Joey Lauren Adams

Joey Lauren Adams
Adams at the June 2015 Florida SuperCon
Born	(1968-01-09) January 9, 1968 (age 49) North Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Residence	Beverly Hills, California
Occupation	Actress, director
Years active	1991–present

Joey Lauren Adams (born January 9, 1968) is an American actress and director who has appeared in more than 40 films. She appeared in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse films, particularly Mallrats and Chasing Amy, receiving a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for the latter.

She began her film career in 1977 with a small role in Exorcist II: The Heretic. From there she began to find larger roles. In 1991, she appeared in "Top of the Heap", the 100th episode of Married... with Children, and subsequently starred in its short-lived spinoff. In 1993, Adams landed her first major film role as Simone in Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. The same year, she appeared in the Saturday Night Live spinoff film Coneheads as one of Connie Conehead's friends.

Two years later, Adams appeared in Mallrats, written and directed by Kevin Smith. The two started dating during the film's post-production, and their relationship provided the inspiration for Smith's next film, Chasing Amy. The relationship did not last long but ended on friendly terms. Meanwhile, in 1996, while Smith was finalizing the script for Chasing Amy, Adams was cast in the slapstick comedy Bio-Dome, which was directed by Jason Bloom. Adams played the role of Monique, Bud Macintosh's (Pauly Shore) girlfriend.

In 1997's Chasing Amy, Adams played the lead role of Alyssa Jones, a lesbian who falls in love with a man, played by Ben Affleck. Later, Smith would describe Chasing Amy as a "sort of penance/valentine" and a "thank-you homage" to Adams. In addition to her acting work on the film, Adams wrote and performed the song "Alive" for the film's soundtrack.