Early life

Perkins was born in Queens, New York, 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 emigrants from Salonika who anglicized their surname from "Pisperikos" to "Perkins" when they moved to the United States. Perkins was raised in Colrain, Massachusetts; her parents divorced in 1963. She began working in theatre with Arena Civic Theatre, a non-profit community theatre group based out of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Perkins attended Northfield Mount Hermon School, an elite preparatory school, and then spent 1978 to 1981 in Chicago attaining her BFA in Acting from the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University. 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.

Career

She was listed as one of the 12 "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 (1991), receiving critical acclaim for her performance as a terminal cancer patient. She also was in the tram show In 1993, Perkins appeared in the television project For Their Own Good. She later starred in the comedy series Battery Park and has appeared in television and films including the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street and 2000's 28 Days starring as Sandra Bullock's sister. Perkins also had a small role in the 2003 film Finding Nemo, she was the voice of a clownfish who was the wife of Marlin and mother of Nemo and was killed by a barracuda at the beginning of the film. Perkins also appeared as a psychiatrist in the 2005 suspense thriller, The Ring Two, starring Naomi Watts.

She played Wilma Flintstone in the 1994 live-action comedy The Flintstones.

From 2005 to 2009, Perkins played Celia Hodes, an alcoholic and image-obsessed PTA mother, alongside Mary-Louise Parker and Justin Kirk on the Showtime series Weeds. For her work on Weeds, Perkins received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a TV Series, Miniseries or Made for TV Motion Picture (in 2006 and 2007). She was also nominated three times for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Weeds. 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. On May 6, 2010, she announced that the fifth season of Weeds was her last despite the cliffhanger her character had in the season finale.

She starred in the ABC comedy series How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life). She portrayed the uncredited character, Lizzie, in The Lorax.

Personal life

Perkins married Terry Kinney in 1984, and divorced in 1988. She has one daughter, Hannah Jo Phillips (born 1991). In 2000, she married 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 Juvenile diabetes that is most often diagnosed in middle age.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	About Last Night	Joan
1987	From the Hip	Jo Ann
1988	Big	Susan Lawrence
1988	Sweet Hearts Dance	Adie Nims
1990	Love at Large	Stella Wynkowski
1990	Enid Is Sleeping	June
1990	Avalon	Ann Kaye
1991	He Said, She Said	Lorie Bryer
1991	Doctor, TheThe Doctor	June Ellis
1993	Indian Summer	Jennifer Morton
1994	Flintstones, TheThe Flintstones	Wilma Flintstone
1994	Miracle on 34th Street	Dorey Walker
1995	Moonlight and Valentino	Rebecca Trager Lott
1997	Lesser Prophets	Susan
1998	I'm Losing You	Aubrey Wicker
1999	Crazy in Alabama	Joan Blake
2000	28 Days	Lily Cummings
2001	Cats & Dogs	Mrs. Caroline Brody
2002	All I Want	Blanche	AKA, Try Seventeen
2003	Finding Nemo	Coral (voice)
2004	Gilded Stones	Polly	Short film
2004	Speak	Joyce Sordino
2004	Jiminy Glick in Lalawood	Miranda Coolidge
2005	Ring Two, TheThe Ring Two	Dr. Emma Temple
2005	Thing About My Folks, TheThe Thing About My Folks	Rachel Kleinman
2005	Must Love Dogs	Carol Nolan
2005	Kids in America	Sondra Carmichael
2009	Le chat est mort	Rhonda	Short film
2011	Hop	Bonnie O'Hare
2016	Ghostbusters	TBA	post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	For Their Own Good	Sally Wheeler	TV film
1997	Cloned	Skye Weston	TV film
1997	Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Women	Gertruda Babilinska	TV film
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	Marilyn Lovell	Episode: "The Original Wives Club"
2000	If These Walls Could Talk 2	Alice Hedley	TV film
2000	Battery Park	Captain Madeline Dunleavy	Regular Role (6 episodes)
2001	What Girls Learn	Mama	TV film
2002	My Sister's Keeper	Judy Chapman	TV film
2002	King of the Hill	Jan Shaw (voice)	Episode: "Get Your Freak Off"
2004	King of the Hill	Mrs. Ashmore / Ruth Brown / Sherilyn (voice)	Episodes: "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Enjoy the Alamo", "The Redneck on Rainey Street"
2005	Hercules	Alcmene	TV miniseries
2005-2009	Weeds	Celia Hodes	Regular role (63 episodes)
2009	Monk	Christine Rapp	Episode: "Mr. Monk's Favorite Show"
2011	Vince Uncensored	Janet Donohue	TV film
2011	Closer, TheThe Closer	Gail Meyers	Episode: "Road Block"
2013	How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)	Elaine Green	Main Role (13 episodes)
2014	How to Get Away with Murder	Marren Trudeau	Episode: "Let's Get to Scooping"
2016	One Child	Katherine Ashley	Regular Role
2016	"Preacher (TV series)"	Vyla Quinncannon	Recurring Role

Awards and nominations

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Production	Result
1992	CFCA Award	Best Supporting Actress	The Doctor	Nominated
2005	Satellite Award	Outstanding Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical	Weeds	Nominated
2006	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie	Weeds	Nominated
2006	Golden Globe Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie	Weeds	Nominated
2006	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Weeds	Nominated
2007	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Weeds	Nominated
2007	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Weeds	Nominated
2007	Golden Globe Award	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie	Weeds	Nominated
2007	Golden Nymph	Outstanding Actress - Comedy Series	Weeds	Nominated
2009	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Weeds	Nominated
2009	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Weeds	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]