Liza Weil

Liza Rebecca Weil (born June 5, 1977) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Paris Geller in the WB/CW comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007) and its Netflix revival series Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016). She is also known for her roles as White House aide Amanda Tanner in the ABC political drama series Scandal (2012) and as attorney Bonnie Winterbottom in the ABC legal drama series How to Get Away with Murder (2014–20).

Liza Weil
Weil in 2005
Born	Liza Rebecca Weil (1977-06-05) June 5, 1977[1][2][3][4] Passaic, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1993–present
Spouse(s)	Paul Adelstein ​ ( m. 2006; div. 2017)
Children	1

Early life and training

Weil was born in Passaic, New Jersey, into an acting family.[5] She was raised in, and continues to practice, Reform Judaism.[6]

Her parents, Lisa and Marc Weil, toured Europe with their comedy troupe, The Madhouse Company of London, with her in tow. Weil had aspirations of becoming an archaeologist in her younger years, because of the Indiana Jones film trilogy and a childhood crush on Harrison Ford.[7] In 1984, at the age of seven, her family settled down in suburban Lansdale, Pennsylvania northwest of Philadelphia, where her parents continue to reside. Weil was a self-avowed average student in high school who focused more on her budding acting career than her studies.[8]

Weil traveled frequently to New York City for professional auditions and acted in productions both off-Broadway and in Philadelphia's theatrical community before pursuing her film and television career. A 1995 graduate of North Penn High School, she graduated in the summer rather than the regular term due to her acting commitments.[9][10] Her first appearance on network television was in a 1995 episode of the New York-based CBS soap opera As the World Turns, where she played an unnamed student in a science class.[11]

Career

Weil continues to be active in the Los Angeles theatrical community during hiatuses, is a regular performer at the Ojai Playwrights Conference in early August and radio dramas with L.A. Theatre Works, and still occasionally performs in live theater in Philadelphia and New York City. She has acted with every member of her family; in 2004, she headlined with her father in a well-received community theater production of Proof at the Montgomery Theater in Souderton, Pennsylvania, just north of her adopted hometown of Lansdale. Her first ever television role in 1994, which was an episode of The Adventures of Pete & Pete called "Yellow Fever", found her playing a bully alongside her mother Lisa, who played a teacher (she would also play a second role later in the series as a love interest to Big Pete in the episode "35 Hours"). Her younger sister Samantha shared the screen with Liza in Gilmore Girls' third season finale, "Those Are Strings, Pinocchio". Samantha Weil played a student named Bernadette (who was unrelated to Paris) making out a video yearbook entry in front of an impatient Paris, standing off to the side waiting to make her own.

An alumna of Columbia University, Weil received her first major feature film role co-starring with Kevin Bacon in Stir of Echoes. Before that role, she was the star of the 1998 independent film, Whatever, and her first film in 1996 was the short film, A Cure For Serpents, where she played the daughter of a mysophobic woman bringing home a boyfriend who was not as obsessive with cleanliness, and how the mother deals with the challenge. She has also done several other short and feature-length independent films, which include, Motel Jerusalem, Scar, and Lullaby, and shown interest in behind-the-camera work. After her work in Whatever and Stir of Echoes, Warner Bros. signed Weil to a talent holding deal and she moved to Los Angeles, where she guest-starred on series produced by that studio, including ER and The West Wing, before being cast on Gilmore Girls.[12]

Weil was originally considered for the role of Rory Gilmore by Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino before Alexis Bledel won the role; the character of Paris Geller was created especially for Weil.[10]

In 2006, Weil was featured in the horror themed short film, Grace, in which her character suffers a miscarriage, yet decides to carry the baby to term with terrifying results. The film, which also featured Brian Austin Green, premiered at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention on June 2, 2006, and is the basis for the 2009 feature film of the same name.[13] She also had a minor role as a humane society worker in the Molly Shannon film Year of the Dog, and appeared as Doris Delay in the 2008 biographical film Neal Cassady, and as a reporter in the 2010 live-action rotoscoping film Mars.

Weil also voiced a public service announcement which aired from June to October 2007 and aired on radio stations in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley in support of the American Diabetes Association's Step Up to Fight Diabetes staircase climb event, which took place in Center City Philadelphia on October 20, 2007.

In 2009, Weil returned to her roots as a regular guest star in various television series, including appearances in Eleventh Hour, CSI, In Plain Sight, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice and in February 2010 began a run as Dr. Glass on the popular Internet series Anyone But Me; series creator Susan Miller officiated at Weil's wedding to Paul Adelstein in 2006.[14]

In March 2011, it was confirmed that Weil had signed for the role of Amanda Tanner, a White House aide, in ABC's Scandal, a series written and produced by Shonda Rhimes.[15][16] It was picked up by the network for their midseason 2011-12 schedule on May 13, 2011,[17] and Weil had a recurring role in the series' first season.[15]

Weil played a supporting role in the horror film Smiley, and started 2013 as a recurring guest star in the last half of the only season of Amy Sherman-Palladino's ABC Family series Bunheads as Milly, the sister of Truly Stone.[18] She is also a constant collaborator with independent film director Noah Buschel, having appeared in most of his work through the years and co-producing and starring in the 2014 low-cost project The Situation is Liquid.[19]

At the end of February 2014, Weil was confirmed as signing on for another Shonda Rhimes project, having been cast as Bonnie Winterbottom, an assistant to Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) in the ABC series How to Get Away with Murder,[20] which premiered during the 2014–15 television season.[21] She also reprised her role as Paris Geller in the "Winter" and "Spring" episodes of the Netflix revival series Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.[22] In the fall of 2019, it was revealed that Weil will be in the third season of the Amazon Prime Video series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Carole Keen (a character created in tribute to bass guitarist Carol Kaye, though Kaye voiced objections to the overall character and portrayal[23]), making that series Weil's third collaboration with the Palladinos.[24][25]

Personal life

Weil married actor Paul Adelstein in a Reform Jewish ceremony in November 2006.[26] They had previously known each other through theatrical projects.[27] The two went on to appear together in three film projects: the short film Order Up (2007), the Gregory Dark-helmed Little Fish, Strange Pond (2008), and The Missing Person (2008). She also appeared in a 2011 episode of Private Practice, although she and Adelstein had no scenes together. The couple welcomed a daughter in April 2010.[28][29] Weil filed for divorce from Adelstein in March 2016,[30] citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in November 2017.[31] Weil then dated Murder co-star Charlie Weber from mid-2016 to February 2019.[32]

Weil is left-handed, and a natural brunette.[33] She is the aunt of child actress Scarlett Estevez, who plays Trixie Espinoza on the Fox/Netflix series Lucifer.[34]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Whatever	Anna Stockard
1999	Stir of Echoes	Debbie Kozac
2002	Dragonfly	Suicide Girl
	Lullaby	Rane
2006	Grace	Madeline Matheson	Short film
2007	Year of the Dog	Trishelle
	Order Up	Hippie Patron	Short film
	Neal Cassady	Doris Delay
2008	Mars	Jewel
2009	Little Fish, Strange Pond	Norma	Direct-to-DVD
	The Missing Person	Agent Chambers
2012	Advantage: Weinberg	Sylvia Weinberg	Voice role; short film
	Smiley	Dr. Jenkins

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Adventures of Pete & Pete	Bully Margie Corsell	2 episodes
1995	As the World Turns	Student	1 episode
2000	The West Wing	Karen Larson	Episode: "Take out the Trash Day"
2000–02	ER	Samantha Sobriki	3 episodes
2000–07	Gilmore Girls	Paris Geller	96 episodes
2001	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Lara Todd	Episode: "Tangled"
2009	Eleventh Hour	Ashley Filmore	Episode: "H2O"
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Risa Parvess	Episode: "A Space Oddity"
	In Plain Sight	Angela Atkins	Episode: "Gilted Lily"
	Grey's Anatomy	Alison Clark	Episode: "Here's to Future Days"
2010	Anyone But Me	Dr. Glass	Web series; 4 episodes
2011	Private Practice	Andi	Episode: "Two Steps Back"
2012	Scandal	Amanda Tanner	6 episodes
2013	Bunheads	Milly Stone	6 episodes
2014–20	How to Get Away with Murder	Bonnie Winterbottom	Main role; 90 episodes
2016	Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life	Paris Geller	3 episodes
	The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon	Guest with Scott Patterson and Sean Gunn	November 22, 2016
2019	The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel	Carole Keen	4 episodes

References

1. "Today's top celebrity birthdays list (June 5, 2018)". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
2. Saunders, Geraldine (June 5, 2018). "Omarr's daily astrological forecast, For release 06/05/18 for 06/05/18". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
3. "Liza Weil on Twitter: "Hey all you lovely people. Your birthday wishes made today perfect. Thank you one and all!"". Twitter. June 5, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
4. "Liza Weil on Twitter: "Deeply appreciate all the birthday wishes today. You guys are aces. Thank you."". Twitter. June 6, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
5. Orley, Emily (September 17, 2014). "The Actress Behind Paris Geller Is All Grown Up". BuzzFeed. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
6. Miller, Gerri (September 19, 2014). "The new year brings viewers new T.V. shows". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
7. Profile, Boston Globe; accessed November 4, 2014.
8. North Penn's Weil fitting in as just one of the 'Girls' Archived November 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, by Ellen Gray of The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 9, 2002
9. Porter, Kevin; Adejuyigbe, Demi (September 14, 2015). "Gilmore Guys: Gilmore Gabs – Liza Weil". Gilmore Guys. HeadGum. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
10. McGroarty, Cynthia J. (July 4, 2004). "In play, father-daughter day TV actress Liza Weil has always been around theater, thanks to her dad". Philly.com. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
11. "Liza Weil On As The World Turns 1995 - They Started On Soaps - Daytime TV (ATWT)". clip from 1995 episode of As The World Turns. CBS, Radio and television production via "They Started On Soaps" YouTube channel. January 25, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
12. Hirway, Hrishikesh; Malina, Joshua (June 29, 2016). "1.13: Take Out the Trash Day (with Senator Bob Casey and Liza Weil)". The West Wing Weekly. Retrieved July 17, 2016.
13. Fangoria – America's Horror Magazine Archived October 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
14. "Anyone But Me Anything But Unpopular with 2.2M Views, Gilmore Girls Star Joining Cast". Newteevee.com. January 28, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
15. "Everyone has secrets, but only Olivia Pope can make them go away, on the series premiere of ABC's "Scandal"". The Futon Critic. March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
16. Andreeva, Nellie. "Bruce Greenwood Among Latest ABC Pilot Castings". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
17. "ABC Cancels 7 Shows, Renews 'Happy Endings', Orders 12 New Shows". BuddyTV.com. May 13, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
18. Ng, Philiana (November 5, 2012). "'Bunheads' Sets Another 'Gilmore Girls' Reunion". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
19. Buschel, Noah (May 29, 2014). "Without Frills". Filmmaker. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
20. "Development Update: Thursday, February 27". The Futon Critic. February 27, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
21. Andreeva, Nellie (May 8, 2014). "ABC Picks Up Shonda Rhimes 'How To Get Away With Murder', John Ridley's 'American Crime', Comedy 'Black-ish' To Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
22. Stedman, Alex (February 7, 2016). "'Gilmore Girls' Revival: Liza Weil Confirms She's Returning". Variety. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
23. Bailey-Millado, Rob (January 2, 2020). "Bass legend Carol Kaye blasts 'Mrs. Maisel' homage as 'slander'". NY Post. New York, NY. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
24. Connolly, Kelly (October 14, 2019). "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 3 Trailer Teases a Gilmore Girls Reunion". TVGuide.com. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
25. Carlin, Shannon (December 8, 2019). "Liza Weil's Mrs. Maisel Character Pays Homage To A Trailblazing Woman In Music & No One Noticed". Refinery29. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
26. "American Jewish Life Magazine". ajlmagazine.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
27. "Chicago's Paul Adelstein, a.k.a. 'Prison Break's' Kellerman, nabs a role in the 'Grey's Anatomy' spinoff". Chicago Tribune. March 8, 2007.
28. "Dr. Cooper Freedman Would Breastfeed if He Could". momlogic.com. April 12, 2010. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
29. "Anyone But Me – Season 2 Episode 9". anyonebutmeseries.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
30. Mizoguchi, Karen (April 4, 2016). "Shondaland Stars Liza Weil and Paul Adelstein File for Divorce". People. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
31. Stone, Natalie (November 9, 2017). "Gilmore Girls' Liza Weil Finalizes Divorce from Paul Adelstein". People. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
32. "How to Get Away With Murder's Charlie Weber and Liza Weil Break Up". E! News. February 21, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
33. Surf Report Web Journal - August 11, 2007 • Surf Report 8 Archived October 13, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
34. "Scarlett Estevez on Twitter: "Thank you! @liza_weil is Scarlett's aunt so she's got a pretty great role model. (red heart symbol)… "". Twitter. March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.

External links

• Liza Weil on IMDb
• Liza Weil on Twitter