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JoBeth Williams at the SAG Foundation brunch, January 7, 2007

JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an American Emmy & Golden Globe nominated television and film actress as well as an Academy Award (short subject category) nominated director.

Margaret Jobeth Williams was born in Houston, Texas and attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island intending to become a child psychologist. Instead, she turned to theater (her father was an opera singer), training at the Trinity Repertory Company during which time she took voice lessons to help lose her "Texas-twang" accent. Following this, she moved to New York City and began to appear on television series in the mid-1970s.

Williams' feature film debut came in 1979's Kramer vs. Kramer as a girlfriend of Dustin Hoffman's character, memorably quizzed by his son after being discovered walking nude to the bathroom.

She is perhaps most recognized for her role in Poltergeist (1982) as pot-smoking suburban housewife Diane Freeling (she reprised her character in the sequel, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, 1986). A year later she was part of the ensemble comedy-drama The Big Chill (1983). This led to her only major starring role in a a studio feature film, American Dreamer (1984) opposite Tom Conti.

Williams continued to work in television in both groundbreaking TV films like The Day After (1983), Adam (1983) Baby M (1988), Murder Ordained (1987) and My Name is Bill W. (1989) as well as network series such as Fraser and a brief TV series version of John Grisham's The Client in the lead role of "Reggie Love" (which had been played by Susan Sarandon onscreen). She has received three Emmy nominations to date (for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for her work in Adam and Baby M; and for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in Fraser)

In 1995 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her 1994 live action short, On Hope. It was her debut as a director.

She appeared on an episode of 24 as Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller)'s wife, Miriam, who literally takes a (non-fatal) bullet for her husband.

She is married to TV and film director John Pasquin (with whom she worked on Jungle 2 Jungle); they have two children, Nick and Will.

• Fever Pitch (2005) - Maureen Meeks
• It Came From the Sky - (1999) - Alice Bridges
• Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) - Dr. Patricia Cromwell
• Wyatt Earp (1994) - Bessie Earp
• Dutch (1991) - Natalie
• Switch (1991) - Margo Brofman
• Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) - Diane Freeling
• American Dreamer (1984) - Cathy Palmer/Rebecca Ryan
• Teachers (1984) - Lisa Hammond
• The Big Chill (1983) - Karen
• The Day After (1983) (TV) - Nurse Nancy Bauer
• Poltergeist (1982) - Diane Freeling
• Endangered Species (1982) - Harriet Purdue
• Stir Crazy (1980) - Meredith
• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) - Phyllis Bernard

• JoBeth Williams at the Internet Movie Database