Phyllis Smith

Biography

Phyllis Smith is an American TV & movie actress and a casting associate. She is popular for playing roles- Phyllis Vance in The Office, Betty Broderick in "The OA", Mrs. Steinberg in Trophy Wife, Nancy in Butter(2011), Lynn Davies in Bad Teacher(2011), Phyllis Lapin in The Office: The Outburst.

Phyllis Smith was born on 10th July 1951 in The Hill, St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Image: Young Phyllis Smith

Phyllis Smith Facts & Trivia

• Voiceover: She has provided voice to numerous characters- to Sadness in Inside Out, in the video game Disney Infinity 3.0, Riley's First Date? among others
• Cheerleading: Phyllis has worked as the cheerleader for the old St. Louis Cardinals football team in the 1970s.
• Dancing: She started dancing at the age of 7, dancing was all she ever wanted to do, she followed an older cousin to ballet, she took her shoes and danced, she danced till 38 when she suffered a knee injury which forced her to quit dancing as career. she can dance ballet, tap, modern and jazz.
• Studies: She studied at the Kansas University with a scholarship in dance, later she studied at the San Carlo Opera Company
• Burlesque: She worked as a Burlesque performer in the 1970s and 80s. She toured the country with Burlesque troupes such as Vaudeville, Able's Baggy Pants & the Mercer Brother's show
• She performed comic skit as well. She would wear feathers to cover herself and never went nude.
• She took dances classes at Stanley Herbert’s studio.
• Her father worked at the Bly-Moss Furniture off Lindbergh Boulevard
• The Office: Phyllis had a major breakthrough with the TV series "The Office", she was working as a casting associate for the same TV series, she was offered the role of Phyllis Vance, a character specially written with her in mind. She played in more than 180 episodes. There is a youtube channel dedicated to her character Phyllis Vance on youtube.
• Screen Actors Guild Awards: She won the Screen Actors Guild Awards for her part in the ensemble cast, in "The Office" for two consecutive years- 2006 and 2007
• Narrator: She narrated the movie The Princess and the Goblin(1994)
• Annie Award for Voice Acting: She won the award for voicin the character of "sadness" in the movie Inside Out
• Casting associate: she has been part of the production in projects such as- A Taste for Killing(1992 movie), Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman series, Roswell, Spin City, Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Singing: She has performed in about 5 songs in the TV series "The office", her tracks include:
  • Remember to Call
  • Do the Scarn
  • The Gambler
  • Meet the Flintstones
  • Here I Go Again
• Other TV appearances: She appeared on Celebrity Family Feud in 2008, she also appeared on Carrie Keagan show in 2011 among other events such as Award events
• Ballet dancer: She was a ballet dancer with the St. Louis Civic Ballet & St. Louis Dance Theater
• Jazz dancer: She was a professional jazz dancer, she was trained under Raoul Appel
• Wrong young phyllis picture: There is a wrong picture being circulated for the third times on net as a pic from her youth, which she has officially denied.
• She was a fan of football as a youth, she and her dad would go to watch home games
• She was awarded Miss School spirit Maid in 1966 at school
• She studied French at school
• She has 4 cats at home named- Shy Boy, Little Grey, Sweet Face & Princess
• She has two turtles named Speedy (65 year old) & Alvin (15 year old)
• She played Steve Carell's mother in comedy movie The 40 Year Old Virgin, but the scenes were cut out in the editing.
• She makes delicious butter cakes
• She is a very gentle person.
• She likes Baking more than cooking
• When she got interested in dancing. she asked her mom to take her to dance class, but her mother told her to find the number to the dancing class herself from the old phone book.
• Small jobs: She worked as a receptionist at an aerospace company, sold tickets at a movie theater

Phyllis Smith Quotes

• Everybody wants to shine a little bit, even a wallflower.
• In every character there are little bits and pieces of yourself.
• I have been very blessed. I always say this and I mean it, God had a better plan than I ever anticipated for me. 
• I am a very spiritual person. I believe in angels
• I was fortunate to have a mom, where she would look at my face and know what was going on and was able to get me to talk and draw it out.
• In my eye I was never thin enough, but when I look back at the pictures, I'm like, 'Oh yeah. I rocked that.'
• I know I'm not supposed to talk about God and stuff, but my spiritual life is very strong and I really feel that a big part of whatever success I’m having is due to that as well.
• I always wanted to be a dancer. My mom says I used to dance in my crib
• I grew up when Disney was doing movies like Cinderella, and all the girls were princesses
• Just go for it. Don't be afraid of trying new things. You have absolutely no idea what's going to present itself to you. Don't be frightened. Just buckle down and do whatever your heart desires.
• [About her success in Inside Out] Its the other people, I just got lucky.
• We are all mixes of emotions depending on the time and day
• [When asked about her humor in the tV series] I think I'm just weird.
• [About interest in dancing even as a kid] All I knew was I wanted to express myself
• I was a very shy child
• As an actor you try to bring something special to the character