Joey Lauren Adams Biography

Joey Lauren Adams (born January 9, 1968) 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 Bio-Dome as well as Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse films, particularly Mallrats and Chasing Amy, 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. In 1991, she appeared in the 100th episode of Married... with Children entitled "Top of the Heap" and subsequently starred in its short lived spinoff. In 1993, Adams landed her first major film role as Simone in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. The same year, she appeared in the Saturday Night Live spinoff film Coneheads as one of Connie Conehead's friends.

Two years later, Adams appeared in Mallrats, written and directed by Kevin Smith. The two started dating during the film's post-production, and their relationship provided the inspiration for Smith's next film.

Meanwhile, in 1996, while Smith was finalizing the script for Chasing Amy, she was cast for a role in the slapstick comedy Bio-Dome, which was directed by Jason Bloom. Adams played the role of Monique, girlfriend to Bud Macintosh (Pauly Shore).

In 1997's Chasing Amy, Smith cast Adams in the lead role of Alyssa Jones, a lesbian who falls in love with a man, played by Ben Affleck. 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 film's soundtrack.

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. From there, Adams was originally slated to play the female lead in Smith's next film, 1999's Dogma, but Linda Fiorentino 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, 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) in 1998's A Cool, Dry Place. The following year, Adams appeared in her first big-budget Hollywood release, playing Adam Sandler'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. Also in 2006, Adams released her directorial debut film, Come Early Morning, starring Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Ladd, Tim Blake Nelson and Laura Prepon. The film, shot on location in Little Rock, Arkansas, was selected for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.

In 2006, she, along with Lian Lunson and Nicole Holofcener, was awarded the Women in Film [[Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards#THE DOROTHY ARZNER DIRECTORS AWARD|Dorothy Arzner Directors Award]].

On November 24, 2009, Interscope Records released Adams' directorial debut for a music video entitled "Belle of the Boulevard" by Dashboard Confessional.

Adams returned to TV in March 2010, on the Showtime series The United States of Tara. She appeared in six episodes as Pammy, a barmaid who falls for Buck, one of the title character's alternate personalities.

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. Her father was a lumber yard owner. Adams grew up the youngest of three children in the Overbrook neighborhood in Sherwood, Arkansas. She graduated from North Little Rock Northeast High School in 1986. She announced her intention to pursue acting after an exchange-student year in Australia. She moved to Hollywood in 1988, but currently lives in Oxford, Mississippi.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Coneheads	Christina
1993	Dazed and Confused	Simone Kerr
1993	'	Louanne
1993	'	Shirley
1994	Sleep with Me	Lauren
1994	S.F.W.	Monica Dice
1995	Mallrats	Gwen
1996	Bio-Dome	Monique
1996	Drawing Flies	Hippy Chick
1996	Michael	Anita
1997	Chasing Amy	Alyssa Jones
1998	'	Beth Ward
1999	Big Daddy	Layla Maloney
2000	Bruno	Donna Marie
2000	Beautiful	Ruby
2001	Harvard Man	Chesney Cort
2001	Dr. Dolittle 2	Squirrel (voice)
2001	Reaching Normal	Sarah
2001	In the Shadows	Clarissa Huston
2001	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	Alyssa Jones
2002	Grand Champion	Hallie
2002	Beeper	Inspector Julia Hyde
2003	'	Grace
2004	'	Daphne
2005	Conflict	Ricci Storm	Short film
2006	'	Addie
2007	Bunny Whipped	Ann
2008	Trucker	Jenny Bell
2009	ExTerminators	Kim
2010	Endure	Sirena Lane
2011	Big Swim	The Egg
2011	Apart	Dr. Jane Sheppard
2012	'	Mom	Short film
2012	Mulberry Stains	Savannah
2012	Art Machine	Prudence
2013	Blue Caprice	Jamie
2013	'	Renae Logan	Completed
2013	Abby in Summer	Becca	Completed
2014	Sequoia	Bev	Completed
2014	Animal		Post-production
2014	Valley Inn	Althea	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Top of the Heap	Mona Mullins	Main role (7 episodes)
1991	Married with Children	Mona Mullins / Cousin Effie	Episodes: "Top of the Heap", "Buck Has a Belly Ache"
1992	Vinnie & Bobby	Mona Mullins	Main role (5 episodes)
1992	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Dianne	Episode: "Words Up!"
1993	Married with Children	Janie	Episode: "Wedding Show"
1995	Love & War	Vicky	Episode: "Atlantic City"
1995	Out of Order	Whitney	Episode: "Strange Habit"
1995	Double Rush	Dee Dee	Episode: "Slamming Into a Car Isn't Good"
1996	Second Noah	Darby	Episode: "Pilot"
1999	Hercules	Electra (voice)	Episode: "Hercules and the Complex Electra"
2003	As Told by Ginger	Thea Mipson	Episode: "Far from Home"
2003	Stripperella	Catt (voice)	Episode: "Everybody Loves Pushy"
2004	Stripperella	Catt (voice)	Episode: "Evil Things Come in Small Packages"
2005	What's New, Scooby-Doo?	Rachel (voice)	Episode: "A Scooby-Doo Valentine"
2005	Veronica Mars	Geena Stafford	Episode: "Weapons of Class Destruction"
2009	Party Down	Diandra Stiltskin	Episode: "Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen"
2010	Party Down	Diandra Stiltskin	Episode: "Precious Lights Pre-School Auction"
2010	Tough Trade	Shawnelle	TV film
2010	United States of Tara	Pammy	Recurring role (6 episodes)
2010	Frenemies	Joy Hardwick	TV series
2012	Supermoms	Kelly	TV series
2013	Switched at Birth	Jeniece Papagus	Episodes: "What Goes Up Must Come Down", "The Merrymakers", "Departure of Summer"