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

, ''Barely Legal'', Los Angeles show in 2006, and also produced ''The Sex Lives of Mannequins'' (Chicago and LA), for

Charles Evans, Jr. Charles Evans Jr. is an American film producer and documentary film director. He produced Johnny Depp's first directorial effort, '' The Brave''. He was one of four producers on the 2004 biopic '' The Aviator'', although his production credit w ...

, producer of '' The Aviator''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Can't You Hear Me Knockin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randles, Kerri 1971 births People from Decatur, Illinois American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Living people 21st-century American actresses 20th-century American actresses