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Parker Posey
Parker Posey at Fox Upfronts 2007
Born	Parker Christian Posey November 8, 1968 (1968-11-08) (age 40) Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Years active	1991–2009

Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s, after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies".¹

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Film career 1.3 Television work 1.4 Other work 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Early life

Posey was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Lynda, a chef, and Chris Posey, who owned a Chevrolet dealership. She has a twin brother, Christopher. Posey's first name was a tribute by her father to 1950s supermodel Suzy Parker. After Posey's birth, the family moved to Laurel, Mississippi where her mother worked as a chef and culinary instructor for the Viking Range Corporation in Greenwood, Mississippi, and her father, after coming back from the Vietnam War with long time friend Bill Pearson, opened a car dealership, Posey Chevrolet, in Laurel. The family also lived in Monroe, Louisiana. Posey was raised Catholic.²

Film career

Posey attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where she roomed with actresses Sherry Stringfield and Orlagh Cassidy. Fellow entertainment professionals in her SUNY Purchase acting company (Class of 1991) included actor Adam Trese, actor Reno Wilson, and producer Todd Baker.

Posey made her first break in television, when she won the role of Tess Shelby on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns. (Stringfield, Posey's roommate, was also cast on the daytime drama Guiding Light at about the same time.) Posey's first major role in a feature film was in Dazed and Confused (1993).

Throughout the late 1990s, Posey starred in a large number of independent films and was named "Queen of the Indies" by Time magazine,¹ which cited 32 independent films to her credit, including Personal Velocity, Clockwatchers, Party Girl, and The House of Yes, for which she received especially positive reviews for her portrayal of a delusional woman in love with her own brother. She is part of the acting ensemble that appears in director Christopher Guest's films, including four of his mock documentaries: (Waiting for Guffman in 1996, Best in Show in 2000, A Mighty Wind in 2003, and For Your Consideration in 2006). Posey is also a favorite of director Hal Hartley. She appeared in Henry Fool (1998), two of his shorts, Opera No. 1 (1994; with Adrienne Shelley, another Hartley regular), Sisters of Mercy (2004), and his most recent film, Fay Grim (2006). Posey also had a notable role as the best friend of Adam in the the 2005 film Adam and Steve. Posey received acclaim for her performance in Zoe Cassavetes's directorial debut Broken English in 2007.

Though well known for her work in independent cinema, Posey has also had supporting roles in several big budget studio films, including Scream 3 (2000), You've Got Mail (1998), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), Laws of Attraction (2004), and Blade: Trinity (2004). She also had a small but notable performance in Superman Returns, playing Kitty Kowalski, an assistant to villain Lex Luthor.

Posey is also set for a role in an upcoming John Waters film Fruitcake along with Johnny Knoxville which will likely be set in her birth town of Baltimore, as with all John Waters films.³ However, John Waters has recently announced that he has cancelled Fruitcake, saying "I can't get it made...I thought it would do well, but it's not. In this economy, I'm going to have to do a puppet show."⁴

Television work

Although Posey primarily works in film, she has appeared in several television projects.

• Posey appeared in the television miniseries adaptations of the Armistead Maupin Tales of the City books; her character, Connie, was featured in the original 1993 series and the 1998 miniseries "sequel" covering the second book.
• In 2000, she provided the voice of Umbriel the mermaid in the Futurama episode "The Deep South."
• Also in 2000, Parker provided the voice of Becky in an episode of The Simpsons titled "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge."
• She has also had a recurring role on the television series Will & Grace, as Dorlene, Jack's high-maintenance boss at Barneys New York.
• Posey appeared on the season one finale episode of Project Runway in 2005. She was a spectator at New York Fashion Week, and also a judge alongside Nina Garcia, Michael Kors, and German supermodel/host Heidi Klum.
• In 2006, Posey guest-starred as the ambitious, back-stabbing lawyer Marlene "The Squid" Stanger in the legal drama Boston Legal.
• In March 2008, Posey headlined the quickly cancelled Fox series The Return of Jezebel James.

Posey was previously considered for the roles of Rachel Green in Friends (which went to Jennifer Aniston), of Kimmy in My Best Friend's Wedding (which went to Cameron Diaz), and of Althea in The People vs. Larry Flynt (which went to Courtney Love).

Other work

Posey made her stage debut in 2001, and has worked regularly on the stage since. Posey also dabbles in music; she can play the mandolin. She learned to play as preparation for her role in A Mighty Wind (2003), a film in which she also sang. She used her vocal talents on several records of her ex-boyfriend, Ryan Adams, whom she dated until early 2005. She also played the mandolin on The Dandy Warhols track "I Am Sound" from their Welcome to the Monkey House LP.

She is also the subject of several songs:

• She is the subject of a tribute song by Stuart Davis on his 2006 album ¿What.
• L.A. based rappers Trilambs also recorded a song titled "Parker Posey" in 2001.
• Musical project Forms of Things Unknown recorded an experimental music instrumental called "From Here to Parker Posey".
• Ryan Adams's "Hey Parker, It's Christmas," off of Christmas 7"

Beginning in February 2006, Posey appeared in "Spontaneous Combustion", a Traktor-directed commercial for Pepsi Cola opposite Jimmy Fallon, dancing to the song "Newton – Streamline". It was prominently aired during the Fox broadcasts of the 2006 World Series in October, and a longer version has also aired in movie theaters. She is a contributing editor to Open City, a literary magazine whose editor, Thomas Beller, she once dated.

Posey has appeared on the cover of Lucky magazine, an online shopping site.

Will Ferrell stated on the daytime television program Live With Regis And Kelly that she was Chris Kattan's "best man" at his wedding.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Dazed and Confused	Darla Marks
	Coneheads	Stephanie
1994	Sleep With Me	Athena
1995	Party Girl	Mary
	Flirt	Emily
1996	Frisk	Fergie
	Kicking and Screaming	Miami
	subUrbia	Erica
	Basquiat	Mary
1997	The House of Yes	"Jackie-O" Pascal
	The Daytrippers	Jo Malone
	Waiting for Guffman	Libby Mae Brown
	Clockwatchers	Margaret Burre
1998	Henry Fool	Fay Grim
	You've Got Mail	Patricia Eden
	The Misadventures of Margaret	Margaret Nathan
2000	Best in Show	Meg Swan
	Scream 3	Jennifer Jolie
2001	The Anniversary Party	Judy Adams
	Josie and the Pussycats	Fiona
2002	The Sweetest Thing	Judy Webb
	Personal Velocity	Greta
2003	A Mighty Wind	Sissy Knox
	The Event	Nick
2004	Blade: Trinity	Danica Talos
	Frankenstein	Detective Carson O'Conner
	Laws of Attraction	Serena
2005	Adam & Steve	Rhonda
2006	For Your Consideration	Callie Webb
	Fay Grim	Fay Grim
	The OH in Ohio	Priscilla
	Superman Returns	Kitty Kowalski
2007	Broken English	Nora Wilder
2008	The Eye	Helen Wells
2009	Spring Breakdown	Becky	awaiting release
	Happy Tears	Jayne	completed

References

External links

• Parker Posey at the Internet Movie Database
• ParkerPosey.org
• Driving Miss Posey June/July 2008 Out magazine story on Parker Posey. By Matthew Breen
• NPR's Fresh Air November 21, 2006
• It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s . . . Parker Posey! New York Magazine (July 10, 2006)
• IGN Films Bio (December 7, 2004)
• The Oakland Tribune interview (November, 2002)
• NEXT magazine interview (November, 2002)
• American Outlook article (2002)
• Indexed interview (1996)
• Parker Posey/Hal Hartley interview JewReview.net (May 2007)
• The Onion A.V. Club interview