Monica Potter
{{Short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Monica Potter
| image = Monica Potter at Paleyfest 2013 crop.jpg
| caption = Potter in 2013
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1971|6|30}}
| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1993–present
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Tom Potter|1990|1998|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Daniel Christopher Allison|2005|2018|end=divorced}}
}}
| children = 3
}}
- {{Cite news|title=Today's Birthdays|author=|date=June 30, 2002|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|page=30|quote=Jazz musician Stanley Clarke 51. Actor-comedian David Alan Grier 47. Boxer Mike Tyson 36. Rocker (Better than Ezra) Tom Drummond 33. Actress ("Along Came a Spider") Monica Potter 31.|id={{ProQuest|402109466}}}} is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles in the films Con Air (1997), Patch Adams (1998), and Along Came a Spider (2001). She also appeared in the horror film, Saw (2004), and The Last House on the Left, a 2009 remake film.
Potter has also appeared on television, as a series regular on Boston Legal, as well as a Golden Globe-nominated role as Kristina Braverman in the NBC drama series Parenthood (2010–2015). She was a series regular in the CBS drama Wisdom of the Crowd.
Potter is also known as the founder and principal owner of Monica Potter Home, an upscale home goods, natural skin care and home decor business in Cleveland, Ohio. With the family business struggling to make money, the company was featured on the reality TV show, The Profit.
Early life
Monica Potter's mother was a secretary in a hospital, and her father invented the first flame-resistant car wax.{{cite web|last=Hobson|first=Louis B.|title=Payback time for Potter|url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/P/Potter_Monica/1998/12/19/760963.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140111002228/http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/P/Potter_Monica/1998/12/19/760963.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=January 11, 2014|publisher=Canoe.ca|access-date=January 10, 2014|date=December 19, 1998}} Potter has three sisters (Kerry, Jessica, and Brigette). Her maternal grandparents were Irish immigrants, and she was raised Catholic.{{cite web|url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/P/Potter_Monica/2001/04/07/760958.html|work=CANOE - JAM! Movies - Artists|title=Potter, Monica: Potter has planted her roots|publisher=Canoe.ca|access-date=March 31, 2007|date=April 7, 2001|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714115731/http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/P/Potter_Monica/2001/04/07/760958.html|archive-date=July 14, 2012}}[http://www.maximonline.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=3960 The Full Monica Article on Maxim.com :: Hot Girls, Babes, Sex, Photos, Videos, Gear, Entertainment] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165434/http://www.maximonline.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=3960 |date=September 30, 2007 }} As a child, Potter wanted to be a nun.{{Cite web|url=https://catholic-link.org/while-at-a-national-shrine-monica-potter-tells-reporter-she-once-wanted-to-be-a-nun/|title = While at a National Shrine, Monica Potter Tells Reporter She Once Wanted to be a Nun|date = 14 December 2018}}
During her childhood she attended the Villa Angela Academy, and graduated from Euclid High School.{{cite web|last=Urbancich|first=John|title=Ex-Clevelander Soars In "Con Air"|url=http://monicapotter.wz.cz/media/exclevender-soars-in-con-air.htm|work=Sun Newspapers, Cleveland|access-date=November 13, 2007|date=May 29, 1997|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202550/http://monicapotter.wz.cz/media/exclevender-soars-in-con-air.htm|url-status=dead}} She also spent part of her early years in Arab, Alabama. Potter had wanted to be an actress since childhood. She began acting at the Cleveland Play House when she was in elementary school. Starting at age 12, she worked at a flower shop, and later in her teens, she worked in a sub sandwich shop and did some modeling for newspaper and magazine ads and local commercials.{{cite web|last=Hobson|first=Louis B.|title=Along came Monica|url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/P/Potter_Monica/2001/04/05/pf-760959.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140111103203/http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/P/Potter_Monica/2001/04/05/pf-760959.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=January 11, 2014|publisher=Canoe.ca|access-date=January 11, 2014|date=April 5, 2001}} After appearing in several commercials in Chicago, Potter relocated to Los Angeles in 1994. In 1995, she appeared in the Alan Jackson music video for "Tall, Tall Trees".
Career
Potter made her screen debut in 1994, on CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Sharon Newman.{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/18/monica-potter-young-and-the-restless_n_3459988.html|title=Monica Potter On 'The Young And The Restless': 'Parenthood' Actress Opens Up About Getting Fired |work=The Huffington Post|date=June 18, 2013|access-date=October 9, 2013}} In 1995, Potter was featured in the music video for the song "Tall, Tall Trees" by country artist Alan Jackson. She later appeared in several feature films, including Con Air (playing the wife of Nicolas Cage's character) and starring opposite Robin Williams in Patch Adams. In 1998, she played the love interest of doomed distance runner Steve Prefontaine in the movie Without Limits, and also appeared in the British comedy Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (1998).{{cite journal|journal=Screen World|year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXCinWTJVacC&q=Martha%2C+Meet+Frank%2C+Daniel+and+Laurence+monica+potter&pg=PA277|page=277|via=Google Books|editor1=Monush, Barry|editor2=John Willis|publisher=Applause|location=New York - London|title=The Very Thought of You|isbn=9781557834317}} {{Open access}} In 2001, she had two major roles, co-starring with Freddie Prinze, Jr. in Head Over Heels, and in the thriller Along Came a Spider with Morgan Freeman, based on the James Patterson best-seller.
File:Monica Potter at the Television Critics Association -- 27 July 2010.jpg
In 2004, Potter played the role of Alison Gordon in the first Saw film. Later Potter worked on television. She was a cast member of the ABC legal drama Boston Legal but left during the second season. In 2009, Potter became a cast member of the new TNT series Trust Me which was cancelled after the first season due to low ratings. In 2009, she had a lead role in the horror-thriller remake of Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left, opposite Tony Goldwyn.
Potter played the role of Kristina Braverman in the comedy-drama Parenthood, receiving critical acclaim for her performance in the fourth season.{{cite web|url=http://www.etonline.com/awards/135014_Monica_Potter_Emmy_Hopeful_Parenthood_Interview/index.html|title=Emmy Hopeful: Monica Potter - 'Parenthood'|publisher=ETonline.com|date=April 29, 2013|access-date=October 9, 2013|archive-date=June 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615003002/http://www.etonline.com/awards/135014_Monica_Potter_Emmy_Hopeful_Parenthood_Interview/index.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://scottfeinberg.com/deserving-and-early-emmy-award-prospects-for-a-perfect-world|title=Deserving And Early Emmy Award Prospects For A Perfect World|publisher=ScottFeinberg.com|date=January 22, 2013 |access-date=October 9, 2013}}{{cite magazine|last=Busis |first=Hillary|url=http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/07/18/emmy-nominations-snubs/|title=Emmy nominations: The biggest snubs|magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=July 18, 2013 |access-date=October 9, 2013}} In 2013, she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Supporting Actress and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her role in the show.{{cite magazine|last=Bierly |first=James|url=http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/12/12/golden-globes-tv-nominations-shocks-snubs/|title=Golden Globes nominations TV shocks and snubs|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=December 12, 2013|date=December 12, 2013}}{{cite magazine|last=Busis|first=Hillary|url=http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/06/11/critics-choice-television-awards-winners/|title=Critics' Choice Television Awards winners: 'Big Bang,' HBO|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=June 11, 2013|access-date=October 9, 2013}}
In 2014, Potter created Monica Potter Home, an upscale home goods, natural skin care and home decor business in Cleveland, Ohio. The business began based on her skin care regimen that made use of Sea Buckthorn essential oils. Her father started using a balm, a natural product, on her when she was a young child because of her eczema. The business is a family affair; her mother and sisters work for her in the business. In 2017, with the business failing, she collaborated with Marcus Lemonis of CNBC's The Profit. She and her business appeared with her family and coworkers on Season 5, Episode 4.
In 2015, Potter was joined by her mother and all three sisters on Celebrity Family Feud.{{cite web |url=http://abc.go.com/shows/celebrity-family-feud/episode-guide/season-1/01-series-premiere-anthony-anderson-vs-toni-braxton-monica-potter-vs-curtis-stone |title=S1E01 Series Premiere: Anthony Anderson vs. Toni Braxton; Monica Potter vs. Curtis Stone |publisher=ABC.com |date=2015-06-21 |access-date=2016-02-07}} The following year, she appeared in a HGTV reality series titled Welcome Back Potter, which chronicled the purchase and restoration of her childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio thirty years after the family sold it in 1987.{{cite web|url=http://people.com/home/monica-potter-home-tour/|work=People|title=Before and After: Parenthood Star Monica Potter's Childhood Home Makeover|first=Megan|last=Stein|date=October 13, 2016|access-date=December 28, 2016}}
In 2016, Counting Crows' frontman Adam Duritz confirmed that the band's song Mrs Potter's Lullaby, from the album This Desert Life (1999), was written about an imaginary version of her, as they had never met.{{Cite news |url=http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/music/the-serendipitous-events-behind-mrs-potters-lullaby-7913555 |title=The Serendipitous Events Behind "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby" |first=Dyllan |last=Furness |date=2016-07-19 |work=New Times Broward-Palm Beach |access-date=2018-08-27}} Duritz explained that serendipity led to them meeting (for the first time) for a casual supper with industry friends the day the band was recording the song, and Potter returned to the studio with Duritz to watch them record. They became friends, and a tape he forgot he gave her on the night of the recording ended up salvaging the song, which the band felt they had ruined during post-production and had decided to not keep on the album.
Personal life
Potter was married to Tom Potter from 1990 to 1998; together they have two sons. In 2005, Potter married Daniel Christopher Allison, an orthopedic surgeon.{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/monica-potter/bio/167130|title=Monica Potter Biography|work=TV Guide|access-date=October 9, 2013}}{{cite web|url=https://www.drallison.org/|title=DrAlison.org|access-date=January 18, 2018}}
Potter and Allison have one daughter.{{cite web|last1=Gee|first1=Alison|last2=Silverman|first2=Stephen M.|title=Monica Potter Has a Baby Girl|url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1127164,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220055438/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1127164,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 20, 2008|work=People|access-date=January 11, 2014|date=August 11, 2005}} In March 2015, Potter's husband joined the US Navy Reserve as a physician, with the starting rank of Lieutenant Commander.[https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/movies-video-games/2015/03/27/exclusive-q-a-parenthood-tv-star-becomes-navy-wife/ Exclusive Q&A: 'Parenthood' TV star becomes Navy wife], militarytimes.com, 2015-03-27, accessed 2018-01-09 In February 2018, the couple filed for divorce.{{cite web|url=http://www.eonline.com/ca/news/911362/parenthood-s-monica-potter-and-husband-divorcing-after-10-years-of-marriage|title=Parenthood's Monica Potter and Husband Divorcing After 10 Years of Marriage|last=Vulpo|first=Mike|work=E!|date=February 2, 2018|access-date=February 9, 2018}}
Potter's father died in 2004 of cardiovascular disease.{{cite web|last=Marrone|first=Kelly|title=Interview with 'Parenthood's Monica Potter|url=http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/interview-parenthoods-monica-potter-01-13-2011|publisher=Thecelebritycafe.com|access-date=January 8, 2014|date=January 13, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110002341/http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/interview-parenthoods-monica-potter-01-13-2011|archive-date=January 10, 2014}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1996
| Biker's Woman | |
| 1997
| Con Air | Tricia Poe | |
| 1998
| Kate Durrell | |
| 1998
| Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence | Martha | Alternative title: The Very Thought of You |
| 1998
| Mary Marckx | |
| 1998
| Carin Fisher | |
| 1999
| Lilli | |
| 2001
| Amanda Pierce | |
| 2001
| Jezzie Flannigan | |
| 2002
| Lucy | |
| 2004
| Muriel Wynn | |
| 2004
| Saw | |
| 2008
| Laura Buchwald | |
| 2009
| Emma Collingwood | |
| 2014
| Herself | Short documentary film; interview clip{{cite news |last=Falkner |first=Scott |date=22 December 2014 |title=Lennon or McCartney? New Documentary Asks 550 Celebrities Their Preference — See Their Answers |url=http://www.inquisitr.com/1697375/lennon-or-mccartney-new-documentary-asks-550-celebrities-their-preference-see-their-answers/ |publisher=Inquisitr |access-date=11 November 2016 }} |
| 2024
| Kristen | |
| 2024
| Elaine | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1993
| Nubeluz | Dalina | TV pilot for English version of Peruvian TV Children's show. |
| 1994
| Sharon Newman #1 | |
| 2003
| The Lunchbox Chronicles | Kate | TV pilot |
| 2004
| Muriel Wynn | Miniseries |
| 2004–2005
| Lori Colson | Series regular, 21 episodes |
| 2007
| Protect and Serve | Lizzie Borelli | TV pilot |
| 2009
| Trust Me | Sarah Krajicek-Hunter | Series regular, 13 episodes |
| 2010–2015
| Kristina Braverman | Series Regular; 103 episodes |
| 2016
| Welcome Back Potter | Herself | Six episodes |
| 2017
|Alex |Series Regular |
| 2017
|Herself |1 Episode |
| 2020–2021
|Christina Lukin |Season 3 and 4 |
References
{{reflist|35em}}
External links
{{sister project links|d=Q234344|b=no|wikt=no|s=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|n=no|q=no}}
- {{IMDb name|0005321}}
- [http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_CAST&ID=186596&AN_ID=&searchedFor=Monica_Potter_ Monica Potter] at the American Film Institute
{{Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Supporting Actress}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Monica}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American soap opera actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American people of Irish descent
Category:Actresses from Cleveland