Could you tell us about your charity?
I'm playing for the Doug Turner Memorial Scholarship Fund which provides college scholarships for qualifying students, um, in my hometown of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Doug Turner was, um, a dear friend of mine who died far too young, um, and who was heavily involved in the community and supporting the students of our local high school, and this is a scholarship that was started quite a while back in his name.
What would winning $1,000,000 mean to your charity?
Well, if I go all the way and win a million dollars, I'm planning on dividing it up among a couple of different charities, um, in my hometown, just sort of give back from the community that raised me. So, it's--it's huge.
Are you more or less nervous to play Jeopardy! this time?
Well, I'm completely nervous this time, and I don't know why, because the last time we were in Las Vegas. I think it was all the lights and the bells and the slot machines of Vegas kind of, you know, took away from it. But I woke up this morning really nervous, so... I hope I win.
Did you prepare differently for this appearance than the last time?
Yeah, I actually did prepare this time. I've been up since five o'clock in the morning playing Jeopardy! online. There, said it. I'm--I'm actually studying, so... and my husband quizzed me on the way over about, like, Best Pictures and presidents and things like that.
What categories are you hoping to see?
EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SHOW WEEDS. I think I might do well on that category.
How do you feel about playing against Pat Sajak?
Is he on the show? [Laughs] No, because I want to be on Wheel of Fortune one day, so I don't want to say anything bad about him. |
"For the past five seasons, she's played the calculating and manipulative Celia Hodes on Showtime's dark comedy Weeds. Please welcome 3-time Emmy nominee..."
Playing on behalf of the Doug Turner Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Elizabeth Perkins is an actress who has distinguished herself with an eclectic mix of roles over the span of her career. Never satisfied with the comfort of familiarity, she has avoided the tries-and-true maverick sensibility of a pioneer. Her choice of roles reveals such a career, distinguished by the inexhaustible ability to ferret out worthy parts and coax from them their fullest measure of idiosyncrasy.
Perkins can currently be seen starring in Showtime's original series Weeds where she portrays Celia Hodes. Weeds is currently in its third season. Perkins's performance has earned her two Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy nominations for Supporting Actress. Perkins will next be seen in the Lions Gate film Fierce People opposite Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland for director Griffin Dunne.
Born in Queens, New York, Perkins was raised in Vermont, and later attended Chicago's prestigious Goodman School of Drama. In 1984, Perkins returned to New York where she made her theatrical debut in Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs. She subsequently worked with Playwrights' Horizon, the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Steppenwolf Theater and was in the acclaimed John Patrick Shanley black comedy Four Dogs and a Bone at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
Perkins made her feature film debut in Ed Zwick's About Last Night..., an adaptation of David Mamet's play, Sexual Perversity, in Chicago. Her breakthrough performance came in 1988 opposite Tom Hanks in 20th Century Fox's smash hit Big, directed by Penny Marshall, and she received critical acclaim for her performance in Barry Levinson's Avalon. In 1991, she starred opposite William Hurt in Randa Haines' touching drama The Doctor, and with Kevin Bacon in He Said, She Said for Paramount Pictures. She then went on to star in Indian Summer before bringing cartoon character Wilma Flintstone to life in Universal Pictures' blockbuster motion picture The Flintstones. Perkins portrayed Dorey Walker in John Hughes' remake of the 1947 holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street with Sir Richard Attenborough. She also co-starred opposite Kathleen Turner, Gwyneth Paltrow and Whoopi Goldberg in Gramercy Pictures' Moonlight and Valentino.
Her other credits include From the Hip; Sweethearts Dance, with Jeff Daniels and Susan Sarandon; Alan Rudolph's Love at Large; Enid Is Sleeping; Lesser Prophets; I'm Losing You, Bruce Wagner's independent film co-starring Frank Langella, Rosanna Arquette and Amanda Donohoe; Crazy in Alabama, directed by Antonio Banderas co-starring Melanie Griffith, Paul Mazursky and Cathy Moriardy; the independent feature Under the Mimosa co-starring Brad Renfro, directed and written by Bo Brinkman; 28 Days opposite Sandra Bullock; Cats & Dogs; Finding Nemo as the voice of Coral; Jiminy Glick in Lalawood; The Ring Two; and most recently in the Warner Bros. film Must Love Dogs, starring opposite Diane Lane.
Perkins made her television debut in For Their Own Good, produced by Jon Avnet and Jordan Kerner. Perkins's other television projects include NBC's Baby 2000; Showtime's The Rescuers for Barbra Streisand's Barwood Productions; the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon; Showtime's What Girls Learn; the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of My Sister's Keeper opposite Kathy Bates; and Showtime's Speak.
Perkins currently makes her home in Los Angeles with her daughter Hannah and her husband, cinematographer Julio Macat. |
