Missi Pyle

Andrea Kay Pyle (born November 16, 1972), known professionally as Missi Pyle, 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).

Missi Pyle
Pyle at the 2012 ACE Eddie Awards in Beverly Hills
Born	Andrea Kay Pyle November 16, 1972 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Education	University of North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA)
Occupation	Actress singer
Years active	1996–present
Spouse(s)	Antonio Sacre ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2005)​ Casey Anderson ​ ​ (m. 2008; div. 2012)​

Pyle has also appeared in various television series, such as Cleaners (2013–2014), Jennifer Falls (2014), Another Period (2015–2018), Bordertown (2016), The Soul Man (2016), Mom (2017), Impulse (2018), and Dirty John (2020).

In addition to acting, Pyle has worked as a musician. With actress Shawnee Smith, she served as half of Smith & Pyle, a country rock duo.

Early life

Pyle, the youngest daughter of Linda and Frank Pyle, was born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. She has two older sisters, Debbie and Julie; two older brothers, Sam and Paul; one younger half-brother, Gordon; and a half-sister, Meredith. 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.

Career

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, but 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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3][4]

Personal life

Pyle was married to author Antonio Sacre from 2000 to 2005.

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.[5] 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.[6] Pyle confirmed their breakup in 2013.[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1997	As Good as It Gets	Cafe 24 waitress
1999	Trick	Actress with flowers
	Galaxy Quest	Laliari
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Alexandra Cabot
	Let It Snow	Ily
2002	Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House	Vera
2003	Bringing Down the House	Ashley
	Exposed	Amy
	BachelorMan	Heather
	Big Fish	Mildred
2004	Along Came Polly	Roxanne
	50 First Dates	Noreen
	Soul Plane	Barbara Hunkee
	DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story	Fran Stalinovskovichdavidovitchsky
	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Zoo keeper
	Meet Market	Ericka
2005	The Civilization of Maxwell Bright	Cop
	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Mrs. Beauregarde
2006	Just My Luck	Peggy Braden
	Mojave Phone Booth	Sarah
	Stormbreaker	Nadia Vole
2007	Live!	Plummy
	Entry Level	Liz
	Feast of Love	Agatha Smith
2008	Pretty Ugly People	Lucy
	Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay	Raylene
	Visioneers	Sahra
	American Crude	Gigi
	Soccer Mom	Wendy Handler/Coach Lorenzo
2009	Spring Breakdown	Charlene
	Still Waiting...	Rocky Rhoades/Exotic dancer
	Taking Chances	Faith Fishback
	A Fork in the Road	Nola
2010	Barry Munday	Lida Griggs
	Miss Nobody	Charmaine
2011	The Artist	Constance
	A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song	Gail Van Ravensway
2012	My Uncle Rafael	Blair Schumacher
2013	Bakersfield, Earth	Judy
	Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters	Gray Sister #3
	Killing Vivian	Megan
2014	A Haunted House 2	Noreen
	Just Before I Go	Officer CT
	Gone Girl	Ellen Abbott
	Kiss Me	Pam
	Dragula	Maggie
2015	Uncle Nick	Michelle
	Hollywood Adventures	Casting Director
2016	Director's Cut	Herself / Mabel
	Captain Fantastic	Ellen McCune
	Slash	Ronnie
	Emma's Chance	Susan Peirce
	Pandemic	Denise
	Miles	Leslie Wayne
2017	Deidra & Laney Rob a Train	Mrs. Fowler
	Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle	Coach Webb
2018	Traffik	Sheriff Sally Marnes
	Nobody's Fool	Lauren Meadows
	Miss Arizona	Bev
2019	Walk. Ride. Rodeo.	Tina Snyder
	Ma	Mercedes

Television

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"
2004–15	Two and a Half Men	Dolores Pasternak	3 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
	$h*! 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"
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
2020	Dirty John	Karen Kintner	Recurring role (season 2; The Betty Broderick Story)[8]

Web

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

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Play Dodgeball with Ben Stiller	Fran Stalinovskovichdavidovitchsky	Omaze Charity Dodgeball
	Run	Nurse	Music video by Foo Fighters

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	900 Oneonta	Burning Jewel	Circle Repertory Theatre September 15–22, 1996
2008	Boeing-Boeing	Gretchen	Longacre Theatre September 9 – October 7, 2008
2012–13	Bare	Sister Joan	New World Stages December 19, 2012 – February 3, 2013

Discography

Albums

• It's OK to Be Happy, Smith & Pyle (2008)

Singles

• "One Night Stand", Smith & Pyle (2010)
• "Rafael", Smith & Pyle (2010)

References

1. White, Ben (October 1, 2008). "Turmoil Tarnishes a Cherished Tradition". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
2. "Shawnee Smith on Fangoria radio". Fangoriaradio.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
3. "Smith & Pyle Official MySpace Page". Myspace.com. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
4. "Smith & Pyle Official Website". Smithandpyle.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
5. "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.
6. "Grizzly Dogs". Dog Whisperer. Season 7. Episode 3. October 22, 2010. Nat Geo Wild.
7. 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.
8. 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

• Missi Pyle at IMDb
• Missi Pyle at the Internet Broadway Database
• Missi Pyle at the Internet Off-Broadway Database