Missi Pyle – Wikipedia
American actress and singer
Missi Pyle (born November 16, 1972)[1] is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in a number of successful films, including Galaxy Quest (1999), Big Fish (2003), Bringing Down the House (2003), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008), The Artist (2011), Gone Girl (2014), Captain Fantastic (2016), and Ma (2019).
Pyle has also appeared in various television series, such as The Mentalist (2010), Cleaners (2013–2014), Jennifer Falls (2014), Another Period (2015–2018), Bordertown (2016), The Soul Man (2016), Mom (2017), Impulse (2018–2019), and Dirty John (2020).
In addition to acting, Pyle has also worked as a singer. With actress Shawnee Smith, she served as half of Smith & Pyle, a country rock duo.
Early life[edit]
Pyle attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and graduated in 1995. For her achievements, Pyle was honored by the Poplar Pike Playhouse at her alma mater Germantown High School in Germantown, Tennessee.
Pyle has guest starred on many television shows, including Heroes, Mad About You, Boston Legal, Frasier, The Sarah Silverman Program, and 2 Broke Girls. She started her film career with a minor role in As Good as It Gets, starring Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson. After her breakout role in Galaxy Quest, she had supporting roles in Bringing Down the House (for which she and Queen Latifah were nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Fight), Josie and the Pussycats, Home Alone 4, Exposed, Big Fish, Along Came Polly, Soul Plane, Stormbreaker, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She was also the female lead in BachelorMan. She also appears in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. She also had a brief appearance in 50 First Dates and starred in A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song.
Pyle played Jake’s elementary school teacher Ms. Pasternak on Two and a Half Men. The role was recast in 2009 for undisclosed reasons, however it is believed that it was to show the emotional change she went through after Charlie dumped and hurt her [source IMDB]. Pyle returned to the series in the same role in 2011 and again in the series finale “Of Course He’s Dead” in 2015.
In 2008, Missi starred in the Broadway play Boeing-Boeing opposite Christine Baranski, Mark Rylance, Greg Germann, Paige Davis and Rebecca Gayheart. The play closed in January 2009.
Pyle was scheduled to ring the closing bell for the trading day at the New York Stock Exchange on September 29, 2008, to promote Boeing-Boeing, but backed out minutes before the close of trading in order to not associate herself with ending a calamitous day of financial turmoil which resulted in the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 778 points, the largest point loss ever in a session in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. She watched from the floor as an NYSE staffer pushed the button and gaveled the end of trading instead.[2]
She was part of a country music group with actress Shawnee Smith called Smith & Pyle. The two actresses met while filming an ABC comedy pilot titled Traveling in Packs. The band started after Smith invited Pyle to join her in attending the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. While stuck in traffic, Pyle talked about her dream to be a rock star and Smith agreed to form a band with her. Their first album, “It’s OK to Be Happy”, was released digitally through iTunes and Amazon.com in July 2008. The debut album was recorded in Joshua Tree, California at Rancho De La Luna and was produced by Chris Goss. The two actresses have also become business partners and formed their own record label called Urban Prairie Records, under which “It’s OK to be Happy” was released. According to an interview Smith did with pretty-scary.net in August 2008, a Smith & Pyle television or webisode series might be in the works. Smith also mentioned the idea of a series on Fangoria radio with Dee Snider.[3] Currently there are three videos posted on YouTube that show the making of the record. They also have a 10-minute “making of” video on Vimeo called Smith & Pyle: Desert Sessions.[4][5]
Personal life[edit]
Pyle married naturalist Casey Anderson on September 12, 2008. The wedding was country-western themed and took place in Montana. Wedding guests included bandmate Shawnee Smith and comedian Steve Agee. Anderson’s pet grizzly bear, Brutus, served as his best man in the ceremony.[6] Pyle and Anderson appeared in “Grizzly Dogs”, the October 22, 2010, episode of Dog Whisperer, in which they sought the help of Cesar Millan to rehabilitate their dog.[7] Pyle confirmed their breakup in 2013. She has one daughter.[8]
Filmography[edit]
Film[edit]
Television[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Mad About You | Beautiful woman | Episode: “The Final Frontier: Part 2” |
| The Drew Carey Show | Stacey | Episode: “Drew’s Reunion” | |
| Friends | Hillary | Episode: “The One with Ross’s Teeth” | |
| 2000 | Battery Park | Suzanne | Episode: “Walter’s Rib” |
| 2001 | Ally McBeal | Marcia Hooper | Episode: “Reach Out and Touch” |
| The Wayne Brady Show | Various | 6 episodes | |
| Roswell | Windy Sommers | Episode: “Control” | |
| The Tick | Stacy Waxman | Episode: “Arthur Needs Space” | |
| 2002 | Philly | Charise DuPree | Episode: “Mojo Rising” |
| 2003 | Frasier | Shannon Palmer | Episode: “Maris Returns” |
| 2004, 2010, 2011, 2015 | Two and a Half Men | Miss Delores Pasternak | 4 episodes |
| 2005 | My Name Is Earl | Shelly Stoker | Episode: “Broke Joy’s Fancy Figurine” |
| 2006–08 | Boston Legal | Renee Winger | 3 episodes |
| 2007–10 | The Sarah Silverman Program | Scarlett Lacey | 4 episodes |
| 2007 | Heroes | Hope | 2 episodes |
| The Wedding Bells | Amanda Pontell | Main cast, 5 episodes | |
| 2008–11 | American Dad! | Tracy / Drunk Girl / Sorority Girl | Voice; 2 episodes |
| 2008 | In Plain Sight | Teri Ranzino/Treena Morris | Episode: “Never the Bride” |
| Pushing Daisies | Betty Bee | Episode: “Bzzzzzzzzz!” | |
| 2009 | Numbers | Janet Galvin | Episode: “Ultimatum” |
| 2010 | Grey’s Anatomy | Dr. Baylow | Episode: “The Time Warp” |
| Rizzoli & Isles | Merch owner | Episode: “I Kissed a Girl” | |
| The Life & Times of Tim | Receptionist / Marcy / Nancy (voice) | 4 episodes | |
| 2010–11 | The Mentalist | Karen Cross | 2 episodes |
| $#*! My Dad Says | Katie Palmer | 2 episodes | |
| 2011 | Up All Night | Kaye | Episode: “Mr. Bob’s Toddler Kaleidoscope” |
| Family Guy | Kitty Hawk Woman (voice) | Episode: “Amish Guy” | |
| 2012 | Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 | Angie Beckencort | Episode: “Whatever It Takes…” |
| 2013 | Newsreaders | Rebecca Lionwek | Episode: “Auto Erotic” |
| 1600 Penn | Agent Sarah Harlan | Episode: “Frosting/Nixon” | |
| 2 Broke Girls | Charity Channing | Episode: “And Not-So-Sweet Charity” | |
| Warehouse 13 | Lily Abbott | Episode: “The Big Snag” | |
| The Mindy Project | Nancy | Episode: “Mindy Lahiri Is a Racist” | |
| 2013–14 | Inside Amy Schumer | Various roles | 3 episodes |
| The Exes | Sabrina/Julie | 2 episodes | |
| 2014 | The Crazy Ones | Melora | Episode: “Dead and Improved” |
| Jennifer Falls | Dina Simac | Main cast, 10 episodes | |
| Partners | Biffy Saint Murray | Episode: “Let’s Have a Simple Gwedding” | |
| Infomercials | Jan Jeremy | Episode: “Goth Fitness” | |
| 2015 | Hot in Cleveland | Canadian Joy | 2 episodes |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Trudy Malco | Episode: “Granting Immunity” | |
| Z Nation | Bernadette | Episode: “Rozwell” | |
| Where the Bears Are | Maggie Dexter | 3 episodes | |
| TripTank | Woman / Crap Girl / Anna (voice) | 3 episodes | |
| 2015–18 | Another Period | Celery Bellacourt / Celery Savoy | 11 episodes |
| 2016 | Bordertown | Gert Buckwald (voice) | Main role, 13 episodes |
| The Soul Man | Alicia | 11 episodes | |
| Sing It! | Marcy | Main role, 10 episodes | |
| Lady Dynamite | Carol Simples | Episode: “A Vaginismus Miracle” | |
| Major Crimes | Tina Walker | Episode: “Off the Wagon” | |
| Mary + Jane | Feminist Mobile Librarian | Episode: “Girl on Gurl” | |
| Notorious | Callie Connors | Episode: “Kept and Broken” | |
| 2017 | Dropping the Soap | Lily | 2 episodes |
| The Catch | Chloe Jackson | Episode: “The Bad Girl” | |
| Mom | Natasha | Recurring role, 5 episodes | |
| One Mississippi | Cassandra Night | Episode: “Who Do You Think You Are?” | |
| 2017–18 | Disjointed | Mary Jane | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | The Goldbergs | Madame Charbenaux | Episode: “1990-Something” |
| Impulse | Cleo Coles | Main cast | |
| 2019 | Drunk History | Christa Gruhle | Episode: “Love” |
| Bob Hearts Abishola | Liz | Episode: “Square Hamburger, Round Buns” | |
| The Unicorn | Ava | Episode: “Wade Delayed” | |
| Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas | Chrissy | TV movie | |
| To Tell the Truth | Celebrity Panelist | Season 4, Episode 11 | |
| 2020 | Dirty John | Karen Kintner | Recurring role (season 2; The Betty Broderick Story)[10] |
| 2021 | The Big Leap | Tonya Lovewell | 2 episodes |
| 2022 | Mr. Mayor | Nicole | Episode: “Hearts Before Parts” |
| Y: The Last Man | Roxanne | 5 episodes | |
| A Tale Dark & Grimm | The Rain / Widow Fischer (voice) | ||
| Star Trek: Lower Decks | Cardassian interrogator | Episode: “Strange Energies” | |
| Celebrity Beef | Herself | Episode: “Critical Designer vs. Critically Acclaimed” |
Web[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Greetings from Home | Sue | 12 episodes |
| 2013–14 | Cleaners | Eileen | Main role, 18 episodes |
| 2016 | The Lottery | Teresa Yaw | A Short Film On Shane Dawson TV |
Appearances[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Play Dodgeball with Ben Stiller | Fran Stalinovskovichdavidovitchsky | Omaze Charity Dodgeball |
| Run | Nurse | Music video by Foo Fighters |
Stage credits[edit]
Discography[edit]
Albums[edit]
Singles[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ “On this Date: Birthdays”. The Modesto Bee. The Associated Press. November 16, 2018. p. A 2. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
Actress Missi Pyle is 46.
- ^ White, Ben (October 1, 2008). “Turmoil Tarnishes a Cherished Tradition”. The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- ^ “Shawnee Smith on Fangoria radio”. Fangoriaradio.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
- ^ “Smith & Pyle Official MySpace Page”. Myspace.com. Retrieved September 8, 2010.[self-published source]
- ^ “Smith & Pyle Official Website”. Smithandpyle.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2010.[self-published source]
- ^ “Smith & Pyle Blog, “Weddin’ on the Prairie!”“. Smithandpyle.com. Urban Prairie, LLC. September 12, 2008. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
- ^ “Grizzly Dogs”. Dog Whisperer. Season 7. Episode 3. October 22, 2010. Nat Geo Wild.
- ^ Sokol, Robert (August 6, 2013). “Missi Pyle rides life’s curves to cabaret act in The City”. The San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
- ^ Grobar, Matt (May 6, 2022). “Ben Feldman, Missi Pyle & More Round Out Cast Of Netflix’s Romance ‘A Tourist’s Guide To Love’“. Deadline. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
- ^ Petski, Denise (October 18, 2019). “‘Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story’: Missi Pyle & Holley Fain To Recur In Season 2 Of USA Anthology Series”. Deadline.
External links[edit]
Recent Comments