Joey Lauren Adams
Encyclopedia
Joey Lauren Adams is an American actress who has appeared in more than thirty films. She is known for her distinctive, raspy voice and for her roles in View Askewniverse
View Askewniverse
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media,...

 films, particularly Mallrats
Mallrats
Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

and Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....

, with the latter giving her a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination.

Career

She began her film career in 1977 with a small part in Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist II: The Heretic is a 1977 American horror film and the sequel to The Exorcist , directed by John Boorman from a screenplay by William Goodhart and starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, James Earl Jones, Ned Beatty and Kitty Winn...

. In 1991, she appeared in the 100th episode of Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...

called Top of the Heap and subseq/Users/helentraversi/Desktop/joey-adams.jpguently starred in its short lived spinoff
Top of the Heap
Top of the Heap is a 1991 Fox television sitcom that was spun off from Married... with Children. Though it lasted seven episodes, it was nonetheless the most successful of three attempted Married...With Children spin-offs during the main series' run. The pilot was episode 20 of the 5th season of...

. In 1993, Adams landed her first major film role as Simone in Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater
-Early life:Linklater was born in Houston, Texas. He studied at Sam Houston State University and left midway through his stint in college to work on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. While working on the rig he read a lot of literature, but on land he developed a love of film through...

's Dazed and Confused
Dazed and Confused
"Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...

. The same year, she appeared in the Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

spinoff film Coneheads
Coneheads (film)
Coneheads is a 1993 film based on the Saturday Night Live sketches about the Coneheads. The film was directed by Steve Barron and produced by Lorne Michaels...

as one of Connie Conehead's friends.

Two years later, Adams appeared in Mallrats
Mallrats
Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

, written and directed by Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...

. The two started dating during the film's post-production, and their relationship provided the inspiration for Smith's next movie.

Meanwhile, in 1996, while Smith was finalizing the script for Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....

, she was cast for a role in the slapstick comedy Bio-Dome
Bio-Dome
Bio-Dome is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Jason Bloom. Bio-Dome was produced by Motion Picture Corporation of America on a budget of $15 million and was distributed theatrically by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer....

, which was directed by Jason Bloom. Adams played the role of Monique, girlfriend to Bud Macintosh (Pauly Shore).

In 1997's Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....

, Smith cast Adams in the lead role of Alyssa Jones, a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 who falls in love with a man, played by Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...

. Later, Smith would describe Chasing Amy as a "sort of penance/valentine" and a "thank-you homage" to Adams. In addition to her acting work on the film, Adams wrote and performed the song "Alive" for the movie's soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

.

Adams' performance in Chasing Amy earned her both the 1997 Chicago Film Critics Award and Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Most Promising Actress, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress-Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1950...

. From there, Adams was originally slated to play the female lead in Smith's next film, 1999's Dogma
Dogma (film)
Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...

, but Linda Fiorentino
Linda Fiorentino
Linda Fiorentino is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the films Dogma, Vision Quest, Men in Black, After Hours and The Last Seduction.-Personal life:...

 ultimately got the part. However, she would later make brief appearances in two other Smith projects: the 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 American action adventure comedy film written, directed by, and starring Kevin Smith as Silent Bob, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of his cult favorite Clerks...

, and the 2004 animated short Clerks: The Lost Scene, featured on the Clerks X DVD. In both of these appearances, Adams reprised the role of Alyssa Jones.

Her post-Smith projects included playing a spunky veterinarian's assistant who falls in love with a single father (Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...

) in 1998's A Cool, Dry Place
A Cool, Dry Place
A Cool, Dry Place is a 1999 movie adapted by Matthew McDuffie from the novel Dance Real Slow by Michael Grant Jaffe. It was directed by John N. Smith...

. The following year, Adams appeared in her first big-budget Hollywood release, playing Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...

's love interest in the successful comedy Big Daddy. She then went on to appear in many smaller films, including Beautiful and In the Shadows.

In 2005, she had a guest role in an episode of the TV show Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during television network UPN's final two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Veronica Mars was produced by Warner Bros...

. Also in 2006, Adams released her directorial debut, Come Early Morning
Come Early Morning
Come Early Morning is a 2006 film, the feature film directorial debut by Joey Lauren Adams, starring Ashley Judd and Jeffrey Donovan. The movie was shot throughout the metropolitan Little Rock, Arkansas area including Pulaski Heights, and Adams' hometown of North Little Rock...

, starring Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd is an American television and film actress, who has played lead roles in films including Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is and High Crimes...

, Jeffrey Donovan
Jeffrey Donovan
Jeffrey Donovan is an American television, film and stage actor. He plays the lead Michael Westen on the American cable television series, Burn Notice. Notable starring roles in film include: Hitch, Believe in Me, Changeling, and Come Early Morning. He portrayed Robert F. Kennedy in Clint...

, Diane Ladd
Diane Ladd
Diane Ladd is an American actress, film director, producer and published author. She has appeared in over 120 roles, on television, and in miniseries and feature films, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore , Wild at Heart , Rambling Rose , Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary Colors, 28 Days , and...

, Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson
Tim Blake Nelson is an American director, writer, singer, and actor.-Early life:Nelson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth Kaiser Nelson, who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and a geologist father...

 and Laura Prepon
Laura Prepon
Laura Prepon is an American actress, best known for her role as Donna Pinciotti in the long-running Fox situation comedy That '70s Show, for all eight seasons. She is also known for the role of Hannah Daniels on the ABC drama October Road...

. The film, shot on location in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...

, was selected for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

.

In 2006, she, along with Lian Lunson
Lian Lunson
Lian Lunson is an Australian actress who became an award-winning documentary filmmaker. She has also written a novel.She was born in Ned Kelly Country in Australia.She moved to Los Angeles in 1987 after working as an actress in Australia....

 and Nicole Holofcener
Nicole Holofcener
Nicole Holofcener is an American film and television director. She has directed four feature films, most recently Please Give.-Career:...

, was awarded the Women in Film Dorothy Arzner Directors Award.

On November 24, 2009, Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...

 released Adams' directorial debut for a music video entitled "Belle of the Boulevard" by Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, led by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" from the debut album The Swiss Army Romance....

.

Adams returned to TV in March 2010, on the Showtime series The United States of Tara
The United States of Tara
United States of Tara is an American television comedy-drama created by Diablo Cody, which began airing on Showtime in 2009. The series follows the life of Tara , a suburban housewife and mother coping with dissociative identity disorder....

. She appeared in at least three episodes as Pammy, a barmaid who falls for Buck, one of the title character's alternate personalities
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment....

.

Some speculation has been made that her high-pitched speaking voice has hampered her chances of Hollywood stardom, to which she has commented: "It's not a normal voice. It doesn't fit into people's preconceptions about what a woman's voice should sound like. My mom doesn't think I have an unusual voice, though. I'm sure it's helped me get some roles. But Chasing Amy I almost didn't get. There was concern the voice would grate on some people, which some critics said it did." One film critic referred to her voice as a "sex-kitten-on-helium". Another said that whether viewers loved it or hated it, her voice had "the potential to hypnotize."

Personal life

Adams was born in North Little Rock, Arkansas
North Little Rock, Arkansas
the city was 62.55% White, 33.98% Black or African American, 0.41% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.18% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races...

. Her father was a lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 yard owner. Adams grew up the youngest of three children in the Overbrook neighborhood in North Little Rock. She graduated from Northeast High School in 1986. She announced her intention to pursue acting after an exchange-student year in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. She moved to Hollywood in 1988, but currently lives in Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1835, it was named after the British university city of Oxford in hopes of having the state university located there, which it did successfully attract....

.

Filmography

As actress, except as noted:
  • Coneheads
    Coneheads (film)
    Coneheads is a 1993 film based on the Saturday Night Live sketches about the Coneheads. The film was directed by Steve Barron and produced by Lorne Michaels...

    (1993)
  • Dazed and Confused
    Dazed and Confused
    "Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...

    (1993)
  • The Program
    The Program
    The Program is a 1993 film starring James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Epps, Craig Sheffer, Kristy Swanson, Daniel Lee, and Joey Lauren Adams. The film was directed by David S...

    (1993)
  • The Pros & Cons of Breathing (1994)
  • Sleep with Me
    Sleep with Me
    Sleep With Me is a 1994 film starring Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz and Craig Sheffer who play good friends who become involved in a love triangle, a relationship complicated by the marriage of Tilly's and Stoltz'es characters...

    (1994)
  • S.F.W.
    S.F.W.
    S.F.W. is a 1994 film directed by Jefery Levy. It is based on a novel by Andrew Wellman, and stars Stephen Dorff, Jake Busey and Reese Witherspoon, in one of her first lead roles.-Plot:...

    (1994)
  • Mallrats
    Mallrats
    Mallrats is a 1995 film written and directed by Kevin Smith. It is the second to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse series of interlocking films set mostly in New Jersey, although the movie was filmed in Eden Prairie Center and Osowski's Flea Market which are located in Minnesota...

    (1995)
  • Drawing Flies
    Drawing Flies
    For the Soundgarden song of the same name see Drawing Flies .Drawing Flies is a View Askew Production made by two Canadian filmmakers, Malcolm Ingram and Matt Gissing...

    (1996)
  • Bio-Dome
    Bio-Dome
    Bio-Dome is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Jason Bloom. Bio-Dome was produced by Motion Picture Corporation of America on a budget of $15 million and was distributed theatrically by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer....

    (1996)
  • Michael
    Michael (1996 film)
    Michael is a 1996 American fantasy film directed by Nora Ephron and released in 1996. The film stars John Travolta as the Archangel Michael, who is sent to Earth to do various tasks, including mending some wounded hearts...

    (1996)
  • Chasing Amy
    Chasing Amy
    Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....

    (1997) (also composer of song "Alive" featured in the film)
  • A Cool, Dry Place
    A Cool, Dry Place
    A Cool, Dry Place is a 1999 movie adapted by Matthew McDuffie from the novel Dance Real Slow by Michael Grant Jaffe. It was directed by John N. Smith...

    (1998)
  • Emergency Room 2 (1999)
  • Big Daddy (1999)
  • Bruno
    Bruno (2000 film)
    Bruno is a 2000 American film starring Alex D. Linz and Shirley MacLaine. The film is the first and, as of 2009, the only film ever directed by MacLaine....

    (2000) (released on video re-titled as Dress Code)
  • Beautiful (2000)
  • Harvard Man
    Harvard Man
    Harvard Man is a 2001 feature film written and directed by James Toback. It had only a limited distribution in theatres in July 2002, and received little critical or popular acclaim, although it achieved some success when it was released on video and DVD in October of that year.The film stars...

    (2001)
  • Dr. Dolittle 2
    Dr. Dolittle 2
    Dr. Dolittle 2 is a 2001 American comedy film, and the theatrical sequel to the 1998 film Dr. Dolittle. The continuing tale of the doctor who can talk to the animals—this time, it's Dolittle versus Darwin when the animals launch a labor strike to protect their forest from unscrupulous human...

    (2001) (voice)
  • Reaching Normal (2001)
  • In the Shadows (2001)
  • Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
    Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
    Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 American action adventure comedy film written, directed by, and starring Kevin Smith as Silent Bob, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of his cult favorite Clerks...

    (2001) (cameo)
  • Grand Champion
    Grand Champion
    Grand Champion is a 2002 family film, starring Jacob Fisher, George Strait, Emma Roberts and Joey Lauren Adams, about a young boy who wants his calf "Hokey" to grow up to be the Grand Champion...

    (2002)
  • Beeper (2002)
  • The Big Empty
    The Big Empty
    The Big Empty is a 2003 science-fiction film directed and written by Steve Anderson. It stars Jon Favreau as a struggling actor with a bizarre request from his neighbor to deliver a suitcase that he cannot open...

    (2003)
  • The Gunman (2004)
  • Clerks: The Lost Scene (2004) (voice only)
  • Bunny Whipped (2006)
  • The Break-Up
    The Break-Up
    The Break-Up is a 2006 American comedy-drama romance film directed by Peyton Reed, starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. It was written by Jay Lavender and Jeremy Garelick and produced by Universal Pictures.-Plot:...

    (2006)
  • Come Early Morning
    Come Early Morning
    Come Early Morning is a 2006 film, the feature film directorial debut by Joey Lauren Adams, starring Ashley Judd and Jeffrey Donovan. The movie was shot throughout the metropolitan Little Rock, Arkansas area including Pulaski Heights, and Adams' hometown of North Little Rock...

    (2006) (writer, director only)
  • Trucker
    Trucker (film)
    Trucker a 2008 dramatic independent film by Plum Pictures. It was written and directed by James Mottern, and produced by Scott Hanson, Galt Niederhoffer, Celine Rattray and Daniela Taplin Lundberg.-Plot:...

    (2008)
  • ExTerminators
    ExTerminators (film)
    ExTerminators is a 2009 American black comedy film written by Suzanne Weinert and directed by John Inwood. It stars Heather Graham, Amber Heard, Jennifer Coolidge, Matthew Settle, and Sam Lloyd.-Plot:...

    (2009)
  • Endure (2009)
  • Art Machine (2010)

Television

  • Top of the Heap
    Top of the Heap
    Top of the Heap is a 1991 Fox television sitcom that was spun off from Married... with Children. Though it lasted seven episodes, it was nonetheless the most successful of three attempted Married...With Children spin-offs during the main series' run. The pilot was episode 20 of the 5th season of...

    (1991)
  • Vinnie & Bobby
    Vinnie & Bobby
    Vinnie & Bobby is an Americam sitcom that aired on Fox on Sunday night from May 30, 1992 to September 5, 1992. The series was a spin-off of the short-lived 1991 sitcom Top of the Heap, which was itself a spin-off of Married... With Children. Series star Matt LeBlanc played the character of Vinnie...

    [1992]
  • Married... with Children
    Married... with Children
    Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...

    (1993)
  • Second Noah
    Second Noah
    Second Noah is a television drama that was broadcast in the United States on ABC television from February 5, 1996 to June 8, 1997-Premise:...

    (1996–1997) as Darby
  • Veronica Mars
    Veronica Mars
    Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during television network UPN's final two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Veronica Mars was produced by Warner Bros...

    (2006) (guest appearance)
  • Party Down
    Party Down
    Party Down is an American comedy television series created and primarily written by John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd that aired on the Starz network in the United States.-Conception:...

    (2009, 2010) (two episodes)
  • United States of Tara (2010) (guest appearance) as Pammy

External links

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