Parker Posey

Parker Posey has become known as the queen of the indies — independent films, that is. At one point, it was as if no film could afford to show up at the Sundance Film Festival without having at least considered Posey for a role. "What's fun about these movies," she says, "is that they're moved by the characters, not the plot or the special effects. I do what I do because I love it."

Of course, there is a downside, one of which is the money. For the 1995 film Party Girl, in which she played a clothes-stealing club-hopper whose life changes when she learns the dewy decimal system, she was paid the grand sum of $75 a day. Another movie saw her lending the producers her credit card so they could rent cars. And to get to the set of The Doom Generation (1995), she had to pay for half her air fare.

Parker grew up in Laurel, Mississippi, and got her early training in the theater program at the State University of New York College before turning up on the soap opera, As the World Turns. That was before the indie productions came calling, a turn of events she's never regretted. "You know," she says, "I'm grateful for my body of work. I don't like Hollywood movies -- or Hollywood endings."

However, Parker soon had to eat her words when she accepted the role of Kitty Koslowski in the blockbuster film Superman Returns (2006) opposite newcomer Brandon Routh as the new Man of Steel. She has also played a recurring role on the 2006 season of the TV series Boston Legal. She followed this up with roles in the horror flick The Eye (2008), the crime drama Inside Out (2011), and the comedy Price Check (2012).

She played Madge in the drama Grace of Monaco (2014) alongside Nicole Kidman, before being directed twice by Woody Allen, the first time in the criminal drama Irrational Man (2015) with Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, and the second time for the dramatic comedy Café Society (2016) starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carell and Blake Lively.

As far as awards, Parker received a Golden Globes nomination in 2003 for best supporting actress in a series, a miniseries or a TV movie due to her solid performance in Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay, starring Shirley MacLaine.

In 2017, she played opposite John Cho in the indie film Columbus. The following year, she joined Tim Roth, Uma Thurman and Maggie Q for the cast of the indie comedy The Con Is On (2018).

Parker played Dr. Smith on the successful Netflix series Lost In Space from 2018 to 2021. She went on to play Freda Black on the Emmy award-winning HBO Max mini-series The Staircase (2022) starring Colin Firth as a man who is suspected of killing his wife (played by Toni Collette). Back on the big screen, she played Elaine Bray in the quirky film Beau is Afraid (2023), and Gail in Thelma (2024), as the daughter of a 93-year-old woman (played by June Squibb) who goes after the scammers who conned her out of $10,000.

Parker has a twin brother, Chris, who is a lawyer. In terms of health, in 2009 she announced that she had contracted Lyme disease.

Filmography:

Thelma (2024)
Beau is Afraid (2023)
Elsewhere (2019)
The Con is On (2018)
Columbus (2018)
Mascots (2016)
My Art (2016)
The Brits Are Coming (2016)
The Architect (2016)
Café Society (2016)
Irrational Man (2015)
Ned Rifle (2014)
Grace of Monaco (2014)
HairBrained (2013)
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor (2013)
Highland Park (2013)
Price Check (2012)
The Love Guide (2011)
Inside Out (2011)
Happy Tears (2009)
Spring Breakdown (2009)
The Eye (2008)
Asphalt Beach (2007)
Broken English (2007)
For Your Consideration (2006)
Fay Grim (2006)
Superman Returns (2006)
The OH in Ohio (2006)
Adam & Steve (2005)
Blade: Trinity (2004)
Laws of Attraction (2004)
The Event (2003)
A Mighty Wind (2003)
Personal Velocity (2002)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
The Anniversary Party (2001)
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
Best in Show (2000)
Scream 3 (2000)
The Venice Project (1999)
Dinner at Fred's (1999)
The Misadventures of Margaret (1998)
You've Got Mail (1998)
What Rats Won't Do (1998)
Drunks (1997)
Waiting for Guffman (1997)
House of Yes (1997)
Clockwatchers (1997)
Henry Fool (1997)
Basquiat (1996)
Suburbia (1996)
Flirt (1996)
Frisk (1995)
Kicking and Screaming (1995)
Party Girl (1995)
The Doom Generation (1995)
Amateur (1994)
Dead Connection (1994)
Sleep With Me (1994)
Mixed Nuts (1994)
Coneheads (1993)
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Joey Breaker (1993)
The Wake (1993)