Background:

American actress Kathy Lamkin is well remembered for her alarming turn as The Tea Lady on the 2003 remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and the 2006 prequel “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.” Other films she has appeared in include “No Country for Old Men” (2007), “In the Valley of Elah” (2007), “The Heartbreak Kid” (2007), “ExTerminators” (2009), “Expecting Mary” (2010) and “Welcome to the Rileys” (2010).  The versatile and talented performer has delivered notable guest appearances in TV shows like “Malcolm in the Middle,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Medium,”  “Bones,” “Boston Legal” and “My Name is Earl.”    


Texas Native

Childhood and Family:

The daughter of an oil field wildcatter (exploring for undiscovered oil) and an artist and business woman, Kathy Lamkin was born and raised in Texas. She took part in school choir and later turned her attention to performing. She continued acting at Texas Women's University before settling in Houston. In 2002, she moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her acting career.    

Kathy is married to Steve, an aerospace engineer at NASA. She has a daughter named Kati, a film editor in Los Angeles, and a son named Greg, a police officer.   


Flutter

Career:

While living in Texas, Kathy Lamkin joined a traveling theater company owned by Barbara Jenkins. Under the guidance of Jenkins, she was able to make the transition from stage to film. She also actively appeared in commercials and theatre and ran her own company named Unicorn School of Acting and later the performing wing, USA Theatre. Lamkin's first screen role arrived when she was cast as a maid in the 1990 comedy flick “Good Girl, Bad Girl,” filmed at Houston, TX. She went on to land uncredited or small parts in other films like “Hard Promises” (1991), “The Broken Spur” (1992), “The Marianao Kid” (1992), “Waiting for Guffman” (1996) and “Fool's Gold” (1998). She also appeared in the made for TV films “Gambler V: Playing for Keeps”  (1994), “Comfort, Texas” (1997) and “The Con” (1998).     

Following the suggestion of casting director Terry Berland and agent Kristene Wallis, Lamkin made the move to Los Angeles in 2002. It was not long before she gained her breakthrough role as Tea Lady in Trailer on the horror film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (2003), a remake of the 1974 movie of the same name. Directed by Marcus Nispel and produced by Michael Bay, the film was a commercial success despite receiving negative reviews. The same year, she was featured on three other films: “The Life of David Gale,” “Screen Door Jesus” and “The Aura” (short).

Lamkin's first television role in Hollywood was in an episode of “Malcolm in the Middle” called “Standee” (2004). She went on to play the title character in the 2005 episode “Momma Boone” of the hit FX medical TV series “Nip/Tuck” and appear along with Eddie McClintock, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe and Judd Nelson in the TV film “Three Wise Guys” (2005). Lamkin worked with Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer in the crime/comedy movie “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2005), and with Chris Pine, Cameron Daddo and Bruce Davison in the drama/thriller film “Confession” (2005), directed by Jonathan Meyers. The same year, she appeared in three short films: “Another Man's Treasure,” “Live-In” and “The First Miss,” as well as served as executive producer on the shorts “An Extra Digit” and “Family” and producer on “If Wishes Were Fishes.”  
 
In 2006, Lamkin reprised her role as Tea Lady in “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,” a prequel to the 2003 remake “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Just like its predecessor, the film met with a large amount of negative reviews. She also had a small role on “The Astronaut Farmer” (2006), an adventure/drama film directed by Michael Polish and starring Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen and Bruce Dern.

Lamkin's film career gained another momentum in 2007 with three high profile roles under her belt. She first was cast as Desert Aire Manager in “No Country for Old Men,” a thriller film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, and as Chicken Shack Manager in “In the Valley of Elah,” which was written and directed by Paul Haggis and starred Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. She played the roel of Lila's mom on the remake “The Heartbreak Kid,” directed by the Farrelly brothers and starring Ben Stiller. On the small screen, the actress made guest appearances in popular shows such as “Medium” (as Gladys Discala), “Bones” (as Marianne Epps) and “Boston Legal” (as Judge Marcia Fudge).

From 2008 to 2010, Lamkin could be seen in films like “Sunshine Cleaning,” “Will to Power” (directed and written by and starred David Rountree), “ExTerminators” (starred Heather Graham, Jennifer Coolidge and Matthew Settle), “Staunton Hill” (video),  “Expecting Mary” (starred Elliott Gould, Linda Gray and Lainie Kazan), “Welcome to the Rileys” (starred James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart and Melissa Leo) and “Psychic Experiment” (starred Katie Featherston, Glenn Morshower and Brady Hender). IN addition, she appeared in episodes of “Mind of Mecia” and “My Name is Earl.”

In 2013, Lamkin will portray Sylvia in the upcoming drama film “Flutter,” written and directed by Eric Hueber. She is also rumored to take the role of Marge Billups in the Keith Smith horror film  “Crimson Saints.”


Awards:

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