Elizabeth Perkins was born on November 18, 1960 in the borough of Queens, New York and raised in Vermont. She studied acting at Chicago's Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University for three years, then launched her professional career with a co-starring gig in the touring company of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Seasoned, she returned to New York in the spring of 1984 to make her Broad ...
show all Elizabeth Perkins was born on November 18, 1960 in the borough of Queens, New York and raised in Vermont. She studied acting at Chicago's Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University for three years, then launched her professional career with a co-starring gig in the touring company of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Seasoned, she returned to New York in the spring of 1984 to make her Broadway debut as a replacement in the Simon play. As a stage actress, she has trod the boards with Playwrights Horizon, the Ensemble Studio, The New York Shakespeare Festival and, back in Chcago, with the Steppenwolf Theater. She found time out to marry the Chicago actor Terry Kinney.
Her first major film role was in the underwhelming screen adaptation of David Mamet's "Sexual Perversities in Chicago," which was turned into a Rob Lowe/pre-implants Demi Moore star vehicle retitled "About Last Night..." The fact that Perkins was the best thing in the movie was a Phyric victory of sorts. Perkins sparkled as the grown woman interested in Tom Hanks in "Big" (1988), but her career was spotty and she never gained the traction to bring her the stardom which seemed to be within her grasp. In 1991, Perkins starred as the "She" to Kevin Bacon's "He" in "He Said, She Said" (1991) (thus giving her a Bacon Factor of exactly 1), but sadly for such a talented actress, her biggest box-office hit has proven to be "The Flintstones," in which she portrayed Wilma.
Perkins made her television debut in "For Their Own Good," a 1993 TV movie based on a true story of a woman who underwent mandatory sterilization to work in a chemical plant. She starred in the NBC comedy series "Battery Park," produced by 'Gary David Goldberg' (who recently directed her in "Must Love Dogs" in a supporting role to her good friend Diane Lane), and HBO's "If These Walls Could Talk." Her other TV work includes "Baby 2000," "The Rescuers" and "From The Earth to the Moon," in an episode directed by Sally Field.
Perkins divorced Kinney and now is married to the cinematographer Julio Macat Recently, she starred in John Patrick Shanley's black comedy "Four Dogs and a Bone" at Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse. She has also recently starred in the TV miniseries "Weeds" in 2005 for Showtime, which is scheduled to return for another season, having been the cable network's highest rated show. Her talent, personality and good looks keep her steadily employed, and it wouldn't be surprising if now, on the other side of 40, she makes a breakthrough and does some major work commensurate with her early promise.
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