Pamela Adlon

Pamela Adlon

Pamela Adlon at San Diego Comic-Con 2011
Born Pamela Fionna Segall
July 9, 1966
Manhattan, New York
United States
Occupation Actress
Voice actress
Years active 1982–present
Spouse(s) Felix O. Adlon (1996–2010; divorced; 3 children)

Pamela Fionna Adlon (née Segall; born July 9, 1966) is an American actress and voice actress.[1] She is most known for her voice work, in particular as the voice of Bobby Hill on King of the Hill. She is also known for playing Dolores in Grease 2 and her appearances on Californication and Louie, where she is also a consulting producer.[2]

Early life

Adlon was born in New York City, the daughter of TV comedy writer-producer and author of comic books and science fiction pulp novels,[3] Donald "Don" Maxwell Segall (1933-1994), and Marina L Segall.[4][5] Her father produced The Dave Garroway Show, which became AM New York, and then The Today Show. He was a page at NBC with Gil Cates. He wrote under various pseudonyms including Troy Conway.[5] Her father was from Boston and her mother is English. Adlon's mother converted to Judaism.[5] Adlon said they met at the USO in Paris.[1]

As a child she lived in the Carnegie House building at 100 West 57th Street[6][7] Adlon said "I worked at Alice Underground when I was 16 or 17, which was a vintage clothing store on Columbus Ave." as well as a job handing out flyers for the New York Pops.

Adlon said that she and her family grew up bi-coastally, moving back and forth a lot between Los Angeles and New York because her father was a journeyman writer and producer for TV. She started performing as a child when she was 9 years old. Her father had a friend who had a radio studio so she would do voice over work there, and while in Los Angeles did acting work, because Adlon said she "didn't really want to go to school."[1]

Adlon attended Sarah Lawrence College for a semester.[5]

Career

Adlon said voice-overs saved her career. Successful as her child-actress years had been, she struggled to find parts in her 20s. “I went from buying my own condominium and a car for myself when I was 17 on ‘The Facts of Life’ to not being able to pay my rent,” she recalled. “I was at the unemployment office all the time. I had to sell my record collection just to make ends meet. And then I started getting these voice-over jobs.”[3]

Adlon's best known role is playing Bobby Hill on the animated TV show King of the Hill, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2002.[8] Though she is mostly known for voicing young boys, Adlon has voiced two girl characters (both of which have boylike qualities): Margaret "Moose" Pearson in Pepper Ann and Ashley Spinelli in Recess.

Notable live-action roles include Girl Joey in the 1984 teen comedy film Growing Pains, Marcy Runkle on Showtime's Californication, Pamela on FX's Louie (she is also a consulting producer for the show).[9]

Adlon was nominated for an Annie Award for her role as Otto Osworth on Cartoon Network's Time Squad. In 2006-07, she played the voice of Andy in Cartoon Network's Squirrel Boy animated series, and co-starred with Louis C.K. as his wife in the short-lived HBO sitcom Lucky Louie. She also stars as the friend of Louie (a fictional character based off himself, Louis C.K.) in his FX single-camera show, Louie. She is in episodes of seasons 1, 2 and 4.[10]

Adlon voiced Pajama Sam in the video games Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside, Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't So Frightening, Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet, and Pajama Sam's Games to Play on Any Day.

On voicing Bobby Hill and other boys: "The thing about women playing boys is that we're not going to age, and we're not going to go through puberty in the middle of a long-running series. I used to take over for a lot of boys whose voices would crack and change. My voice is on the lower resonance scale, so I just naturally go into the boy mold."[1]

In 2015, FX has given a pilot order to Better Things which is a comedy created by and starring Adlon. She will play an actress raising three daughters. The pilot will be written by Adlon and Louis C.K. who will also direct it.[11]

Personal life

In 1996, Adlon was married to Felix O. Adlon, the son of German director Percy Adlon. They divorced in 2010 and he currently lives in Germany.[5] They have three daughters. Adlon has said she is a single-parent raising her daughters.[1]

Adlon was originally credited as Pamela Segall, but since her marriage and divorce she's been credited as either "Pamela Segall Adlon" or "Pamela S. Adlon".

On May 16, 2010, Adlon was on United Airlines Flight 27 en route from New York JFK to Los Angeles "with 112 people aboard [when the plane] made an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on Sunday night due to a cockpit fire." Other actors on board were Mary-Kate Olsen and Justin Bartha.[12]

Adlon splits her time, living on Upper West Side in New York City and Los Angeles, California.[6]

Filmography

Film

Title Year Role Notes
Grease 2
1982
Dolores Rebchuck
Bad Manners
1984
Girl Joey
Willy/Milly
1986
Willy/Milly Niceman
Say Anything...
1989
Rebecca
Kiki's Delivery Service
Ket (voice)
 English dub - Disney version
After Midnight
Cheryl
 Segment: "Allison's Story"
The Gate II: Trespassers
1990
Liz
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
Pussycat
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
1992
Fairy #2 (voice)
Bed of Roses
1996
Kim
Sgt. Bilko
Sgt. Raquel Barbella
Father Frost
Marphuska
Two Guys Talkin' About Girls
Tracy
 Direct-to-video
Plump Fiction
1997
Vallory Cox
Princess Mononoke
Additional voices (voice)
 English dub
Eat Your Heart Out
Samantha
Some Girl
1998
Jenn
Dirk and Betty
2000
Daisy
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Leila (voice)
Gen¹³
Additional Voices
 Direct-to-video
Recess: School's Out
2001
Ashley Spinelli (voice)
The Trumpet of the Swan
A.G. Skinner (voice)
Net Worth
The Animatrix
2003
Jue/Manabu (voice)
 Segments: ""Final Flight of the Osiris" & "Beyond"
Brother Bear
Additional Voice (voice)
Teacher's Pet
2004
Trevor/Taylor/Tyler (voice)
Lucky 13
2005
Tinker Bell
2008
Vidia (voice)
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
2009
Vidia (voice; uncredited)
Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
2010
Vidia (voice)
Conception
2011
Tay (voice)
Secret of the Wings
2012
Vidia (voice)
Dino Time
Ernie (voice)
9 Full Moons
2013
Rachel Stevens
The Pirate Fairy
2014
Vidia (voice)
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast
2015
Vidia (voice)
 Rumored

Acting

Voice work

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Gross, Terry (January 4, 2012). "Pamela Adlon: From 'Hill' Kid To 'Californication'". Fresh Air. NPR. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ Harris, Will (April 1, 2014). "Pamela Adlon on snorting fake coke, Louie, and the fate of her Vulcan ears". A.V. Club. Onion Inc. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rhodes, Joe (November 21, 2008). "Her Life as a Mom, an Actress and a Boy". New York Times. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Donald M Segall, "United States Public Records"". United States Public Records. FamilySearch. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Maron, Marc (May 20, 2013). "Episode 390 - Pamela Adlon". WTF with Marc Maron. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Salisbury, Vanita (March 7, 2014). "21 Questions: Louie’s Pamela Adlon Thinks Louis C.K. Is the Mickey Mouse of New York". Daily Intelligencer. New York Magazine. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Building: Carnegie House". StreetEasy. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  8. ↑ Harris, Will (August 25, 2009). "A Chat with Pamela Adlon". Bullz-Eye. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ Haglund, David (February 2, 2012). "Character Studies: Pamela from Louie". Slate. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  10. ↑ Goldman, Andrew (June 17, 2011). "Grumpus Maximus". New York Times. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  11. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (18 January 2015). "FX Orders Comedy Pilot Starring Pamela Adlon From Louis CK". Deadline.com. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  12. ↑ Lowy, Joan; Freed, Joshua (May 18, 2010). "Airline cockpit fire prompts emergency landing". Boston Globe. Associated Press. Retrieved June 4, 2014.

External links