‘BACKYARD WEDDING’
CAST BIOS
ALICIA WITT (Kim Tyler) – Born in Worcester, MA to two teachers, Alicia Witt made her film debut in David Lynch's 1984 film, “Dune” at the age of eight. Home-schooled, Witt received her high school diploma at age 14 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time.
Once in Los Angeles, Lynch cast her again in his Emmy ® Award-winning cult classic television series "Twin Peaks,” and once again in his HBO trilogy "Hotel Room" in 1993, in which she portrayed a young woman with multiple personality disorder. Witt also appeared in “Mr. Holland's Opus” alongside Richard Dreyfuss.
In 1994, Witt appeared in the critically acclaimed “Fun,” directed by Rafal Zielinski. For the role, Witt received the Special Jury Recognition Award at Sundance and a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award.
Witt, an accomplished classically trained pianist, went on to showcase her skills in the romantic comedy “Playing Mona Lisa.” For this role, Witt won a Best Actress Award at the U.S. Com edy Arts Festival. Witt’s other credits include guest appearances on the series "The Sopranos" and "Ally McBeal,” before landing her lead role on the CBS sitcom “Cybill,” starring as Zoey, Cybill Shepherd's quirky daughter.
Witt has had a recurring role as Cheryl on the series “Friday Night Lights” and guest starring roles on “The Mentalist” and “Two and a Half Men,” and joined the cast of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” for the 2007-2008 season as Detective Nola Falacci. Witt can also be seen in the feature films “Peep World,” “Boarding House,” “Joint Body” and the John Waters film “Cecil B. DeMented.” In 2005, Witt starred in the feature film, “The Upside of Anger” opposite Kevin Costner and Joan Allen, after starring in 2002’s romantic comedy, “Two Weeks Notice” opposite Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock and made a cameo in the independent film “American Girl.”
Witt recently starred in the short film, “The Pond,” as a woman who is grieving the death of the love of her life. Witt is also working on a music career, and released her first self-titled EP on iTunes in July 2009. She resides in Los Angeles and New York.
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TEDDY SEARS (Evan Slauson) – Growing up in Chevy Chase, MD, Teddy Sears was a great student and an even better athlete. Great-grandson of a 1912 Olympic gold-medalist (shooting) and nephew of an aunt who brought home a bronze in the 100 meter butterfly from the 1956 Melbourne games, he followed that tradition of excellence with state and national recognition in high school football and swimming and played varsity football for the University of Maryland. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in business
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management before discovering his true calling and moving to New York to start his acting career.
There he studied with acclaimed coach William Esper, worked tirelessly in the crucible of daytime drama, and landed guest-star roles in series like “Law & Order.” He showed his comedy chops in bits on "The David Letterman Show" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked steadily in film and as a guest star in both television drama and comedy prior to joining the cast of Steven Bochco’s “Raising the Bar” which enjoyed a two-year run on TNT. He can also be seen in the feature film, “A Single Man,” starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.
Sears now makes his home in a beach community south of Los Angeles, where he uses his few spare hours surfing and training for triathlons.
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FRANCES FISHER (Eleanor Tyler) – Born in Milford On-Sea, England, Frances Fisher’s itinerant childhood in Columbia, Canada, France, Brazil, Turkey, Italy and in various locations around the United States undoubtedly provided fodder for her thespian career. After graduating from high school in Orange, TX, Fisher cut her teeth acting on Tennessee Williams and Robert Bolt in Orange Community Theater. She also apprenticed at the Barter Theatre in Virginia before moving to New York City, where her career quickly blossomed.
Fisher went on to star in more than 30 theatrical productions both regionally and off-Broadway, including Fool For Love, Desire Under the Elms, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Orpheus Descending and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. During this time she studied with Stella Adler, and is one of the last three students selected by Lee Strasberg to become a member of the renowned Actors’ Studio. Fisher earned a Drama-Logue award for Best Ensemble Cast in the world premiere of Caryl Churchill’s Three More Sleepless Nights.
Fisher began to build her film career with roles in “Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” “Babyfever,” “Patty Hearst” and “Female Perversions.” She then added starring roles opposite Clint Eastwood in the Academy Award®-winning “Unforgiven” and “True Crime” to her burgeoning resume. Fisher next starred in the Warner Brothers offbeat comedy “The Big Tease” and “The Rising Place” for director Tom Rice, which was the Grand Prize winner of the 2001 Malibu Film Festival. The versatile actress is perhaps best known for her memorable performance as Kate Winslet’s mother in “Titanic,” which garnered her a Screen Actors Guild nomination as part of Best Ensemble Cast, while the film went on to receive 11 Academy Awards.
In addition to her thriving movie career, Fisher has had many notable television roles. She starred as Lucille Ball in “Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter,” and as Janet Bouvier in “Jackie O: A Life Story,” both of which were CBS productions. She recurred on the CBS comedy series
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“Becker” as Ted Danson’s love interest and on “Titus” for FOX. Fisher also co-starred alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt in “The Audrey Hepburn Story” for ABC.
Fisher was most recently seen on the big screen in Universal Pictures “The Kingdom,” opposite Jamie Foxx and directed by Peter Berg, Dan Ireland’s “Jolene” and Paul Haggis’ “In The Valley Of Elah” with Tommy Lee Jones. While on the small screen she has completed recurring roles on “The Shield” and “Eureka.” Next, Fisher can be seen in the Screen Gem’s horror flick, “The Roommate,” opposite Leighton Meester, as well as the indie “Janie Jones.”
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MARKIE POST (Aunt Addie) – Markie Post has performed in starring roles in six series and numerous telefilms. She co-starred opposite John Ritter and Billy Bob Thornton for three seasons in the political comedy, “Hearts Afire,” after serving seven years as public defender Christine Sullivan on the Emmy winning sitcom, “Night Court.”
Post’s television movies include “Glitz,” “Someone She Knows” and “Chasing the Dragon.” Recently, she has had guest appearances on “30 Rock,” “Ghost Whisperer” and “Scrubs.” She shares a CableACE Award as executive producer of the special, “Presidential Inaugural Celebration for Children.” Post also enjoyed a cameo role in the feature film, “There’s Something About Mary,” as Mary’s mother.
Post is married to writer/producer Michael Ross and they have two wonderful daughters, Kate and Daisy.
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RYAN BITTLE (Jeffrey Blake) – Originally born in Los Angeles, Ryan Bittle attended The Julliard School in New York and received training at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. During his time at Julliard, he appeared on stage many times, in productions of Macbeth, The Dutchess of Malfi, No. 11 (Blue and White), Pericles, Summer Folk, and Cyrano De Bergerac.
Bittle got his start onscreen playing Todd Wilkins in the television adaptation of the teenage book series, “Sweet Valley High,” appearing in 24 episodes in the mid-nineties. From there, he went on to guest star on episodes of “Boy Meets World,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Walker: Texas Ranger,” and secured recurring roles on the long-running family drama, “7th Heaven” and “Dawson’s Creek.”
His most recent credits include guest spots on “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: NY,” “Numb3rs,” “NCIS” and “Dirt.” Bittle can next be seen in Universal’s drama/comedy “Kids in America,” starring Anna Faris and Michelle Trachtenberg about an aimless group of college grads, and the thriller, “Lure,” for Promenade Pictures. # # #
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MARRY S. MURPHY (Jack Tyler) – An actor with more than 20 years of experience under his belt, Harry Murphy has had numerous credits in television and film, guest starring on more than a dozen sitcoms and dramas. Murphy has enjoyed recurring roles on “ER,” “Seinfeld” and “Desperate Housewives,” and has guest starred on “Big Love,” “Dharma and Greg,” “Just Shoot Me,” “Party of Five,” “Married …With Children” and “Murphy Brown,” just to name a few. His co-starring roles have been on “Six Feet Under,” “Boston Public,” “The West Wing” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Murphy has also had several roles in feature films, including the Oscar®-nominated Aaron Sorkin film, “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Evan Almighty,” starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman, “Shattered!” and Oliver Stone’s “Nixon.”
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