Elizabeth Perkins

Biography: Elizabeth Perkins is a graduate of the Goodman Theater School, one of America's oldest and most respected theatre training schools. Founded as the Goodman School of Drama in 1925, The Theatre School is the Midwest's oldest theatre conservatory and is recognized nationally as one of the top conservatory programs in the United States. Ms. Perkins moved to NYC in the early 1980s and landed a role in Neil Simon's touring company's production of "Brighton Beach Memoirs", later reprising it on Broadway in 1984. After appearing in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Measure for Measure" in the summer 1985, she returned to Chicago for the shooting of her feature film debut in "About Last Night..." (1986)shot on location, cast as Demi Moore's friend about the singles scene. She subsequently played friends to Judd Nelson in "From the Hip" (1987) and Jeff Daniels in "Sweet Hearts Dance" (1988) before her break out role as a business executive transformed by Tom Hanks in the spectacular comedy "Big" (1988). Perkins acted with Tom Berenger as rival detectives in "Love at Large" but fared better in the ensemble of Barry Levinson's "Avalon" (both 1990), as the wife of Aidan Quinn. "Portraying a terminal cancer patient who makes William Hurt aware of his callousness in "The Doctor" (1991), she imbued her character with a fine mixture of optimism and barely submerged outrage, while the nostalgic "Indian Summer" (1993) allowed her softer side to shine as a former camper trying to save her old camp while renewing old relationships" (Hollywood.com). In "The Flintstones" (1994), a fun live-action version of the animated TV series, Elizabeth Perkins was a perfect as Wilma. She played the Maureen O'Hara role for the remake of "Miracle on 34th Street" (1994) before "Moonlight and Valentino" (1995), playing a recent widow coping with the assistance of family and friends.

After a return to the stage in a 1995 Los Angeles production of "Four Dogs and a Bone", Perkins set her sights on the small screen, starring as a woman who discovers her late son has been replicated in the NBC movie "Cloned" and as a Christian woman who helped her former Jewish employer's son and others during the Holocaust in the "Mamusha" segment of Showtime's "Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women" (both 1997). She also appeared as astronaut wife Marilyn Lovell in "The Original Wives Club" episode of HBO's highly acclaimed miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998) before returning to the big screen with her convincing portrayal as an AIDS activist in "I'm Losing You" (1999) and as Sandra Bullock's sister in "28 Days" (2000). Returning to television, Perkins played the wife of a man whose lesbian aunt had recently died in the "1961" segment of HBO's popular "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (2000) before taking her first attempt as a series regular, playing the captain of a police precinct in the NBC sitcom "Battery Park" (2000). In 2001 she played "mama" in "What Girls Learn" and in 2002 she was Judy in "My Sister's Keeper" with Kathy Bates, both bringing out her wonderful acting skills. In 2002 she worked on "Try Seventeen" with Elijah Wood. On the big screen again she was the voice of Coral in Finding Nemo (2003) and is currently filming La La Wood with Martin Short.… Expand