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An actress who used her blonde
girl-next-door looks to good effect with a number of decidedly sinister
roles, Jaime Pressly moved from exploitative late 1990s direct-to-video
fare to a more legitimate acting career, showing potential and skill with
both comedy and drama in the unlikely vehicle "Ringmaster" (1998) as well
as her featured regular role on The WB's twenty-something romantic comedy
series "Jack & Jill" (1999-2001). Her film debut was in 1997's
cable-friendly erotic thriller "Poison Ivy: The New Seduction" and posing
for Playboy that same year made Pressly's body far more famous than her
body of work. Still, those who looked past the film's disproportionate
amount of nudity would find that Pressly made the most of her role and
brought an eerie coolness to the part of Violet that proved she had more
to offer.
A trained dancer and gymnast with years of experience to her credit, the
self-described tomboy showcased her athleticism with a role as assistant
gymnastics coach Nikki Lang on the short-lived ABC drama "Push" (1998).
Moviegoers could also catch her on the big screen that year in the high
school graduation party comedy "Can't Hardly Wait". Despite being credited
simply as 'Girlfriend No. 1', Pressly was featured prominently as a
popular cheerleader dating a popular athlete. Her portrayal perfectly
captured all of the condescending cattiness moviegoers expect from a high
school golden girl without veering completely into camp. Just as she
showed hints of undisclosed talent in "Poison Ivy: The New Seduction",
Pressly was beginning to make the most of her angel-faced bad girl
onscreen persona with performances that showed unexpected depth and range.
The Jerry Springer feature vehicle "Ringmaster" was an unlikely stage for
the actress' increasing skill, but even here she brought scope to her
character, a sex-crazed talk show guest carrying her stepfather's child.
Regular series work on "Jack & Jill" offered Pressly the opportunity to
develop her character and find an audience. Here she played Audrey, the
roommate and friend since high school of Amanda Peet's Jack. The show not
only gave Pressly a chance to essay a fully-realized character, but as
Audrey, she was portraying a far more relatable character than she had
before, one with a passion for dance and a healthy romantic relationship.
Despite rocky ratings, "Jack & Jill" was picked up by The WB for a second
season but during the series' hiatus, Pressly kept busy with a spate of
film roles. After a turn as a thoughtful rich girl who runs with an
exciting guy from the wrong side of the tracks in the independent drama
"Trash" (1999), she was featured in an over the top comedic role as a
woman who loves money and tacky clothing in the independent comedy "Poor
White Trash" (shot in 1999).
In 2000, Pressly filmed the police thriller "Ticker,” cast alongside
Dennis Hopper and Tom Sizemore and was featured in the road movie comedy
"Joe Dirt". A role in the ensemble comedy "Tomcats" followed in 2001.
Showing a talent for comedy as well as a good sense of humor about
herself, Pressly starred in the E! Entertainment Network's original movie
"Best Actress" (2000), playing a soft core porn actress whose major career
change lands her in the running for the titular Academy Award. While her
own real life career arc didn't quite hit either extreme, Pressly's move
into more established projects and her promise as a performer would help
the actress trade in her vampy teen seductress past for a more stable and
varied acting future--though she would take on one last teen vamp role as
Priscilla the Bitchy Cheerleader in the spoof "Not Another Teen Movie"
(2001).
Pressly next detoured into several TV guest appearances on series such as
"Charmed," "The Twilight Zone," "Fastlane" and "Becker"—as well as the
covers of various "laddie" magazines such as Maxim and a series of odd
telephone service commercials. After launching her own lingerie line
called J'Aime in 2003, the actress returned to the big screen as a bad ass
biker babe with a penchant for tonguing her lip ring in the videogame-like
motorcycle action thriller, "Torque" (2004), and landed a recurring role
on the modest NBC sitcom "Happy Family" (2003- ). She capped off a
high-profile 2004 with her second Playboy spread, a more arty endeavor
that put her on the cover and, she noted, did not involve complete
full-frontal nudity. After appearing as herself on episodes of “Entourage”
(HBO, 2004- ) and “The Starlet” (WB, 2005), Pressly landed a regular role
in “My Name is Earl” (NBC, 2005- ), a comedy starring Jason Lee as a
dimwitted crook who has an epiphany after winning the lottery to rectify
all the mistakes he’s made throughout his life.
In October 2006, she became engaged to her boyfriend of a year and a half,
DJ Eric Calvo (aka DJ Eric Cubiche), whom she had previously been friends
with for 9 years.[2] Jamie gave birth on May 11, 2007 at 7:31am in
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to their first child, Dezi James Calvo. Dezi
weighed 6 lbs, 4 oz, and was 18 1/2 inches long. 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.
The child is treated to music from Pressly's iPod, played through
earphones held to her tummy.
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. She said she
doesn't like to talk about it. |
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"Definitely gymnastics,
because I was a gymnast for 11 years. That's my thing. My girlfriend
Betty Okino was in the 1992 Olympics and won a bronze medal. She's a
gymnast. So I'm a huge fan." - On her favorite event in the
Olympics.
"People come up to me all the time and ask if I’m related to Elvis,”
she sighs. “Finally, I just started saying that we’re distant
cousins. The name is spelled differently, and we don’t look a damn
bit alike, but people just don’t want to hear that." |
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Horton Hears a Who (2008)
(voice)
"My Name Is Earl" .... Joy Turner / ... (43 episodes, 2005-2007)
- The Trial (2007) TV Episode
- Get a Real Job (2007) TV Episode .... Joy
- Guess Who's Coming Out of Joy (2007) TV Episode .... Joy Darville
- The Birthday Party (2007) TV Episode .... Joy Turner
- Blow (2007) TV Episode .... Joy Turner
(38 more)
Venus & Vegas (2007) .... Tara
DOA: Dead or Alive (2006) .... Tina Armstrong
... aka DOA (USA: short title)
"Las Vegas" .... Kerri Kowalski (1 episode, 2006)
- Coyote Ugly (2006) TV Episode .... Kerri Kowalski
Death to the Supermodels (2005) (V) .... Tiffany
Cruel World (2005) .... Catherine Anderson
Evel Knievel (2004) (TV) .... Linda Bork
The Karate Dog (2004) .... Ashley Wilkens
Torque (2004) .... China
"Happy Family" .... Alex (1 episode, 2004)
- Rules and Girls (2004) TV Episode .... Alex
"Becker" .... Grace (1 episode, 2003)
- Sister Spoils the Turkey (2003) TV Episode .... Grace
"Fastlane" .... Sara Matthews (1 episode, 2003)
- Strap On (2003) TV Episode .... Sara Matthews
Alligator Point (2003) (TV)
"The Twilight Zone" .... Sensuous Cindy (1 episode, 2002)
- Sensuous Cindy (2002) TV Episode .... Sensuous Cindy
"Charmed" .... Mylie (1 episode, 2002)
- A Witch's Tail: Part 1 (2002) TV Episode .... Mylie
Demon Island (2002) .... Tina
... aka Piñata: Survival Island (USA: video title)
Footprints (2002)
The Johnny Chronicles (2002) (TV) .... Charlie
Not Another Teen Movie (2001) .... Priscilla
... aka Sex Academy (Europe: English title: new title)
"Going to California" .... Kylie Guartz (1 episode, 2001)
- This Year's Model (2001) TV Episode .... Kylie Guartz
Ticker (2001) .... Claire Manning
"Jack & Jill" .... Audrey Griffin (31 episodes, 1999-2001)
- And Jack and Jill Came Down the Hill (2001) TV Episode .... Audrey
Griffin
- ...And Nothing But the Truth (2001) TV Episode .... Audrey Griffin
- Bag Full of Love (2001) TV Episode .... Audrey Griffin
- Battle of the Bahamas (2001) TV Episode .... Audrey Griffin
- The Time/Sex Continuum (2001) TV Episode .... Audrey Griffin
(26 more)
Joe Dirt (2001) .... Jill
... aka The Adventures of Joe Dirt (Canada: English title: TV title)
(USA: working title)
Tomcats (2001) .... Tricia
100 Girls (2000) .... Cynthia
Poor White Trash (2000) .... Sandy Lake
Best Actress (2000) (TV) .... Karen Kroll
Inferno (1999/II) .... Dottie Matthews
... aka Inferno (UK: TV title) (USA)
... aka Desert Heat (UK: DVD title)
Trash (1999) .... C.J. Callum
... aka No Fear (UK)
... aka Nobody's Children (Europe: English title)
"Mortal Kombat: Conquest" .... Mika (3 episodes, 1998-1999)
- Flawed Victory (1999) TV Episode .... Mika
- Festival of Death (1999) TV Episode .... Mika
- Quan Chi (1998) TV Episode .... Mika
Ringmaster (1998) .... Angel Zorzak
Can't Hardly Wait (1998) .... Beth, Girlfriend #1
"Night Man" .... Yvette (1 episode, 1998)
... aka NightMan (USA)
- Double Vision (1998) TV Episode .... Yvette
"Push" .... Nikki Lang (5 episodes, 1998)
- On Your Marks (1998) TV Episode .... Nikki Lang
- Episode #1.2 (1998) TV Episode .... Nikki Lang
- Episode #1.3 (1998) TV Episode .... Nikki Lang
- Episode #1.8 (1998) TV Episode .... Nikki Lang
- Pilot (1998) TV Episode .... Nikki Lang
"Silk Stalkings" .... Kara Delaney (1 episode, 1998)
- Teacher's Pet (1998) TV Episode .... Kara Delaney
Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997) (V) .... Violet
Mercenary (1997) (TV) .... Pre-teen American Girl
Against the Law (1997) .... Sally the Waitress
The Journey: Absolution (1997) .... Allison Waite |
