Judy Greer

Judy Greer (birthname: Judith Therese Evans) is perhaps one of the most consistently praised and yet underutilized actors in Hollywood. She is rarely cast in lead roles and is famed for her keen ability as a scene stealer in both comedy and drama. Greer made her first major impression as a supporting actor in director/writer Darren Stein’s teen comedy, Jawbreaker (1999), starring Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, and Judy Benz, and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival before a TriStar Pictures/Sony release.

Greer, with little fanfare, has been a prime acting selection for an impressive roster of major American filmmakers across three decades, including David O. Russell (Three Kings (1999)); Nancy Meyers (What Women Want (2000)); Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation. (2002)); M. Night Shyamalan (The Village (2004)); Cameron Crowe (Elizabethtown (2005)); Wes Craven (Cursed (2005)); Jake Kasdan (The TV Set (2006)); Edward Zwick (Love & Other Drugs (2010)); Alexander Payne (The Descendants (2011), for which Greer earned both a Screen Actors Guild Best Cast nomination and a Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress nomination); Jay and Mark Duplass (Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011)); Kimberly Peirce (the remake of Stephen King’s 1974 novel and Brian de Palma’s 1976 movie Carrie (2013)); Jason Reitman’s drama Men, Women & Children (2014); David Gordon Green (for the reboot of Halloween (2018) and its sequel, Halloween Kills (2021); Paul Weitz (for both American Dreamz (2006) and Grandma (2015)); Brad Bird (Disney’s Tomorrowland (2015)); Clint Eastwood (The 15:17 to Paris (2018)); Richard Linklater (Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2019)) and Alan Ball (Uncle Frank (2020)).

Judy Greer confirmed her status as a scene-stealing comic character actor in The Wedding Planner (2001), co-starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey under Adam Shankman’s direction and turning a profit ($94.7 million gross) for Columbia Pictures/Sony Releasing. Greer landed one of her rare starring roles in director/writer Jonathan Kesselman’s indie comedy, The Hebrew Hammer (2003), with Adam Goldberg, Mario Van Peebles, Nora Dunn, and Peter Coyote, but Greer returned to her usual comic sidekick slot in such light fare as 13 Going on 30 (2004), starring Jennifer Garner under Gary Winick’s direction.

Greer starred in the “David and Allison’s Story” segment of the Danny Leiner-directed indie comedy-drama about post-9/11 New York, The Great New Wonderful (2005), with the ensemble of Stephen Colbert, Olympia Dukakis, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Naseeruddin Shah, Tom McCarthy, Tony Shalhoub and Edie Falco, and garnering Greer some of the best reviews of her career. Greer stood out at her scene-stealing best in yet another mediocre rom-com, 27 Dresses (2008), starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman and Edward Burns, and grossing $162.7 million.

Greer began to separate herself from her typecasting as a comic foil by appearing in major franchise movies, starting with her role as Cornelia under Matt Revves’ superb direction in both the excellent Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) and the follow-up, War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), grossing a combined $1.2 billion for 20^th Century Fox. Greer joined another successful franchise with co-writer/director Colin Trevorrow’s well-received Jurassic World (2015), with Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Omar Sy, BD Wong, and Irrfan Khan.

Judy Greer then entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe under Peyton Reed’s direction as Ant-Man’s ex-wife opposite Paul Rudd’s odd superhero in both Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), earning a combined gross of $1.14 billion worldwide for Disney/Marvel Studios. Greer is one of the few actors to appear in different roles inside the larger MCU, as the voice of War Pig in director/writer James Gunn’s funny sequel for Disney/Marvel Studios, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), grossing a knockout $845.6 million globally.

Greer continued to expand her movie profile making her feature directorial debut with the comedy-drama (co-produced by Chris and Paul Weitz), A Happening of Monumental Proportions (2017), co-starring Common, Bradley Whitford, Anders Holm, Rob Riggle, Storm Reid, Allison Janney and Jennifer Garner, and released by Great Point Media. Greer had another rare starring role in the Christian-based family comedy-drama, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2024), with Pete Holmes directed by Dallas Jenkins, and released by Lionsgate.

Judy Greer returned to Stephen King territory—albeit with material written by King under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman, as a co-star in The Long Walk (date to be announced), with Mark Hamill under Francis Lawrence’s direction. Greer then joined the eye-catching cast of  Sharon Stone, Justin Long, Lily Gladstone, Michael McKean, and Marc Maron in director/writer Rob Burnett’s In Memoriam (date to be announced).