JoBeth Williams
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
The product of a musical family, (Margaret) JoBeth Williams was born on December 6, 1948, in Houston,
Texas, to Frances Faye (Adams), a dietitian, and Fredric Roger
Williams, a wire/cable company manager and opera singer. Her father
encouraged her early interest in theater during high school.
She made her professional debut at age 18 in a Houston-based musical production,
then studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with the
intentions of becoming a child psychologist. The acting bug hit her
again, however, and she decided to pursue theater after receiving her
B.A. in English in 1970. Working intensely to lose her Texas twang, her
early training came as a member of the Trinity Repertory Company, where
she stayed for two-and-a-half years.
In New York the lovely Jobeth became a daytime regular in the mid-1970s
on both Somerset (1970) and in a
vixenish role on
Guiding Light (1952)
before making a brief but memorable impact in a highly popular film at
the end of the decade. In the
Dustin Hoffman starring film
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979),
Jobeth plays Hoffman's gorgeous sleepover who gets caught stark naked
by his young, precocious son
(Justin Henry) the following
morning. She also impressed on the stage with major roles in
"Moonchildren" and "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking."
Her star maker would could in the form of the strong-willed mother of
three who fights to save her brood from home-invading demons in
Steven Spielberg's humongous critical
and box-office hit
Poltergeist (1982), which also made a
major star out of movie husband
Craig T. Nelson. Officially in the big
leagues now, she joined the star ensemble cast of
The Big Chill (1983), and appeared
opposite Nick Nolte in
Teachers (1984). Disappointing outcomes
in the lackluster sequel
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)
and the intriguing but overlooked
American Dreamer (1984) prodded
her to search for more challenging work on TV.
It is the small screen, in fact, that has particularly shown off the
range of Jobeth's talent over the years, particularly in domestic
drama. Cast in some of the finest TV-movies served up, Jobeth won
deserved Emmy nominations for her real-life mother of an ill-fated
missing child in Adam (1983) and
real-life surrogate mother in
Baby M (1988). Other monumental
mini-movie efforts include her nurse in the apocalyptic drama
The Day After (1983); her
magnetic performance opposite Terry Kinney
as an adulterous worshiper and minister who carry out plans to kill
their respective spouses in the gripping suspense show
Murder Ordained (1987);
alcoholic James Woods'
long-suffering wife in
My Name Is Bill W. (1989);
a social worker trying to reach a deaf girl in
Breaking Through (1996);
and the overbearing mother whose son turns to drugs in
Trapped in a Purple Haze (2000).
She continues to balance both film and TV projects into the millennium.
Behind the scenes she was nominated for an Academy Award for her
directorial debut of Showtime's
On Hope (1994)and continues to seek out
other directing projects. It doesn't hurt being married to a director
for encouragement. She and John Pasquin,
who directed her in the film
Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and on the
short-lived TV series Payne (1999),
have two children.
Into the millennium, Jobeth starred as a psychiatrist in the offbeat crime drama The Rose Technique (2002); then played a series of mom support roles -- Drew Barrymore's in Fever Pitch (2005), Reiko Aylesworth's in Crazylove (2005) and Adam Brody's in In the Land of Women (2007); plus roles in The Big Year (2011), Songs of Alchemy (2012), Barracuda (2017), Alex & The List (2017), SGT. Will Gardner (2019) and What the Night Can Do (2020). In addition to guest appearances on such popular program as "The Guardian," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Judging Amy," "Miss Match," "Numb3rs," "Criminal Minds," "The Nine," "Dexter," "NCIS," "The Good Doctor," and recurring roles on Private Practice (2007), Hart of Dixie (2011), Marry Me (2014) and Your Family or Mine (2015), she earned kudos as Sybil's mentally disturbed mother in a revived TV movie version of Sybil (2007).
Texas, to Frances Faye (Adams), a dietitian, and Fredric Roger
Williams, a wire/cable company manager and opera singer. Her father
encouraged her early interest in theater during high school.
She made her professional debut at age 18 in a Houston-based musical production,
then studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with the
intentions of becoming a child psychologist. The acting bug hit her
again, however, and she decided to pursue theater after receiving her
B.A. in English in 1970. Working intensely to lose her Texas twang, her
early training came as a member of the Trinity Repertory Company, where
she stayed for two-and-a-half years.
In New York the lovely Jobeth became a daytime regular in the mid-1970s
on both Somerset (1970) and in a
vixenish role on
Guiding Light (1952)
before making a brief but memorable impact in a highly popular film at
the end of the decade. In the
Dustin Hoffman starring film
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979),
Jobeth plays Hoffman's gorgeous sleepover who gets caught stark naked
by his young, precocious son
(Justin Henry) the following
morning. She also impressed on the stage with major roles in
"Moonchildren" and "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking."
Her star maker would could in the form of the strong-willed mother of
three who fights to save her brood from home-invading demons in
Steven Spielberg's humongous critical
and box-office hit
Poltergeist (1982), which also made a
major star out of movie husband
Craig T. Nelson. Officially in the big
leagues now, she joined the star ensemble cast of
The Big Chill (1983), and appeared
opposite Nick Nolte in
Teachers (1984). Disappointing outcomes
in the lackluster sequel
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)
and the intriguing but overlooked
American Dreamer (1984) prodded
her to search for more challenging work on TV.
It is the small screen, in fact, that has particularly shown off the
range of Jobeth's talent over the years, particularly in domestic
drama. Cast in some of the finest TV-movies served up, Jobeth won
deserved Emmy nominations for her real-life mother of an ill-fated
missing child in Adam (1983) and
real-life surrogate mother in
Baby M (1988). Other monumental
mini-movie efforts include her nurse in the apocalyptic drama
The Day After (1983); her
magnetic performance opposite Terry Kinney
as an adulterous worshiper and minister who carry out plans to kill
their respective spouses in the gripping suspense show
Murder Ordained (1987);
alcoholic James Woods'
long-suffering wife in
My Name Is Bill W. (1989);
a social worker trying to reach a deaf girl in
Breaking Through (1996);
and the overbearing mother whose son turns to drugs in
Trapped in a Purple Haze (2000).
She continues to balance both film and TV projects into the millennium.
Behind the scenes she was nominated for an Academy Award for her
directorial debut of Showtime's
On Hope (1994)and continues to seek out
other directing projects. It doesn't hurt being married to a director
for encouragement. She and John Pasquin,
who directed her in the film
Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and on the
short-lived TV series Payne (1999),
have two children.
Into the millennium, Jobeth starred as a psychiatrist in the offbeat crime drama The Rose Technique (2002); then played a series of mom support roles -- Drew Barrymore's in Fever Pitch (2005), Reiko Aylesworth's in Crazylove (2005) and Adam Brody's in In the Land of Women (2007); plus roles in The Big Year (2011), Songs of Alchemy (2012), Barracuda (2017), Alex & The List (2017), SGT. Will Gardner (2019) and What the Night Can Do (2020). In addition to guest appearances on such popular program as "The Guardian," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Judging Amy," "Miss Match," "Numb3rs," "Criminal Minds," "The Nine," "Dexter," "NCIS," "The Good Doctor," and recurring roles on Private Practice (2007), Hart of Dixie (2011), Marry Me (2014) and Your Family or Mine (2015), she earned kudos as Sybil's mentally disturbed mother in a revived TV movie version of Sybil (2007).