This page uses content from the Joey Lauren Adams biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Joey Lauren Adams (born January 9, 1968 in North Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American actress with appearances in over 30 films. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the films of Kevin Smith, particularly Chasing Amy.

Acting career

Adams' breakthrough role came in 1993 in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused, a film which also starred Ben Affleck.

Playing Alyssa Jones in the 1997 film Chasing Amy, opposite Ben Affleck, brought her a lot of attention for her portrayal of a lesbian who falls for a man. Director Kevin Smith wrote and directed the film, which was largely inspired by his friendship with lesbian actress/writer/director Guinevere Turner. Adams also has allegedly stated publicly that she is bisexual in her personal life, but refuted this claim in an interview with suicidegirls.com.

Her performance 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 Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture—Comedy/Musical. Adams also contributed the song "Alive" to the soundtrack of Chasing Amy, performing it in one of the scenes of the film. She also has appeared in two other View Askew productions, Mallrats (1995) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) briefly reprising the role of Chasing Amy's Alyssa in the latter. She reprised the role again, in voice form only, for Clerks: The Lost Scene, featured on the Clerks X DVD.

After having the female lead in the Adam Sandler box office smash Big Daddy she would go on to appear in smaller films that met with less success (Beautiful, In the Shadows) and many lesser-seen small films.

Some speculation has been made that her unusual speaking voice 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."

In 2005, she had a guest role in an episode of TV show Veronica Mars. In 2006 she will release her directorial debut, Come Early Morning, starring Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Ladd, Tim Blake Nelson and Laura Prepon. The film has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival.

She currently resides in Oxford, Mississippi.

Filmography

As actor, except as noted:

• Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
• Coneheads (1993)
• Dazed and Confused (1993)
• The Program (1993)
• The Pros & Cons of Breathing (1994)
• Sleep with Me (1994)
• S.F.W. (1994)
• Mallrats (1995)
• Drawing Flies (1996)
• Bio-Dome (1996)
• Michael (1996)
• Chasing Amy (1997) (also composer of song "Alive")
• A Cool, Dry Place (1998)
• Emergency Room 2 (1999)
• Big Daddy (1999)
• Bruno (2000)
• Beautiful (2000)
• Harvard Man (2001)
• Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) (voice)
• Reaching Normal (2001)
• In the Shadows (2001)
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) (cameo)
• Grand Champion (2002)
• Beeper (2002)
• The Big Empty (2003)
• The Gunman (2004)
• Clerks: The Lost Scene (2004) (voice only)
• Love, Fear and Rabbits (2006)
• The Break-Up (2006)
• Come Early Morning (2006) (writer, director only)

References

External link

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