Please Rewind Talent Wall

Parker Posey

Parker Posey has made a career out of bringing comic precision, nervous energy and a slightly unpredictable edge to the screen. Born in Baltimore on November 8, 1968, she studied drama at the State University of New York at Purchase before landing an eight-episode role as Tess Shelby on As the World Turns. Film work soon followed, including appearances in Coneheads, Joey Breaker and Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused in 1993. Her breakthrough came with Party Girl in 1995, a low-budget New York comedy that gave Posey a showcase leading role as a free-spirited young woman. By 1997, Time had nicknamed her the “Queen of the Indies,” although Posey later described the label as something of a hindrance. The name nevertheless reflected a run of distinctive performances in films including Kicking and Screaming, The Daytrippers, Clockwatchers and The House of Yes. Her work in the latter earned a Special Recognition for Acting Award at Sundance. Posey also became a recurring presence in Christopher Guest’s improvised ensemble comedies, beginning with Waiting for Guffman and continuing through Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration and Mascots. These films made fine use of her ability to play heightened personalities without sanding away their very human anxieties. For A Mighty Wind, she sang and learned to play the mandolin. She has moved easily between independent films and larger studio productions. In You’ve Got Mail, she played an abrasive publisher; in Josie and the Pussycats, a villainous record-label CEO; and in Superman Returns, Lex Luthor’s sidekick Kitty Kowalski. On the Please Rewind Talent Wall, she appears as Jennifer Jolie in Wes Craven’s Scream 3, playing an ill-fated actress in a horror sequel already fascinated by actors, roles and movies within movies. Later work has included Columbus, Beau Is Afraid, Thelma, The Staircase, Lost in Space and The White Lotus. Across comedy, horror, drama and television, Posey remains especially well suited to characters who enter a scene with their own peculiar rhythm—and immediately change its temperature.