Celia WestonBirth Place: Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA Date of Birth: December 14, 2005 Heritage: American Famous for: Her role in 'Dead Man Walking' (1995) Contact Celia Weston | 
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Waitress Jolene
Background: “My goal has always been to make a living and to have the respect of my peers. It's never been about stardom. It's about a good and challenging part.” Celia Weston American character actress Celia Weston first gained recognition and became famous for her role as the Southern-fried waitress Jolene Hunnicutt on the popular CBS sitcom “Alice,” which she played from 1981 to 1985. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her scene stealing role of Mary Beth Percy on the critically and commercially successful film adaptation of “Dead Man Walking” (1996) and shared a Screen Actors Guild nomination for her work in Todd Field's “In the Bedroom” (2001). An alumna of NYC's HB Studios, Weston received a Tony nomination and an Outer Critics Circle Award for playing Aunt Reba in Broadway's acclaimed, “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” (1997). The actress, who is known for portraying Southern women, whether they be down-to-earth, polite or aristocratic, has also acted in other films, such as “Celebrity” (1998), “Hanging Up” (2000), “Hearts in Atlantis” (2001), “K-PAX” (2001), “Igby Goes Down” (2002), “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (2003), “Runaway Jury” (2003), “The Village” (2004), “Joshua” (2007), “Happy Tears” (2009), “The Box” (2009) and “The Extra Man” (2010). She returned to series television as a regular after “Alice” in the short lived TNT drama “Memphis Beat” (2010-2011), playing Paula Ann Hendricks. Weston currently resides in New York City. Southern Girl Childhood and Family: Celia Weston was born Celia Watson on December 14, 1951, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She was originally an art and psychology major at the Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina before switching to acting. After receiving an Artist Diploma in Drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, she lived in London to continue her training until 1977, when she moved back to the United States and studied under Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof at the HB Studios in New York City. The Last Night of Ballyhoo Career: Following an extensive training in London, the South Carolina native Celia Weston arrived in New York City in the late 1970s to launch her career. She appeared in regional theater and Off-Off- and Off-Broadway productions, and took a waitressing job to support herself while waiting for her big break. Eventually, Weston landed her first Broadway role on the Michael Weller play “Loose Ends” (1979), opposite Kevin Kline, which she followed with her prime theater role as Lucinda in the short lived Broadway play “The Lady From Dubuque” (1980), by Edward Albee. The latter play also starred Tony Musante as Sam, Frances Conroy as Jo, Baxter Harris as Fred, David Leary as Edgar, Maureen Anderman as Carol, Earle Hyman as Oscar and Irene Worth as Elizabeth. Making her television debut with a two episodic stint as Gloria D'Angelo in “Ryan's Hope” (1980), Weston scored her first big break when she joined the cast of the Linda Lavin sitcom “Alice” in the regular role of the ill-natured Mel's Diner waitress Jolene Hunnicutt. She was on the show during the fifth to the ninth and final season (1981-1985). Weston, who made her feature debut in the UK comedy “Honky Tonk Freeway” (1981), which was directed by John Schlesinger, returned to the big screen seven years later with charters parts in Pat O'Connor's “Stars and Bars” (1988), starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Harry Dean Stanton and Kent Broadhurst, and the Alan Alda comedy “A New Life” (1988). She next played the rather acerbic mother of the troubled youth Tim Doolan (played by Adam Horovitz) in the Hugh Hudson directed indie film “Lost Angels,” which was entered into the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. After a supporting role in “Little Man Tate” (1991), a drama directed by and also starring Jodie Foster, Weston did not appear in another film until 1995's “Unstrung Heroes,” a well received comedy/drama film directed by Diane Keaton and starring Andie MacDowell, John Turturro and Michael Richards. Later that same year, she landed the key role of Mary Beth Percy on “Dead Man Walking” (1995), an adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean C.S.J.'s non-fiction book of the same name. Starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn and directed and scripted by Tim Robbins, the drama was met with a positive feedback, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Music, Original Song, and a win for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Sarandon. The film was also a success at the box office by grossing over $86 million worldwide against a budget $11 million. Weston's performance was critically acclaimed, and she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the category of Best Supporting Female. 1995 also found her on the stage working alongside Elizabeth Ashley in the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' “Suddenly Last Summer.” Next up for Weston, she played the supposed mother of Ben Stiller in the comedy film “Flirting With Disaster” (1996), which was written and directed by David O. Russell, appeared with Hank Azaria, Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis in the Woody Allen comedy/drama film “Celebrity” (1998), appeared as Bottle Lady in “Getting to Know You” (1999), had a small role in the Ang Lee helmed Revisionist Western film “Ride with the Devil” (1999), co-starred with Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh, Reeve Carney, Anne Suzuki and Rick Yune in the Academy Award nominated film “Snow Falling on Cedars” (1999), which was an adaptation of the novel of the same title by David Guterson, and portrayed Aunt Joan in the psychological thriller movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999), starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jack Davenport. She made a short return to the small screen with a guest spot in the NBC hit medical series “ER” (1999). Meanwhile, on the stage, Weston gained recognition for her portrayal of Reba Freitag, an wellbeing assimilated Jew in 1939 Atlanta, in Alfred Uhry's “The Last Night of Ballyhoo,” which opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre on February 27, 1997 and was closed after 556 performances. The role brought her a Tony nomination for Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, which she shared with Allison Janney and Deborah Findlay. Entering the new millennium, Weston revisited Broadway when she was cast as Mom in the revival of Sam Shepard's “True West” (2000). The same year, she also appeared in Stanley Tucci's drama film, “Joe Gould's Secret,” starring as the title character, and “Hanging Up,” a comedy/drama film directed and also starring Diane Keaton. She then played Katie Grinnel in Todd Field's crime/drama film, “In the Bedroom” (2001), from which she shared a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, Alana Files in “Hearts in Atlantis” (2001), an American/Australian drama thriller directed by Scott Hicks, Doris Archer in “K-PAX” (2001), a science fiction/mystery film directed by Iain Softley and starring Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack and Alfre Woodard, Jeff Goldblum's wife, Bunny, in the indie hit “Igby Goes Down” (2002) and Mona Lauder in the critically acclaimed “Far from Heaven” (2002), directed by Todd Haynes. She also appeared in the popular Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (2003), Ang Lee's “Hulk” (2003), based on the Marvel comic book character, Nevil Dwek's “Undermind” (2003) and the film version of John Grisham's “Runaway Jury” (2003), which was directed by Gary Fleder and starred John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz. On the small screen, Weston made a guest appearance as Margaret Talmadge in an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” called “Stolen,” aired on October 12, 2001, and appeared as Mrs. Ingrid Tolleson in an unsold television series pilot, “Legally Blonde” (2003). She also played Carrie in the Showtime television miniseries “Out of Order” (2003), starring Eric Stoltz, Felicity Huffman and Kim Dickens. 2004 to 2009 saw roles in such films as M. Night Shyamalan's “The Village” (as Vivian Percy), the Sundance premiered “Junebug” (as Peg), Nanda Anand's “Return to Rajapur” (as Melanie Parker), “Joshua” (as Hazel Cairn), which was a special selection at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Scott Hicks' “No Reservations” (as Mrs. Peterson), the Joel Silver produced science fiction/thriller “The Invasion” (as Ludmilla Belicec), “Happy Tears,” “Observe and Report,” “The Box,” “Demoted” (as Jane) and “After.Life” (as Christina Ricci's selfish, unloving mother).Around this period, the actress also did several television projects. She co-starred in the Lifetime movie “Infidelity” (2004) and guest starred in the television shows “Frasier” (2004, as Sue), “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2005, as Joanne Dexler), “3 lbs.” (2006, as Tilly Bates) and “Desperate Housewives” (2008, as Adele Delfino). Weston returned to series television as a regular on the short lived TNT drama series “Memphis Beat,” in which she portrayed Paula Ann Hendricks. The show ran for two seasons of 20 episodes from June 22, 2010 until August 16, 2011. Co-stars in the show included Jason Lee, Alfre Woodard, Sam Hennings and DJ Qualls. Weston played Meredith Lagerfeld in the film adaptation of Jonathan Ames' novel, “The Extra Man,” which made its debut in the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010, and appeared as Tom Cruise's mother in James Mangold's “Knight and Day” (2010). In November 2010, she appeared on an episode of ABC's “Modern Family” called “Mother Tucker,” where she played Cam's mother Barb Tucker. Weston is set to appear in the upcoming drama film “Quad,” opposite Jeff Daniels, Aaron Paul and Tom Berenger. Awards: Outer Critics Circle: Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, “Last Night of Ballyhoo,” 1997 |
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