Queen of the Indies

Background:

"I wouldn't say I was a queen. Maybe a little elf." Parker Posey.

Since her first starring role in the feature film Party Girl (1995), Parker Posey has been dubbed "Queen of the Indies" because of her prolific career in independent films. She has appeared in Dazed and Confused (1993), The House of Yes (1997), Henry Fool (1997; reprises her role in Fay Grim (2006)), You've Got Mail (1998), Scream 3 (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), Blade: Trinity (2004), Superman Returns (2006) and For Your Consideration (2006). She will star in the upcoming films Broken English, Spring Breakdown, and Asphalt Beach.

On a more personal note, the 5' 5" tall eccentric, dark-haired actress who has 33B-25-34 measurements was romantically linked to writer/editor Thomas Beller, editor of literary magazine "Open City” where Posey is a contributing editor. She also dated songwriter/musician Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974), Zach Leary (son of LSD guru Timothy Leary) and director/producer Bob Gosse (together 1991-1996).

"I've never been bored on a movie set. Give me a costume and I just brighten up." Parker Posey.


Missy

Childhood and Family:

On November 8, 1968, Parker Christian Posey (named after '50s model and sometimes-actress Suzy Parker) was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Chris Posey (owned a Chevrolet dealership named Posey Chevrolet in Laurel, Mississippi) and Lynda Posey (worked as a chef and culinary instructor for the Viking Range Corporation). She has a twin brother, Chris, who practices law in Atlanta. When she was 12, Parker and her family moved to Laurel, MS.

Parker attended the R.H. Watkins High School in Laurel, Mississippi and North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (drama) before she enrolled at State University of New York (SUNY), Purchase, Purchase, New York (1987-1991), where she studied acting and roomed with future “ER” doctor Sherry Stringfield. She dropped out just three weeks before graduation after receiving a role on “As the World Turns.”

Parker, nicknamed Missy, is an accomplished mime. One of her current interests is making Pottery.


The House of Yes

Career:

“I can do comedy, so people want me to do that, but the other side of comedy is depression. Deep, deep depression is the flip side of comedy. Casting agents don't realize it but in order to be funny you have to have that other side.” Parker Posey.

Three weeks before her graduation at SUNY Purchase, Parker Posey left her study to play Tess Shelby (1991-1992), a bratty teen on CBS long-running soap opera "As the World Turns." The next year, she made her feature acting debut in writer-director Steven Starr's romantic drama comedy Joey Breaker (starring Richard Edson) and Richard Linklater's teen comedy set on the last day of school in May 1976 in a Texas suburb, Dazed and Confused (both in 1993), in which she played the dictatorial senior. She also played Connie Bradshaw, a ditsy pal of heroine Laura Linney in the miniseries based on the book by San Francisco novelist Armistead Maupin, "Tales of the City" (1993). She later reprised her role in "More Tales of the City" (1998) and "Further Tales of the City" (2001).

Since 1994, Posey has been dubbed “Queen of the Indies” for her appearances in non-studio features like Rory Kelly's romantic drama comedy Sleep With Me (1994; starring Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz and Craig Sheffer) and writer-director Hal Hartley's romantic thriller-comedy Amateur (1995; starring Isabelle Huppert and Martin Donovan). She was best remembered while starring as free-spirited Mary embarks on her self-destructive path of drugs and parties in Daisy von Scherler Mayer's coming-of-age comedy, Party Girl (1995).

After her stunning performance in Party Girl, Posey made memorable appearances as psychotic murderess in Todd Verow's deeply disturbing, controversial adaptation of Dennis Cooper's novel, Frisk (1995; starring Michael Gunther), and as a perpetual Dairy Queen waitress with showbiz aspirations in actor-writer-director Christopher Guest's mockumentary Waiting for Guffman (1996). Guest later gave his comment about Posey, saying: "People keep asking me what she'll do. I couldn't possibly answer that. She's in this weird position of having done all these peripheral movies. She could do anything. She's gifted. I'm not sure that Parker knows what she wants to do."

That same year, Posey continued to add to her acting resume with roles as gallery owner Mary Boone in Julian Schnabel's biopic about the meteoric rise of youthful postmodernist/neo expressionist artist Basquiat (starring Jeffrey Wright) and as Hope Davis' rebellious younger sister in writer-director Greg Mottola's independent drama comedy The Daytrippers (also starring Stanley Tucci; premiered at Toronto Film Festival). She also played a press agent in Linklater's drama comedy loosely based on Eric Bogosian's play, SubUrbia (opposite Steve Zahn and Giovanni Ribisi).

In 1997, Posey garnered acclaim for her performance as Jackie-O, a mentally unbalanced young woman who is obsessed with the former first lady and the Kennedy assassination, in Mark Waters' adaptation of Wendy MacLeod's play, The House of Yes (1997). Also in that year, she appeared in writer-director Hal Hartley's critically acclaimed drama-comedy feature Henry Fool, which won Best Screenwriting Award at Cannes. In the latter film, she played the supporting role of Fay Grim, the sexually aggressive sister of a nerdy, frustrated and terminally shy man (played by James Urbaniak) who eventually marries the title character (played by Thomas Jay Ryan). She later reprised her role in its 2006 sequel, Fay Grim (2006), in which her character is coerced by a CIA agent (played by Jeff Goldblum).

Posey spent the rest of the 1990s starring in Jill Sprecher's chick flick set in the vast metropolitan offices of Global Credit, Clockwatchers (1997), playing brassy Margaret who wants to climb up the corporate ladder alongside Lisa Kudrow and Toni Collette. She was also cast in her first major feature role, supporting Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Nora Ephron's romantic comedy You've Got Mail (1998), a remake of the 1940 film, The Shop Around the Corner, and based on Miklós László’s play.

The new millennium saw Posey making her Broadway debut opposite Matthew Broderick in the Elaine May comedy "Taller Than a Dwarf." On screen, she was featured in Christopher Guest's award-winning mockumentary Best in Show, playing a yuppie wife with braces and a high-strung attachment to her dog and husband (played by Michael Hitchcock), and delivered memorable comedic performance in Wes Craven's final installment in the successful Scream trilogy of satirical horror films, Scream 3 (starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette). She also appeared as the scheming Fiona in writers-directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan's teen flick based upon the Archie comic, Josie and the Pussycats (with Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson and Alan Cumming), and portrayed a neurotic wife in writers-directors Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh's romantic drama comedy The Anniversary Party (with Gwyneth Paltrow and Phoebe Cates).

Next, Posey appeared with Cameron Diaz, Selma Blair and Christina Applegate in Roger Kumble's romantic comedy movie The Sweetest Thing and co-starred in the drama comedy TV-movie Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (starring Shirley MacLaine), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She then co-starred as Greta, a sharp, spunky editor who is rotten with ambition in writer-director Rebecca Miller's drama feature Personal Velocity (with Kyra Sedgwick and Fairuza Balk) and starred as a sharp Manhattan district attorney investigating an AIDS-related mystery in Thom Fitzgerald's independent relationship drama The Event.

Posey subsequently played a famous woman who locked in an ugly divorce with her rock star husband (played by Michael Sheen) in Peter Howitt's romantic comedy starring Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore, The Laws of Attraction, and played ruthless villain Danica Talos in writer-director David S. Goyer's sci-fi action/thriller starring Wesley Snipes, Blade: Trinity (both in 2004). In May the following year, she returned to stage starring in the acclaimed off-Broadway revival of David Rabe's "Hurlyburly," alongside Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale, Elizabeth Berkley, Wallace Shawn and Josh Hamilton.

Recently, in 2006, Posey was cast as Kitty Koslowski, Lex Luthor's villainous assistant in Bryan Singer's superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character, Superman Returns (starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey), and reunited with Guest to play newcomer ingenue Callie Webb in his drama film set in the mid-1940s American South, For Your Consideration (alongside Harry Shearer and Catherine O'Hara). She also starred in Billy Kent's comedy film The Oh in Ohio, playing Paul Rudd's wife who seemingly had it all but has never had an orgasm and seeks counsel from a quirky sex therapist. On TV, she had a recurring role as Marlene Stanger on ABC award-winning legal dramedy "Boston Legal."

Posey just wrapped writer-director Zoe R. Cassavetes' romantic comedy film, Broken English, in which she starred as a woman in her thirties, alone with job she's outgrown. She will soon complete Ryan Shiraki's chick flick Spring Breakdown, in which she co-stars with Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler playing three thirtysomething friends break the monotony of their uninspired lives by vacationing at a popular travel destination for college co-eds on spring break, and Peter Spears's musical titled Asphalt Beach.

"I think that the past fifteen years--where women have gone to work and left the men--the baby boomers who are now in Hollywood and control a lot of the money are upset that the wives have gone or mommies gone off to work. There are all these scripts where the women, if they're working, are prostitutes and lawyers with an angry streak who'll kill you. It's a reaction to women leaving their men and men being angry about it and saying it on some subconscious level." Parker Posey.

Awards:

• Florida Film Critics Circle: Best Ensemble Cast, A Mighty Wind, 2004
• Sundance Film Festival: Special Recognition, The House Of Yes, 1997