Jaime Pressly

Jaime Pressly

Pressly in January 2008
Born Jaime Elizabeth Pressly
July 30, 1977 (1977-07-30) (age 33)
Kinston, North Carolina, United States
Occupation Actress/Model
Years active 1997–present
Spouse Simran Singh (2009-present)
Partner Eric Cubiche (1996-2008)

Jaime Elizabeth Pressly[1] (born July 30, 1977) is an American actress and model, best known for playing Joy on the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl. She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series in 2006 and 2007, winning the award in 2007. She has also been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2006; and for a Golden Globe Award in 2007.

Contents

Early life

Pressly was born in Kinston, North Carolina, the daughter of James Liston Pressly[2] and Brenda Sue (née Smith), a dance instructor. She has two siblings: sister Jessica and brother James Liston Jr. Pressly spent 11 years studying gymnastics and dancing.

By age 14, she was the spokeswoman for her modeling agency "International Cover Model Search" and had begun to gain recognition for her modeling in the USA, as well as in Italy and Japan.

Pressly attended Costa Mesa High School in California, where her mother had moved while her parents were going through the process of a divorce. Pressly subsequently sought and succeeded in having herself legally emancipated from her parents at the age of 15 so she could attend a modeling job in Japan; neither one of her parents could attend with her, so she had to be emancipated to go on her own.[3]

Career

Pressly starred as "Violet" in the 1997 film Poison Ivy: The New Seduction. In 1998 she starred as "Nikki" on the short-lived TV series "Push", and also played a recurring role as the undead assassin Mika in the TV action series Mortal Kombat: Conquest. From 1999 to 2001, Pressly starred as "Audrey" on the drama series Jack and Jill.

Pressly starred in the independent film Poor White Trash, playing scheming gold-digger Sandy Lake. She subsequently appeared in a number of films, including Not Another Teen Movie (playing Priscilla, a high school cheerleader) and Torque, as a crazed, motorcycle-riding criminal.

In 2001, she was made the new spokesmodel for Liz Claiborne Cosmetics and its fragrance Lucky You. In 2002, she was ranked #8 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World". In 2003, she launched a lingerie line, J'Aime, which later became a full sleepwear and ready-to-wear line. In 2006, Maxim magazine named her #34 on its annual[4] list; she is also featured in its[5] gallery. Pressly posed nude for the March 1998 and February 2004 issues of Playboy. She also appeared nude in the May 2006 issue of Allure.[6]

Pressly guest starred in episodes of several TV shows. In an episode of the WB series Charmed, played Mylie, a mermaid trying to find love; (Alyssa Milano, who played Phoebe, later guest starred on My Name is Earl.[7]) Other series in which Pressly guest starred were The Twilight Zone, Fastlane, Becker. Night Man and Silk Stalkings. She also appeared in an episode of the prank series Punk'd.

Pressly at the 2009 premiere of I Love You, Man

In 2005, Pressly was cast in the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl, as Joy Turner. In 2007 she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show. She has also been nominated for several other awards.[8]

Pressly sang "Fever" in an appearance with the band The Pussycat Dolls.[9] She has also appeared in a number of music videos, including "Girls of Summer" by Aerosmith and the Marilyn Manson cover of "Tainted Love". On May 31, 2006, she hosted the first annual VH1 Rock Honors.

Pressly was a producer as well as a star in the 2005 movie Death to the Supermodels. She hosted the October 7, 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live. Prior to this, she guest starred on an episode of MADtv from season eleven, where she played Hillary Clinton in a parody of My Name Is Earl, "My Name Is Dubya", in which George W. Bush (Frank Caliendo) makes a list of all the bad things he's done in the past and rectifies them one by one. She is featured in the 2008 video game Saints Row 2 in which she plays lead role Jessica, a lieutenant for the fictitious Brotherhood gang.

On December 3, 2009, it was announced that Jaime will guest-star on an upcoming episode of the CBS comedy, Rules of Engagement. She will play a possible surrogate mother for Jeff and Audrey (Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price).[10]

She is in the new music video for "Pray For You" by Jaron And The Long Road To Love.

Personal life

Friends for nine years since 1996, she started dating DJ Eric Calvo (aka DJ Eric Cubeechee) in 2004. After Pressly became pregnant, the two became engaged in October 2006. Pressly gave birth on May 11, 2007 at 7:31 a.m. in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to their first child Dezi James Calvo.[11] In a February 2007 interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Pressly said she wants the child to be bilingual (English/Spanish) to reflect Calvo's Cuban heritage. Pressly told People magazine the name is part of a running joke, as Cuban-American Calvo does a Desi Arnaz impersonation, calling Pressly "Luuucy" when he comes home at night [12] In November 2008 the couple split up.

Pressly said in a 2006 interview with Esquire magazine that she almost purchased a ticket for a flight on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, but decided not to take the flight because she felt it left too early in the morning.[13]

In July 2009, Pressly became engaged to entertainment lawyer Simran Singh.[14] They married on September 26, 2009 at the Dick Clark Estate. Guests, including Pressly's two-year-old son Dezi James, attended the ceremony on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.[15]

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1997 Poison Ivy: The New Seduction Violet
The Journey: Absolution Allison Waite
1998 Can't Hardly Wait Beth
Mortal Kombat: Conquest Mika
Ringmaster Angel
1999 Inferno Dottie Matthews
2000 100 Girls Cynthia
Poor White Trash Sandy Lake
2001 Not Another Teen Movie Priscilla
Ticker Claire Manning
Joe Dirt Jill
Tomcats Tricia
2002 Demon Island Tina
Charmed Mylie Episode: "A Witch's Tail: Parts 1 & 2"
2003 Becker Grace Episode: "Sister Spoils the Turkey"
2004 Torque China
2005 Death to the Supermodels Tiffany Courtney
2005
-
2009
My Name Is Earl Joy Turner TV series (2005-2009)
WON 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Supporting Actress
2007 Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress-Series
2007 Nominated - Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress
2006 Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Comedy Performance-Female
2006 Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comdey Supporting Actress
2006 DOA: Dead or Alive Tina Armstrong
2008 Saints Row 2 Jessica voice
Horton Hears a Who! Mrs. Quilligan voice
2009 I Love You, Man Denise
2010 Rules of Engagement Audrey's surrogate mother Pam Milton Episode: "The Surrogate"
The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure Lola
Beauty and the Briefcase Kate TV movie
6 Month Rule Claire

References

  1. According to the State of North Carolina. North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000. At Ancestry.com
  2. "The Almost It Girl," Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, October 20, 2003, p. 96
  3. "20Q: Jaime Pressly", Interviewed by Stephen Rebello, Playboy, September 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  4. Hot 100
  5. Girls of Maxim
  6. "Stars line up for naked spread," Allure, May 2006.
  7. "Exclusive: Earl Charmed By Alyssa Milano". TVGuide.com. http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Earl-Charmed/800021729?messageID=800252977&. Retrieved 2007-09-06. 
  8. Awards and Nominations at IMDB
  9. "Quick Exit: Loose Lip-Syncers Sink Hopes", show review by Kelefa Sanneh, The New York Times, January 28, 2003. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  10. Kate Stanhope. "Jaime Pressly to Appear on Rules of Engagement". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Jaime-Pressly-Engagement-1012805.aspx. 
  11. "Jaime Pressly Has a New (Little) Man", by Sarah Hall, E! Online, May 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  12. "My Name Is Earl's Jaime Pressly Has a Son", by Maureen Harrington, People (magazine), May 11, 2007.
  13. Mike Sager, "What I've Learned: Jaime Pressly," Esquire (website), Feb. 20, 2007.
  14. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20289304,00.html
  15. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20308451,00.html

External links