Elizabeth Perkins Biography

Elizabeth Ann Perkins (born November 18, 1960) is an American actress. Her film roles have included Big, The Flintstones, Miracle on 34th Street, About Last Night..., and Avalon. She is best known for her role as Celia Hodes in the critically acclaimed Showtime TV series Weeds.

Early life

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 from Salonika who anglicized their surname from "Pisperikos" to "Perkins" when they emigrated 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 out of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Perkins attended Northfield Mount Hermon School, an elite preparatory school, and then spent 1978 to 1981 in Chicago studying for an acting certificate from the 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.

Career

She was listed as one of the 12 "Promising New Actors of 1986" in John Willis' Screen World, and 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 a standout opposite William Hurt in The Doctor (1991), receiving critical acclaim for her performance as a terminal cancer patient.

She played Wilma Flintstone in the 1994 live-action comedy The Flintstones.

In 1993, Perkins appeared in the television project For Their Own Good. She later starred in the comedy series Battery Park and has appeared in television and films including the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street and 2000's 28 Days starring as Sandra Bullock's sister. Perkins also had a small role in the 2003 film Finding Nemo, she was the voice of a clownfish who was the wife of Marlin and mother of Nemo and was killed by a barracuda at the beginning of the film. Perkins appeared as a psychiatrist in the 2005 suspense thriller, The Ring Two, starring Naomi Watts.

From 2005 to 2009, Perkins played Celia Hodes, an alcoholic and image-obsessed PTA mother, alongside Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Kirk on the Showtime series Weeds. For her work on Weeds, Perkins 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 was also nominated three times for an Emmy Award 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 portrayed the uncredited character, Lizzie, in The Lorax.

Personal life

Perkins' first husband was Chicago actor and director Terry Kinney; the couple divorced. She has one daughter, Hannah Phillips, born in 1991. In 2000, she married her present husband, Argentinian-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 Juvenile diabetes that is most often diagnosed in middle age.

Awards and nominations

Awards and Nominations
Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
2006	Weeds	Primetime Emmy Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
2007	Weeds	Primetime Emmy Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
2009	Weeds	Primetime Emmy Award	Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
2006	Weeds	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie
2007	Weeds	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie
2005	Weeds	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Comedy Series
2006	Weeds	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie
2007	Weeds	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Best Acting Ensemble in a Comedy Series
2009	Weeds	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Best Acting Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1984	For Their Own Good...
1986	About Last Night...	Joan
1987	From the Hip	Jo Ann
1988	Sweet Hearts Dance	Adie Nims
	Big	Susan
1990	Avalon	Ann Kaye
	Love at Large	Stella Wynkowski
1991	The Doctor	June Ellis
	He Said, She Said	Lorie Bryer
1993	Indian Summer	Jennifer Morton
1994	Miracle on 34th Street	Dorey Walker
	The Flintstones	Wilma Flintstone
1995	Moonlight and Valentino	Rebecca Trager Lott
	The American President	"	Uncredited
1997	Lesser Prophets	Susan
	Cloned	Skye Weston	TV Movie
	Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women	Gertruda Babilinska	TV Movie
1998	I'm Losing You	Aubrey Wicker
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	Marilyn Lovell	TV Miniseries
1999	Crazy in Alabama	Joan Blake
2000	If These Walls Could Talk 2	Alice Hedley	TV Movie
	28 Days	Lily
	Battery Park	Madeline Dunleavy	TV Series
2001	What Girls Learn	Mama	TV Movie
	Cats & Dogs	Mrs. Brody
2002	Try Seventeen	Blanche
2003	Finding Nemo	Coral	Voice
2004	Jiminy Glick in Lalawood	Miranda Coolidge
	Speak	Joyce Sordino
2005	The Ring Two	Dr. Emma Temple
	Hercules	Alcmene	TV Miniseries
	Fierce People	Mrs. Langley
	Must Love Dogs	Carol
	The Thing About My Folks	Rachel Kleinman
	Kids in America	Sandra Carmichael
2005"2009	Weeds	Celia Hodes	TV Series
2009	Monk	Christine Rapp	TV Series, Episode "Mr. Monk's Favorite Show"
2011	Hop	Bonnie O'Hare
	The Closer	Gail Meyers	TV Series, Episode "Road Block"
2012	The Lorax	Lizzie	Voice
2013	How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)	Elaine	TV series