Annie Potts biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Annie Potts was born on October 28, 1952 in Franklin, Kentucky, a small town near the Tennessee border. Her mother was named Dorothy Potts, and her father, Powell Potts, was a major in the United States Air Force during World War II who went on to a successful business career and served as president of the National Limestone Institute. Potts first set her heart on acting at the age of 12 when she attended a drama camp in North Carolina. One of the counselors, Sylvia Bernard, who would become Potts' lifelong friend, cast her as the lead in the camp production of Heidi and told her, "You have a little light." Potts recalled, "Nobody had ever told me I was good at anything. It was, like, that's what I'm going to do, then!" When Potts returned home from camp, she set out to read every single play held by her local library.

The next year, when Potts was 13 years old, the Kentucky Arts Council decided to fund a community theater, the Piccolo Playhouse, in the basement of the Goodnight Memorial Library in Potts' hometown of Franklin. The subterranean stage became a kind of home away from home for a teenaged Potts, who would eventually star in Piccolo Playhouse productions of The Curious Savage, Where's Charley? and The Fantasticks. "That's where I was first able to practice my art," she later remembered.

After graduating from high school, Potts moved on to Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she majored in theater and graduated with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in 1973. While at Stephens, Potts met and fell in love with a fellow student named James Hayman; the pair married shortly after graduation in 1973 and went on to have three sons together. Hayman has since enjoyed a successful career as a producer and director of shows such as Ugly Betty and Judging Amy.

While driving through New Mexico on a post-graduation road trip, Potts and Hayman were involved in a terrible car crash in which Potts broke both her legs. During her long rehabilitation in Santa Fe, she took up work in costuming for local theaters. Upon her full recovery from her injuries, Potts landed a position in the company of the Globe Playhouse in West Hollywood, where she appeared in productions of Cymbeline and The Merchant of Venice.

Career Breakthroughs

In 1978, Potts made her feature film debut in the 1978 picture Corvette Summer, earning a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.