A 90-minute career retrospective with Annie Potts. Moderated by Jessica Radloff, Glamour Magazine.
PANELIST BIO
Annie Potts returned to series television in the highly anticipated prequel “Young Sheldon” from creators Chuck Lorre and Steve Molaro. On the CBS hit comedy, her character ‘Meemaw’ ranks among the many iconic female roles Potts has created including the wonderful ‘Mary Jo Shively’ from “Designing Women.” Her work in “Love & War” garnered her an Emmy nomination and with “Any Day Now” she scored two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. In addition, she has played recurring roles on “Chicago Med,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “The Fosters” as well as guest starring on “Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Major Crimes” and “Two and a Half Men.” Potts also starred in the Hallmark movies, “The Music Teacher” and “Freshman Father” along with “Marry Me” for Lifetime.
Potts reprised her role as the memorable ‘Janine Melnitz’ in “Ghostbusters Afterlife,” the latest film in the franchise, as well as the loveable ‘Bo Peep’ in the highly successful 4th installment of “Toy Story” which won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. She originated the character in the first “Toy Story” and appeared again in “Toy Story 2.” Her numerous other feature film credits include “Pretty in Pink,” “Texasville” (Peter Bogdanovich’s sequel to “The Last Picture Show”), “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Who’s Harry Crumb?,” “King of the Gypsies” and “Corvette Summer” for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination. Other recent credits include “Happy Anniversary” for Netflix along with “Izzy Gets the F@#k Across Town” and “Humor Me,” both of which debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Potts made her Broadway debut in Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award winning black comedy, “God of Carnage” and also appeared in the long running “Pippin.” She appeared in off-Broadway productions of “The Vagina Monologues,” “Diva,” “Love Letters,” “Charley’s Aunt,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “A Little Night Music,” “Cymbeline” and “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.” On the West Coast, she received rave reviews for her performance of a distraught wife dealing with her husband’s suicide in “Aftermath.” The play received the LA Times’ Critics Choice Ovation Recommendation.
Born in Nashville and raised in Kentucky, Potts was the youngest of three girls. Interested in stage and film at an early age, she received her BFA in Theater from Stephens College in Missouri where she’s currently a visiting professor of Drama and a dedicated Board Member. Potts is also an ambassador for White Pony Express, an organization that feeds and clothes those in need in the Bay Area. Additionally, she wrote a children’s book about a young boy named Kemarley Brooks titled “Kemarley of Anguilla,” with all proceeds going to the Arijah Children’s Foundation, an important cause in Anguilla.
Furthermore Potts, along with her husband director/producer Jim Hayman, joined another industry couple to form “All Are One,” an organization created to alleviate the suffering of so many folks during the Coronavirus pandemic. Their focus is to gather donations to gift anonymously to people in need. The initiative kicked off in Northern California and is now expanding across the country.
Masks are recommended, but not required.
SAG-AFTRA members and guests invited to events will behave in a professional and courteous manner. Any violation of the rules or transgression of decorum will be subject to review by the programming team, which has authority to remove the member from present and future SAG-AFTRA Foundation programs.
