Parker Posey
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
On her status in the independent film community: "I wouldn't say I was a queen. Maybe a little elf. There's something about someone who's not making a lot of money but is doing what they want to do with a film, knowing that he or she's not answering to anyone." --quoted in Interview, May 1994.
"L.A. doesn't get me ... I think I scare them--or maybe they just don't know what to make of me." --Posey to Time Out New York, January 30-February 6, 1996.
Biography
Indie film darling Parker Posey was born in 1968 in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Mississippi, before she headed to SUNY Purchase to study drama. After breaking into professional acting with a small role in the TV movie "First Love, Fatal Love" (HBO, 1991), Posey landed supporting roles in "Coneheads" (1993), and cult classic "Dazed and Confused" (1993), which began her iconic role in independent cinema. The same year, she played a recurring role on the limited series "Tales of the City" (Channel 4, 1993; PBS, 1994). Over the next decade, Posey operated almost exclusively in the independent film world. Her breakthrough role came when she played the lead character in the film "Party Girl" (1995), and she continued to create unique characters in films like "Flirt" (1995), "Kicking and Screaming" (1996), and "Basquiat" (1996). In 1997 she was part of the ensemble in "Waiting For Guffman" (1997), the first of many collaborations with actor-director Christopher Guest. However, Posey was not limited to indie films, appearing in supporting roles in mainstream fare such as "You've Got Mail" (1998), and "Scream 3" (2000), as well as lending her talents to TV series, with recurring roles on shows like "Will & Grace" (NBC, 1998-2006, 2017-) and "Boston Legal" (ABC, 2004-08). She was a series lead in Amy Sherman-Palladino's short lived "The Return of Jezebel James" (Fox, 2008) and appeared in a number of episodes of the show "Granite Flats" (BYUtv, 2013-15), while continuing to support independent film with roles in Woody Allen's "Café Society" (2016) and "My Art" (2016). In 2018, Posey was a series regular on "Lost In Space" (Netflix, 2018-), playing the mysterious Dr. Smith. The same year, she published You're on an Airplane, a memoir.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Special Thanks (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1991
Made TV debut in a regular role on "As the World Turns" (CBS)
1993
Feature acting debut, "Joey Braker"; also appeared in "Coneheads" and "Dazed and Confused"
1994
TV miniseries debut, "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City" (PBS)
1995
Appeared in lead role in the film "Party Girl"
1996
Starred in the award-winning independent film "The Daytrippers" (premiered at Toronto Film Festival)
1996
Appeared in "Waiting for Guffman"
1997
Appeared in critically acclaimed feature "Henry Fool"; film won Best Screenwriting Award at Cannes
1997
Earned acclaim for performance as Jackie-O, a mentally unbalanced woman who thinks she's Jackie Kennedy in "The House of Yes"
1997
Co-starred in workplace comedy "Clockwatchers" with Lisa Kudrow and Toni Collette
1998
Cast in first major feature role supporting Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail"
2000
Gave memorable comedic performance in "Scream 3"
2000
Made Broadway debut opposite Matthew Broderick in the Elaine May comedy "Taller Than a Dwarf"
2000
Featured in Christopher Guest's award-winning comedy "Best in Show"
2001
Played a neurotic wife in "The Anniversary Party"
2001
Appeared in teen flick "Josie and the Pussycats"
2002
Starred as an assistant D.A. uncovering an AIDS-related mystery in "The Event"
2002
Played supporting role opposite Cameron Diaz in "The Sweetest Thing"
2002
Co-starred in "Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay"; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress
2002
Co-starred with Kyra Sedgwick and Fairuza Balk in Rebecca Miller's "Personal Velocity"; earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best Actress
2003
Starred in the Independent feature "The Event"
2004
Played a woman divorcing her rock star husband (Michael Sheen) in the romantic comedy "The Laws of Attraction"
2004
Played ruthless villain Danica Talos in "Blade: Trinity"
2006
Cast as Kitty Koslowski, Lex Luthor's villainous henchwoman in Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns"
2006
Reunited with director Christopher Guest to play an actress in "For Your Consideration"
2007
Played a single mom thrown into a world of international espionage in "Fay Grim," Hal Hartley's sequel to his 1997 film "Henry Fool"
2007
Starred in Zoe Cassavetes' directorial debut "Broken English"; earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best Actress
2008
Co-starred with Jessica Alba in the supernatural thriller "The Eye"
2009
Teamed up with Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch in the comedy feature "Spring Breakdown"
2011
Guest starred on Showtime's "The Big C" and the CBS drama "The Good Wife"
2012
Portrayed Hemingway's fourth wife Mary in the HBO film "Hemingway & Gellhorn"
2012
Cast as Louis C.K.'s girlfriend on FX comedy "Louie"
Videos
Movie Clip
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
On her status in the independent film community: "I wouldn't say I was a queen. Maybe a little elf. There's something about someone who's not making a lot of money but is doing what they want to do with a film, knowing that he or she's not answering to anyone." --quoted in Interview, May 1994.
"L.A. doesn't get me ... I think I scare them--or maybe they just don't know what to make of me." --Posey to Time Out New York, January 30-February 6, 1996.
Time Out New York (January 30-February 6, 1996) described her style as "a combination of remarkable self-possession, an ironic intelligence, a non-nonsense thrift-store glamour, and, most of all, inhuman stamina."
"People keep asking me what she'll do. I couldn't possibly answer that. She's in this weird position of having done all these peripheral movies. She could do anything. She's gifted. I'm not sure that Parker knows what she wants to do." --Christopher Guest (director of "Waiting for Guffman") to Buzz, March 1997.
"Certainly most young actresses today tend to be more mired in that kind of Method naturalism, and Parker isn't that at all. She's not big in Hollywood because they don't conceive female parts like that ... I don't think Parker could ever do the Sandra Bullock thing, the all-American girl. Especially when she does bigger-budget projects, I think she'll probably end up being more like a character actress. Hopefully she will be able to play leads in more interesting independent films." --Mark Waters (director of "The House of Yes") to Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1997.
