Kimberly Williams-Paisley

Biography

Kimberly Williams-Paisley is an American TV & movie actress, producer, director & writer. Kimberly is popular for playing the roles Dana(According to Jim), Margaret "Peggy" Kenter in Nashville(2012), Laura Parker(Shade(2006)), Annie Banks (Father of the bride 1,2) Sandy Lengyel(We are Marshall(2006)).

Kimberly Payne Williams was born on 14th September 1971 in Rye, New York, United States to Linda Barbara Payne(Mother) a charity worker & Gurney Williams III(Father)- a writer.

Education

• Rye High School: Kimberly studied at Rye High School, New York. She directed Rye High School Musical Revue in 1989.
• Northwestern University: She studied at Northwestern University till 1991, she left her course in the middle to seek an acting career.
  • Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (ΑΦ): She was part of the sisterhood sorority when she was in college for her degree in drama.

Family

Linda Barbara Payne- Mother

Mother Linda Barbara worked as a charity worker, she was born in 1943, and she worked as a fundraiser for The Michael J. Fox Foundation. She died on 16th November 2016.

She appeared in a small role in the movie Father of the Bride(1991) (as a guest at the reception). She has also worked as a part of the crew in Margin Call (2011)

[Kimberly Williams-Paisley with mother and sister]

Gurney Williams- Father

Kimberly's father Gurney Williams III, is a freelance health journalist and science writer. He was part of the production team of the movie Margin Call(2011). He has also appeared on Ed Sullivan's show as himself.

Ashley Williams- Sister

Ashley Williams Dodson (born 1978) is the younger sister of Kimberly, she is an actress with a BFA from Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre. She is known for playing Jeannie Gaffigan in the American sitcom 'The Jim Gaffigan Show'. Kimberly and Ashley appeared together in the 1993 drama Indian Summer.

She is married to Neal Dodson and has two sons with him- Odie Sal Dodson and Gus Williams Dodson.

[Kimberly Williams-Paisley with siblings- Ashley Williams, Jay Williams]

Jay Williams- Brother

Jay is Kimberly's younger brother. Jay appeared as Jaye in 2007's short movie Numero Dos directed by Kimberly (she wrote and directed it). He also appears in the short movie Shade(2007) written and directed by Kimberly.

Relationship

Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley is a country musician, he had seen Kimberly in the movie Father of the bride(1991) and had thought she was cute, They started dating in 2001. The couple got engaged in 2002 and got married on 15th March 2003 in the Stauffer Chapel on the Pepperdine University campus. The couple lives in Franklin, Tennessee, previously lived in Pacific Palisades.

Image: Kimberly Williams & Brad Paisley wedding

Brad & Kimberly have two sons, an elder one named William Huckleberry Paisley born in February 2007 & the younger Jasper Paisley born in April 2009. 'William' comes from her maiden name Williams, Huckleberry from Mark Twain's novel 'Huckleberry Finn'. Jasper is named after Brad's grandfather Jasper who gifted him his first guitar.

Image: Kimberly Williams-Paisley with sons- William Paisley & Jasper Paisley

Career

Kimberly Williams got into the acting business at the age of 13. Kimberly was studying for her graduation at Northwestern University in the year 1991 when she got an offer to act in movies and left the university to take the acting full time.

She started her career in acting with 'ABC Afterschool Special'. 

Father of the Bride (1991) and Father of the Bride Part II (1995)

Kimberly's big breakthrough came through the 1991 family comedy-drama 'Father of the Bride' a remake of the 1950 classic, with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton. She played the role of Annie Banks, the daughter of George Banks(played by Steve Martin) and Nina Banks (played by Diane Keaton). The sequel came in 1995.

[Father of the Bride (1991)- Kimberly Williams-Paisley]

Indian Summer(1993): She appeared as Gwen Daugherty in Mike Binder's comedy-drama.The cast included Alan Arkin, Matt Craven, Diane Lane, Bill Paxton, and Elizabeth Perkins among others.

Coldblooded (1995): In Wallace Wolodarsky's black comedy thriller about hitmen she starred alongside Jason Priestley, Peter Riegert, Robert Loggia, Jay Kogen, Janeane Garofalo, Josh Charles.

The War at Home (1996): In the 1996 Vietnam War drama starring and directed by Emilio Estevez, she appeared as Karen Collier. Martin Sheen appeared as Bob Collier, Kathy Bates as Maurine Collier, Emilio Estevez as Jeremy Collier.

Relativity(1996): In the TV Drama Created by Jason Katims, she played the main role of 'Isabel Lukens' with David Conrad who played the role of 'Leo Roth', her boyfriend. The series ran on ABC from September 1996 to April 1997. It ran for 17 episodes and stopped because of low ratings. It was produced by thirtysomething producers Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. She received a nomination at the Satellite Awards for her role, she also received much appreciation for her role.

The 10th Kingdom: She starred in the man role of Virginia Lewis (a waitress in Manhattan) in the fairytale fantasy series (Snow white, Wicked Stepmother, Prince, time travel...), written by Simon Moore. The series won an Emmy award for 'Outstanding Main Title Design'.

The series premiere had 14 million viewers. John Larroquette played her father Tony Lewis. Scott Cohen, Dianne Wiest, Daniel Lapaine, Rutger Hauer, Ed O'Neill were among the cast.

According to Jim: In the sitcom tv-series with Jim Belushi (James Orenthal) in the titular role, Kimberly played the main role of Dana Gibson. Courtney Thorne-Smith played Cheryl Mabel, Larry Joe Campbell as Andy, Taylor Atelian as Ruby among others. She appeared for the first 7 seasons and then left for a while and came back for the finale in 2009.

She has appeared in minor roles in Less than Perfect (ABC TV sitcom series), Boston Legal (ABC legal comedy-drama), Royal Pains (USA network comedy-drama)

We are Marshal: In the 2006 sports biographical drama directed by McG, she appeared as Sandy Lengyel opposite Matthew McConaughey who played Jack Lengyel. It also starred Matthew Fox, Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, Kate Mara, January Jones, Brian Geraghty.

Nashville: She appears in the musical soap opera as Margaret "Peggy" Kenter former co-worker of Teddy Conrad(played by Eric Close), she appears in seasons 1 and 2.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip: In the live-action animation comedy, she's appeared in the role of Samantha, the girlfriend of lead character Dave Seville (played by Jason Lee)

Stage

In the play 'The Last Night of Ballyhoo', she played the role of 'Sunny' from 1997 to 1998. It was written by Alfred Uhry. 

Books

• Is My Mother Gone?: Kimberly had written an article for Redbook magazine about her mother's health which eventually became the book.
• Where the Light Gets In: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again: Kimberly wrote a book named 'Where The Light Gets In', a biographical account of her mother Linda's dementia and her life after that, the book was released in April 2016.
• She has worked on books:
  • The Power of Paws: Reflections on a Life with Dogs
  • The Promise of Jesus: God's Redemptive Story
  • Henry And The Hidden Veggie Garden

Filmography

Movies

Short Movies

TV Series

Stage

• The Last Night of Ballyhoo(1998): She was in this comedy broadway as Sunny Freitag which was played at Helen Hayes Theatre. 
• Some other broadway appearances/plays of hers are-  
  • The Vagina Monologues
  • Amadeus
  • The Last Night of Ballyhoo
  • Speed-the-Plow
  • All in the Timing
  • Speed The Plow

Facts & Trivia

• Alzheimer’s Association: Kimberly-Williams-paisley is a spokesperson for the association, after her mother's troubles with dementia Kimberly decided to help people in similar situations.
• Philanthropy: She supports Michael J. Fox Foundation (Parkinson's Research) and Saint Jude's Hospital.
• She has appeared in some of her husband Brad Paisley's music videos like-
  • I'm Gonna Miss Her
  • Little Moments
• As director & Writer: Kimberly created a short movie titled- Shade in 2006 making her directorial and writing debut.
• In 1989 she directed the Musical Revue at Rye High School.
• There is a Playboy model with the same name- Kimberly Williams, thus she chose to use the name- Kimberly Williams-Paisley.
• Writing for magazines: She has written articles for magazines like- In Style, New You, Redbook.
• Henry and the Hidden Veggie Garden: a children's book she co-wrote with her father
• The Mother and Child Project: Raising Our Voices for Health and Hope, in support of the mothers and children, was part of the project.
• NPT Reports: Children's Health Crisis- She hosted the children's health-related show for Nashville Public Television (it won a Regional Emmy award)
• Sean Penn's Haitian relief organization- a charity headed by the actor which works to improve the lives of the people of Haiti
• She is a member of the Entertainment Council for Feeding America- a charity of people in the entertainment business that fights hunger
• She loves animals, has two dogs herself, and is a member of various animal rescue organizations.
• She is part of numerous philanthropist organizations, some of which are:
  • Meals on Wheels
  • Save the children
  • Care
  • Adopt a Golden Nashville
  • Second Harvest Foodbank
  • The Michael J Fox foundation
  • Feeding America
  • Unity Shoppe
  • Haitian Relief Organization
  • Alzheimer's association
• Kimberly Williams-Paisley Book club: A book club she is part of.
• Commercials she has appeared in are- Alzheimer's Association's awareness campaign, Hallmark Cards
• She supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential elections
• As a youth, she wanted to be a DJ
• Ancestry: She is of English, French, German, Welsh descent
• She loves hot Yoga
• Hershey's Moderation Nation Campaign: She was involved with the campaign which advocated moderate use of dieting without missing the desserts
• She wanted to be a Disc jockey once in her youth.

Quotes

• More than anything, he keeps me laughing. That s the best. (About her husband)
• I've learned to be in the present from my mother
• I love to be able to do something positive with the celebrity image I have.
• Always enjoy the ride, because you don't know where it's going, but it's going to be all right.
• I don't do very well with extremes of any kind - extreme diets, extreme fitness - so moderation makes a lot of sense
• [About food] I am obsessed with kale. I make kale salads and kale chips, and I think it's so yummy.
• [About health] The infant mortality rates are insanely high. The obesity epidemic is on the rise. It is all related.

Awards

• MTV Movie Awards: Nominated for her role in Father of the Bride(1991)
• Satellite Awards: Nominated for her role in Relativity(1996)
• Heartland Film Festival- Best Dramatic Short Film award for Shade(2006)
• Sedona International Film Festival- For acting and direction of Shade(2006)
• Vision Award for Best Short Film- Shade(2006)
• Mid-south Regional Emmy for the show she hosted- NPT Reports: Children's Health Crisis