An icy blonde with a ripe Southern twang that complimented both comedic and more sinister roles, actress Jaime Pressley first gained attention for layouts in Playboy, which naturally led to a string of parts in B-grade pictures which focused primarily on her physique. Perseverance allowed her to show off a knack for broad comedy, which earned its best showcase as Joy Hickey, ex-wife and occasional nemesis of Jason Lee’s Earl in the NBC comedy “My Name is Earl” (2005- ). Pressley’s exuberant turn in the role earned her an Emmy in 2007, as well as two Golden Globe nominations and a host of other nods.
Born Jaime Elizabeth Pressley in Kinston, NC on July 30, 1977, she dove headlong into sports at an early age, studying gymnastics and dancing for 11 years. Modeling became a vocation when she was just 14, where she made a name for herself in the highly competitive field in both the U.S. and abroad. By the time she was 15, she had established her own career to such a degree, that she was able to successfully emancipate herself from her parents (James Pressley Sr. and Brenda Smith, a dance instructor) to pursue modeling fulltime.
By 1997, Pressley was making inroads into acting as well; after supporting roles in three forgettable features, she made her lead debut as a deranged teen temptress in the direct-to-video erotic thriller “Poison Ivy: The New Seduction.” Her willingness to appear nude on film led to offers for other projects of this ilk (in interviews, Pressley stated that she was unaware that nudity would be required for the picture) as well as a 1998 layout in Playboy, for which she was full aware. She would go on to pose for the magazine again, though in a more demure pictorial, in 2004. On the bright side, all of the exposure essentially cemented her in the minds of producers as a nubile and somewhat predatory femme fatale.
Thankfully, Pressley’s talent allowed her to eclipse this type-casting; in 1998, she tapped her own background to play an assistant gymnastics coach in the short-lived drama “Push” (ABC, 1998), and caught viewers’ eyes as a catty high school princess in the likable teen comedy, “Can’t Hardly Wait” (1998). However, it was the rude comedy “Ringmaster” (1998), with Jerry Springer playing a version of his real-life job as host of an outrageous talk show, that gave audiences a chance to see her comic chops on full blast. As Angel Zorzak, an unhinged trailer park habitué impregnated by her own stepfather, Pressley took one huge step away from her erotic thriller past and laid the groundwork for her future as a capable and talented comic actress.
Following “Ringmaster,” Pressley popped up in a wide variety of roles: she was an undead assassin in three episodes of the syndicated TV series “Mortal Kombat: Conquest” (1998-1999), a rich girl who falls for a dirt-poor Southern boy in the indie drama “Trash” (1999), and a ruthless gold digger in the broad comedy “Poor White Trash” (2000). The WB comedy “Jack and Jill” (1999-2001) gave her opportunities to play for laughs and drama as dancer Audrey, best friend and roommate to Amanda Peet’s Jack. Off-screen, she dated her series co-star, Simon Rex, for a year, starting in 2000. Pressley also appeared frequently in American “lad” magazines like Maxim and Stuff during this period; the latter would rank her eighth among its list of the “102 Sexiest Women in the World” in 2003, while the former placed her at #34 in its own rankings.
Her willingness to spoof her own image worked to her advantage in comedies like “Best Actress” (2000), as a softcore starlet nominated for an Oscar; “Joe Dirt” (2001) and “Tomcats” (2001). She even netted an MTV Movie Award nomination for her portrayal of a venal and malapropism-spouting cheerleader in “Not Another Teen Movie” (2001). Fewer people saw her play a vengeful scientist opposite Tom Sizemore, Steven Seagal, and Dennis Hopper in “Ticker” (2001) or a teen imperiled by demons in the inept horror feature “Pinata: Survival Island” (2002), but she gained further exposure by playing a lovelorn mermaid on a 2002 episode of “Charmed” (The WB, 1998-2006), as well as in ad campaigns for Liz Claiborne and a stint with the popular burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls.
Despite regular work and a degree of fame, Pressley had yet to find the perfect vehicle for her talents that would push her to the next level. It was not for a lack of trying – between 2002 and 2005, she appeared in almost every genre of film – from comedies (2005’s “Death to the Supermodels,” which she also produced), horror flicks (2005’s “Cruel World,” which pitted lunatic reality show castoff Edward Furlong against an unwilling cast of victims), action movies (2004’s dreary “Torque,” in which she played a venal biker girl), and even family features (the bizarre “Karate Dog” in 2004). TV offered her more opportunities, and she impressed with a recurring role as a sassy dental assistant on “The Happy Family” (NBC, 2003-04) opposite John Laroquette and Christine Baranski, as well as a well-received turn as Linda Bork, first wife to Evel Knievel (George Eads) in John Badham’s 2004 biopic about the daredevil rider. The following year, she was top-billed in a feature film version of the popular video game “DOA: Dead or Alive,” which cast her as an American wrestler who competes in an international fighting competition. The feature was released in 2007 to little acclaim.
In 2005, she joined the cast of “My Name is Earl,” a much-promoted new sitcom for NBC, and found her niche, and along with it, mainstream recognition at long last. As Joy, Pressley threw off whatever reins held back her previous comic turns and dove headfirst into the crass, conniving role, which called for her to engage in numerous fistfights (the result, according to Joy, of “watching too much ‘Springer’”) and a kidnap attempt, though subsequent episodes allowed her to show a slightly more sympathetic side, especially during Earl’s incarceration and her stint as a (reluctant) surrogate mother.
For her exuberant performance, Pressley netted a host of award nominations, including an Emmy nod and Teen Choice Award in 2006 and a Screen Actors Guild acknowledgement in 2007. That same year, she took home an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy. In 2006, she became engaged to her longtime boyfriend, DJ Eric Calvo, with whom she had a son, Desi James, in 2007 – named after famed Cuban entertainer Desi Arnaz. That same year, Pressley lent her distinctive voice to an animated character in the feature film version of Dr. Seuss’s “Horton Hears a Who” (2008) with Jim Carrey and Steve Carell. In 2008, she added another television award nomination to her growing collection when the Hollywood Foreign Press made her a Golden Globe nominee for “Earl.”