JoBeth Williams

JoBeth Williams

Birth : 1948-12-06, Houston, Texas, USA

History

Margaret JoBeth Williams (born December 6, 1948) is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy nominated American film and television actress and director, and current President of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation. Williams rose to prominence appearing in such films as Stir Crazy (1980), Poltergeist (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Day After (1983), Teachers (1984), and Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986). A three-time Emmy Award nominee, she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her work in the TV movie Adam (1983) and the TV miniseries Baby M (1988). Her third nomination was for her guest role in the sitcom Frasier (1994). Her directorial debut with the 1994 short film On Hope earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. She also starred in the TV series The Client (1995–96), and had recurring roles in the TV series Dexter (2007) and Private Practice (2009–11). In 2009 she began serving as president of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation; she is President Emeritus of the foundation. She has also had numerous guest starring roles on TV and has starred in several TV movies.

Profile

JoBeth Williams
JoBeth Williams

Movies

The 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
Producer
The biggest names in film and television light up the red carpet and the stage for the SAG Awards. The 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, produced by Silent House Productions in partnership with SAG-AFTRA, will stream live globally on Netflix Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall.
Chantilly Bridge
Chantilly Bridge reunites a group of lifelong, steadfast friends who are still – in their later years -- chasing their dreams, fighting injustices, and sticking up for their convictions. The women lay bare their lives and deal with important issues that impact all women with humor, humility, humanity, and love. No topic escapes the razor-like wit and insight of these women: equality, sex, menopause, mortality, feminism, parenthood, careers, love, and even “me-too” moments. While women often feel invisible in the world, this film highlights who they are and what they care about. We experience what women are truly like and what they discuss in a setting where no men are present. Chantilly Bridge is also about reconnecting with old friends from the past and the beauty of a shared history.
What the Night Can Do
Bettye Sue Dryer
Luana is a 12-year-old girl struggling to grasp the world collapsing around her, as her parents separate and her estranged Grandfather falls ill. It takes one unlikely person to help her find her way.
SGT. Will Gardner
Sherry
A troubled Iraq War veteran struggling to reintegrate into society sets out on a cross-country journey with the hope of reuniting with his young son.
Alex & the List
Mrs. Stern
Alex, a lovable, unassuming dog trainer is in love with a great woman - Katherine - smart, talented, from a good family. Katherine adores Alex's quirky sense of humor, honesty and capacity to listen. Having decided to pop the question, Alex is blindsided when Katherine produces a detailed list of well-thought-out "improvements" she feels will tweak Alex on their way to becoming the ideal couple. Alex instinctively rejects the suggestion that he needs to change anything. But with the threat of a new competitor, Alex decides to "do the list." Guided by a coterie of friends that include: Dave, Alex's loyal childhood buddy, best female friend Lily, her husband Michael, and their 8 year old son, Nicky, Alex's journey has him reconsider and question his beliefs, values and world.
Barracuda
Patricia
Sinaloa hitchhikes into Texas to meet Merle, her half-sister by way of their dead country musician father. As the two get to know each other, Sinaloa's chaotic influence starts to unravel Merle's quiet, comfortable life. While the family music legacy brought Sinaloa to Austin, she won't leave without taking revenge against the people who stole her daddy away years ago.
Within
Rosemary Fletcher
A widower, his daughter, and his new wife move into a peaceful neighborhood. At first it appears to be a perfect neighborhood but the family quickly realize that something is not right about their new home.
The Last Film Festival
Mayor
Dennis Hopper plays Nick Twain, a Hollywood Producer whose latest film is rejected by every film festival in the world except one- in Ohio. Nick will do anything to get his film distributed, including manipulating his dysfunctional cast into attending the festival. Hollywood egos and small town politics inevitably collide.
In My Dreams
Charlotte Smith
Natalie and Nick are frustrated with their luck in romance. After tossing coins into a fountain, the two then begin dreaming about each other. But, according to fountain mythology, they only have a week to turn those dreams into reality.
Love's Christmas Journey
Beatrice
While still mourning the loss of her husband and daughter, recently widowed Ellie King visits her brother Aaron Davis and his children for Christmas. Ellie does her best to enjoy the holidays, even making new friends with Mrs. Thompson, a local shop keeper, and handsome admirer Deputy Strode. Settling in nicely with her brother's family, Ellie also meets Erik, a young man abandoned by his outlaw father whom Aaron has taken in as one of his own. When Aaron travels out of town to purchase adjacent land for farming, Ellie agrees to watch his children, but the season’s festivities are threatened when Aaron goes missing.
The Big Year
Edith
Three fanatical bird-watchers spend an entire year competing to spot the highest number of species as El Nino sends an extraordinary variety of rare breeds flying up into the U.S., but they quickly discover that there are more important things than coming out on top of the competition.
Uncorked
Sophia Browning
Johnny is a high-powered executive who is definitely not looking to fall in love but a business conference takes her to wine country she meets a handsome widower Andrew who invites Johnny to meet his family after she loses her job. In helping his parents' winery she begins to fall in love with him and his family but when she gets offered another job she has to chose between her career or Andrew
TiMER
Marion
In this comedic fantasy, science has facilitated the search for a soul mate via biotechnological implants that count down to the moment one is supposed to meet his or her match. But Oona is worried: She's nearly 30, and her TiMER isn't ticking yet. Will her dream guy get snatched up by someone else?
Sybil
Hattie Dorsett
A true story of a young woman whose abusive childhood results in her developing a multiple personality disorder.
In the Land of Women
Agnes Webb
After a bad breakup with his girlfriend leaves him heartbroken, Carter Webb moves to Michigan to take care of his ailing grandmother. Once there, he gets mixed up in the lives of the mother and daughters who live across the street.
14 Hours
Jeanette Makins
While Tropical Storm Allison brings one of the worst floods to hit Houston rages outside, the staff of Hermann hospital races against time to ensure hundreds of patients are evacuated safely.
Crazylove
Mrs. Mayer
Letty Mayer, young and beautiful, has a cherished job as a teacher, a successful attorney boyfriend, and a tight knit family that is excited about her sister's impending wedding. But inside Letty there¹s an anxiety that¹s building. Suddenly the pressure of Letty's world overwhelms her and she suffers a devastating nervous breakdown. Institutionalized, she meets Michael, a schizophrenic who has been in and out of hospitals his entire life. Although major obstacles exist, Letty and Michael throw caution to the wind to pursue an intense new love as Letty finds herself torn between a safe past and a daring future...
Into the Fire
June Sickles
TV Movie Drama - Sean Patrick Flanery, Melina Kanakaredes, JoBeth Williams
Fever Pitch
Maureen Meeks
Lindsay is stuck in the middle of her relationship with Ben and his passion for the Boston Red Sox.
Searching for Debra Winger
Self
Rosanna Arquette talks to various actresses about the pressures they face as women working in the entertainment industry.
The Rose Technique
Dr. Lillian Rose
The Rose Technique revolves around the life of an off-beat psychiatrist who wants to join the crazy world of daytime TV.
Repossessed
A real estate agent shows a house to a woman who is more than she seems.
The Ponder Heart
Edna Earle Ponder
Uncle Daniel Ponder moves to give away his fortune, while his niece, Edna Earle, tries to tighten the reins on Daniel's generosity. After Daniel marries teenager Bonnie Dee Peacock, her death leads to Daniel's trial for murder
Frankie & Hazel
Director
Actress JoBeth Williams directed this Showtime family feature starring The Sixth Sense's Mischa Barton for Barbra Streisand's Barwood Films. Barton is Frankie and Ingrid Uribe is Hazel, Frankie's neighbor and best friend. Frankie is an orphan who lives with her imperious grandmother, Phoebe (Joan Plowright), while Hazel lives with her father and older brother. Frankie's mother was a prima ballerina--killed in a car crash along with her father--and Frankie's been following in her toe shoes ever since. Although she's the best dancer in her class, she'd rather play baseball, whereas Hazel's a local activist who'd rather be mayor. The story strains credibility when 13-year-old Hazel runs for office against the middle-aged incumbent, but Frankie's goal is more understandable, and both actresses make their characters sympathetic and believable. It's as hard not to like them as it is not to root for them to succeed.
Trapped in a Purple Haze
Sophie Hanson
When a charismatic teenager falters under constant pressure from his parents and school, he makes a potentially deadly mistake.
Jackie's Back!
Jo Face (Jackie's Vocal Coach)
A British documentarian profiles washed-up diva Jackie Washington as she prepares for her comeback concert.
It Came From the Sky
Alice Bridges
Jarvis and Pepper crash land their small plane on the roof of the Bridges family. Pepper finds herself having a positive effect on the households' autistic son Andy.
The Big Chill: A Reunion
Self
A look back at the making of the film "The Big Chill" (1983) with cast and crew.
Justice
Jane Newhart
A lawyer and her partner run from the Colombian Mafia and the corrupt U.S. marshals and attorneys assigned to protect them.
A Chance of Snow
Madeline 'Maddie Parker
After signing her divorce papers, a woman heads out to her Minnesota airport with her sister and daughters for a flight to her mother's home. At the airport, her sportswriter husband shows up to catch a flight to Miami to visit his father. When a blizzard hits, the two suddenly find they have time to re-evaluate their relationship with assistance from an older couple.
When Danger Follows You Home
Anne Werden
A single mom and psychiatric intern encounters a troubled but brilliant young man who turns up dead in her house after she befriended him. When she finds herself the prime suspect, she sets out to solve the crime and clear her name.
Jungle 2 Jungle
Dr. Patricia Cromwell
Uptight New York City executive, Michael Cromwell, pursues his soon-to-be ex-wife to South America and returns home with the son he never knew he had—a boy raised in a tribal village in Brazil. Armed with only his blowgun, the 13-year-old Mimi-Siku discovers that the world outside his jungle home is indeed a strange place.
Just Write
Sidney Stone
A Hollywood tour bus driver poses as a screenwriter to romance an up-and-coming young actress.
Breaking Through
Pam Willis (as Jobeth Williams)
Laura is a 20 year old deaf girl who has never been taught sign language. She is rescued from neglect and physical abuse by Pam, a social worker. Pam teaches her how to communicate and uncovers Laura's true personality.
Ruby Jean and Joe
Rose
In a tale set in the rough and tumble world of professional rodeo, an over-the-hill former champion broncobuster and a young hitchhiker develop a special friendship.
A Season of Hope
Elizabeth Hackett
When trees in their only source of income, a lemon grove, start showing signs of disease, a burdened Californian family reaches their breaking point. Is there any hope left for them?
On Hope
Director
On Hope is a 1994 short film directed by JoBeth Williams, with Annette O'Toole, Mercedes Ruehl, Ray Baker, and Veronica Cartwright. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Parallel Lives
Winnie Winslow
A college reunion turns into a tangled web of passion, romance and intrigue as old friends and enemies catch up with each other's lives. Includes a long list of stars.
Wyatt Earp
Bessie Earp
Covering the life and times of one of the West's most iconic heroes.
Final Appeal
Christine Biondi
A lawyer must defend his sister in the court of law who's accused of murdering her seemingly perfect, but in fact very abusive husband.
Chantilly Lace
Natalie
A group of middle-aged women get together at a secluded house to learn about themselves.
Sex, Love and Cold Hard Cash
Sarah Gallagher
An ex-con whose share of a robbery disappeared joins forces with deluxe edition call-girl in order to get back the money she gave her accountant for investment purposes. The chase will lead them to the Carrabeans where they will have to go on a cruise...
Commercial Entertainment Product
Diane Freeling
The video debut of experimental musicians and culture jamming artists Emergency Broadcast Network.
Jonathan: The Boy Nobody Wanted
Ginny Moore
A Down-syndrome boy left in an institute by his parents. Ginny works in the institute and wants to have Jonathan but has to fight the system and the parents.
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
Lt. Gwen Harper
A tough police sergeant's mother comes to visit him, and promptly starts trying to fix up his life, much to his embarrassment. For his birthday she buys him a machine gun out of the back of a van, and begins to further interfere with his job and love life, eventually helping him with a case he's on.
Me, Myself and I
Crazy / Sane Diane
Diane is a growling, howling urban nightmare, suffering from paranoia, nymphomania, and a really bad hair day. Her neighbor, a TV writer, is subject to Diane's constant commentary on sex, violence and invisible persecutors through paper-thin walls. When Diane manages to seduce him, the two jaded New Yorkers discover that love works in mysterious ways.
Dutch
Natalie Standish
To get to know his girlfriend's son, a man volunteers to pick him up from a prep school....only to learn that her son's not the nicest kid.
Switch
Margo Brofman
Steve Brooks, a sexist womanizer, is killed by a group of his angry former lovers. In heaven, he makes a bargain with God for redemption and agrees to return to Earth. Once there, he must have a sincere relationship with a female and make her fall in love with him. If not, Steve's soul will become the property of the devil. But the devil hedges his bet, and Steve is reincarnated as a woman named Amanda Brooks.
Victim Of Love
It's a romantic triangle with a lot of heat when a psychologist (JoBeth Williams) falls in love with a widowed professor (Pierce Brosnan) who's having an affair with one of her patients (Virginia Madsen). Williams turns a dangerous page when she uncovers that Brosnan is not only the root of Madsen's emotional turmoil, he also murdered his wife in order to be with Madsen. Better up that day rate.
Bump in the Night
Co-Executive Producer
Martha "Red" Tierney used to be a hot-shot reporter, but that was before alcohol took over her life. One morning Martha's son, Jonathan, leaves for school, stopping first to meet his father for breakfast. But Jonathan never meets his dad. Instead, he is picked up by Lawrence, a pedophile who has been watching him. Now Martha must overcome her alcoholism and her bitterness towards her ex-husband and use her old investigative skills to find her son before it's too late.
Child in the Night
Dr. Hollis
A child psychologist, Hollis who's marriage collapsed after she learned she was barren, bonds with Luke Winfield, who witnessed his father's murder at the hands of rain-slicker wearing killer with a cargo hook. Along the way she befriends Detective Bass as he investigates a series of homicides, each with the same M.O. As Hollis gets closer to Luke she discovers some trouble family secrets ensuring she is next to be slain.
Welcome Home
Sarah
An Air Force officer returns to his father, son and remarried wife in Vermont after 17 years in Vietnam.
My Name Is Bill W.
Lois Wilson
Based on the true story of Bill W. (James Woods), a successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 20's and how he comes to grips with his alcoholism. Along with a fellow alcoholic (James Garner) he forms a support group that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous.
Memories of Me
Lisa
After a heart attack, Abbie Polin (Crystal), a New York doctor, goes to Los Angeles to see his father, Abe (King), who works in Hollywood as the "king of the extras." Their relationship has been strained for several years. This was the first movie directed by Henry Winkler, and much of it was filmed inside the MGM Studios in Culver City, California, only a few miles from Hollywood. Lisa, the romantic interest in Abbie's life, also comes for a visit and bonds with Abe, who gets along famously with everyone but his son. Abe begins having memory loss and eventually is diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. He and his son grow closer in time and, before it's too late, Abbie tries to get Abe a speaking role in a film.
Baby M
Marybeth Whitehead
Baby M is a two-part TV movie predicated on a headline-making true event. In 1985, Mary Beth Whitehead accepted $10,000 to bear a child, which then would be adopted by William and Elizabeth Stern. But after the baby's birth in March of 1986, Whitehead reneged on the agreement. The subsequent high-profile custody trial raged on for well over nine months.
Murder Ordained
Lorna Anderson
This is the story of a minister who's feeling unhappy in his marriage who then has an affair with a church employee, who is also married, and who also has affairs, and whose husband is unwilling to divorce her. One day the minister's wife is found dead, in what appears to be an auto accident, but the highway patrolman who investigated the accident doesn't think that it's an accident but doesn't have enough evidence to justify an investigation. Later, when the woman's husband is killed an investigation begins.
Adam: His Song Continues
Reve Walsh
Follows the true story of John and Reve Walsh who, after their child was murdered, fought to raise national awareness of the problem of missing children.
Poltergeist II: The Other Side
Diane Freeling
The Freeling family move in with Diane's mother in an effort to escape the trauma and aftermath of Carol Anne's abduction by the Beast. But the Beast is not to be put off so easily and appears in a ghostly apparition as the Reverend Kane, a religeous zealot responsible for the deaths of his many followers. His goal is simple - he wants the angelic Carol Anne.
Desert Bloom
Lily Chismore
The story involves Rose Chismore's youth. She flashes back and remembers her coming-of-age. Her recollections are sometimes less than sweet, particularly those of her troubled and alcoholic step-father. Her memories of Robin, her first-love, are much happier and she also recalls her colorful Aunt Starr -- who's visit is fun but also detrimental to her family's health. The setting of 1950s Las Vegas' bomb testing is increasingly significant to the development of the story.
Kids Don't Tell
Claudia Ryan
When a documentary-maker begins to make a film about child sexual abuse, the subject begins to eat into him and affect his relationship with those around him, particularly his wife.
American Dreamer
Cathy Palmer
American housewife Cathy Palmer loses her memory on a trip to Paris after being hit by a car. She wakes up in the hospital believing she's the fictional international spy, Rebecca Ryan.
Teachers
Lisa Hammond
A teacher tries to overcome his frustration teaching a high-school that seems to be full of flunkies.
The Day After
Nurse Nancy Bauer
In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.
Adam
Reve Walsh
Based on the true story that shocked the nation and led to vast changes in how law enforcement handled missing children cases...John and Reve Walsh deal with their grief in front of the whole country when their son, Adam, is abducted and later found dead.
The Big Chill
Karen Bowens
Seven old college friends gather for a weekend reunion after the funeral of one of their own.
Endangered Species
Harriet Purdue
A retired New York cop on vacation in America's West is drawn into a sheriff's investigation of a mysterious series of cattle killings.
Poltergeist
Diane Freeling
Steve Freeling lives with his wife, Diane, and their three children, Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne, in Southern California where he sells houses for the company that built the neighborhood. It starts with just a few odd occurrences, such as broken dishes and furniture moving around by itself. However, when he realizes that something truly evil haunts his home, Steve calls in a team of parapsychologists led by Dr. Lesh to help before it's too late.
Joe Dancer: The Big Black Pill
Tiffany Farinpour
The first of three private-eye movies created by Robert Blake about rugged Joe Dancer as the forerunner to a prospective but unrealized series after the retirement of his "Baretta" character. In the initial outing, Blake, as Dancer, follows a trail of bodies through a maze of corruption involving a politically ambitious Beverly Hills family.
The Dogs of War
Jessie
Mercenary James Shannon, on a reconnaissance job to the African nation of Zangaro, is tortured and deported. He returns to lead a coup.
Stir Crazy
Meredith
New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.
Fun and Games
Laura Weston
A divorcee decides to fight back after her hopes of gaining a promotion are dashed by her rejection of the advances of her boss, and it is only after he actually attacks her that her company and her union take notice.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Phyllis Bernard
Ted Kramer is a career man for whom his work comes before his family. His wife Joanna cannot take this anymore, so she decides to leave him. Ted is now faced with the tasks of housekeeping and taking care of himself and their young son Billy.
The World Beyond
Marian Faber
A golem made of mud terrorizes a couple on a remote Maine island.
Segal
Self
A documentary focusing on the life and career of actor George Segal.