Phyllis Smith
American actress (born 1949)
Phyllis Smith (born August 15, 1949) is an American actress and casting director. She is best known for playing Phyllis Vance in the television series The Office and her voice role as Sadness in Pixar's animated franchise Inside Out.
01Early life and education
Smith was born on August 15, 1949, in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from Cleveland High School.
Smith graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1972 with a degree in elementary education. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was a dancer, a cheerleader for the St. Louis Cardinals football team, and a burlesque performer. She said that there was "no stripping, but I did wear feathers." She was forced to quit dancing after suffering a knee injury, and later worked in Hollywood, California, as an actress and in casting.
02Career
Smith was working as a casting associate under the direction of Allison Jones on the television series The Office, when she was offered the role of Phyllis Lapin, a character created specifically for her, a soft-spoken saleswoman who tended to disagree with pompous office manager Michael Scott. She received Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2006 and 2007 for her performance in The Office in the category "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series". In June 2008, she appeared with the cast of The Office on Celebrity Family Feud.
In 2011, Smith played a supporting role in the film Bad Teacher. In 2015, she voiced the character Sadness in the Pixar film Inside Out, receiving high critical praise for her performance. In 2016, she starred as Betty Broderick-Allen in the Netflix series The OA. She reprised her role as Sadness in Inside Out 2 in 2024.
03Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With | Marsha | |
| 2011 | Bad Teacher | Lynn | |
| Butter | Nancy | ||
| Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked | Flight Attendant | ||
| 2015 | Inside Out | Sadness (voice) | Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in a Feature Production |
| Riley's First Date? | Short film | ||
| 2021 | Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar | Delores | |
| 2024 | Inside Out 2 | Sadness (voice) |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arrested Development | Carla | Episode: "The Immaculate Election" |
| 2005, 2013 | The Office | Phyllis Vance | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2007, 2008) Nominated , Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2009, 2013) |
| 2006 | The Office: The Accountants | Episode: "Phyllis" | |
| 2008 | The Office: The Outburst | Episode: "The Explanation" | |
| 2013 | Trophy Wife | Mrs. Patty Steinberg | 3 episodes |
| 2014 | The Middle | Mrs. Huff | Episode: "The Sinkhole" |
| 2016, 2019 | The OA | Betty Broderick-Allen | 12 episodes |
| 2024 | Chad | Herself | Episode: "Class President" |
| Dream Productions | Sadness (voice) | 4 episodes |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Disney Infinity 3.0 | Sadness | Voice |
| 2024 | Disney Speedstorm | Voice |
Production work
| Year | Title | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Roswell | Assistant casting director | 1 episode |
| 2000-2002 | Spin City | 45 episodes | |
| 2005 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | 10 episodes | |
| The Office | 6 episodes |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Phyllis Smith”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Phyllis Smith FOX 2 St. Louis (cropped).JPG by Vsculley, CC BY-SA 4.0
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