Detailed Biography

Elizabeth Perkins is an American actress.

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 immigrated to the United States. Perkins was raised in Colrain, Massachusetts; her parents divorced in 1963. After finishing high school at Northfield Mount Hermon School she spent three years in Chicago studying acting at the famous 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. She has always considered theater work to be a priority in her career.

Career

She was listed as one of the twelve "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 , 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 made her television debut in For Their Own Good. She later starred in the comedy series Battery Park and the HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk 2, and has since regularly appeared in television films. Recently, Perkins appeared as a psychiatrist in the 2005 suspense thriller, The Ring Two, starring Naomi Watts.

Since 2005, Perkins has played Celia Hodes, a psychotic, ambitious and highly entertaining PTA mother, alongside Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Kirk on the Showtime series Weeds. Thanks to her work on Weeds, Perkins has received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Miniseries or Made for TV Motion Picture . She has also been nominated three times for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. 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 because she is so different from the characters she is usually cast as. The show is currently airing its 5th season, with a sixth confirmed.

Personal life

Perkins' first husband was Chicago director Terry Kinney, but later 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 type I diabetes that is most often diagnosed in middle age.

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards 2006 Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds
2007 Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds
2009 Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds

Golden Globe Awards 2006 Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie for Weeds
2007 Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie for Weeds

Satellite Awards 2005 Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Weeds
2006 Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-series, or TV Movie for Weeds

Screen Actors Guild Awards 2007 Best Acting Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Weeds
2009 Best Acting Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Weeds