Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress. Known for playing eccentric characters in independent films, she was named "Queen of the Indies" by Time in 1997. She has received nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Independent Spirit Awards.
Posey's film credits include Dazed and Confused (1993), Party Girl, Kicking and Screaming (both 1995), The Daytrippers (1996), The House of Yes, Clockwatchers (both 1997), Henry Fool, You've Got Mail (both 1998), Scream 3 (2000), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), Blade: Trinity (2004), Superman Returns (2006), Broken English (2007), Irrational Man (2015), Café Society (2016), Columbus (2017), and Beau Is Afraid (2023). She has worked with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016).
On television, Posey has starred in the Netflix science fiction series Lost in Space (2018–2021), the HBO Max miniseries The Staircase (2022), and third season of the HBO anthology series The White Lotus (2025). Her book, You're on an Airplane: A Self-Mythologizing Memoir, was published in 2018.
Posey was born November 8, 1968, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Lynda (née Patton), a chef, and Chris Posey, owner of a car dealership. She was named after model Suzy Parker, and has a twin brother, Christopher. After Posey's birth, her family lived in Monroe, Louisiana, for 11 years. They later moved to Laurel, Mississippi, where her mother worked as a chef and culinary instructor for the Viking Range Corporation in Greenwood and her father operated a car dealership. She was raised Catholic.
Born "into turbulence," Posey described her family as "fabulous Southern characters," saying, "I'm a character actor because I come from a family of characters." As a child, she showcased an inclination for performing, and attended Strong River Camp and Farm in Pinola, Mississippi. She also studied ballet and traveled to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for training during their summer programs. At 12, she auditioned to attend the school's competitive ballet department but was not accepted. Her father encouraged her to act instead.
Posey attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where she studied drama. While Posey was studying, a talent agent saw her in a play and took her on as a client, sending her out on auditions for independent films and off-off-Broadway plays. Less than three weeks before graduation, she dropped out of school after landing her first break in television with the eight-episode role of Tess Shelby on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns.
In 1993, Posey made her first film appearances in Steve Barron's comedy Coneheads, Steven Starr's romance film Joey Breaker, and Richard Linklater's coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused. The latter film is considered to be "the [introduction] for most viewers at the time to the actor herself". In 1994, Posey appeared in Hal Hartley's short film Opera No. 1 and was featured in his crime comedy Amateur. Those parts marked the beginning of a recurrent collaboration between the director and the actress. That year, she appeared in Nora Ephron's black comedy Mixed Nuts, Nigel Dick's thriller Final Combination, and Rory Kelly's dramedy Sleep with Me.
Posey's role as a free-spirited young woman living in New York City in Daisy von Scherler Mayer's Party Girl (1995) proved to be her breakthrough. Budgeted at $150,000, the film was shot in 19 days. It was an arthouse success and the first feature film to premiere on the Internet. Film critic Roger Ebert called it a "showcase leading role for Parker Posey […] who obviously has the stuff, and generates wacky charm." In 1995, Posey played a recovering alcoholic who idolizes Janis Joplin in Peter Cohn's drama Drunks, one half of an estranged couple in Hartley's Flirt, the leading lady's "eternal love slave" in Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation, a serial killer in Todd Verow's Frisk, and a college student in Noah Baumbach's directorial debut Kicking and Screaming.
Posey took on the role of a perky Dairy Queen employee in Christopher Guest's mockumentary Waiting for Guffman (1996), about a community theatre group. Starting with this film, she became a member of a loose repertory group that has appeared in several of Guest's films, in which the actors improvise much of the dialogue and receive the same fee and the same portion of profits. In 1996, Posey played a young woman living in a small town in Richard Linklater's SubUrbia, gallery owner Mary Boone in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat, and an apathetic sister in Greg Mottola's The Daytrippers. Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented that "the main action of The Daytrippers is bright, real and even poignant enough to make this journey worth the ride," and felt that Posey played her character as "the apotheosis of blase cool."
Posey starred alongside Lisa Kudrow, Toni Collette and Alanna Ubach in Clockwatchers (1997), which depicted the lives of four friends working in an office. Dustin Putman of TheFilmFile called it a "jewel of a film" and praised the performances of the cast, describing Posey as "winning and humorous". She received positive reviews for her role as a delusional woman in love with her own brother in The House of Yes (1997). Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman asserted that "The House of Yes is knowingly overripe, a kitsch melodrama that dares to make incest sexy," and noted that "Parker Posey may never have a role that suits her as perfectly." For her performance, she was awarded a Special Recognition for Acting Award at Sundance.
Posey was nicknamed "Queen of the Indies" by Time in 1997. She has often considered the title somewhat of a hindrance, and during a 2012 interview with IndieWire, recalled:
I'm trying to work in studio movies, but they won't hire me. I get feedback from my agent saying, "She's too much of an indie queen." And then on the other side, my name doesn't get the financing to do a movie over $1 million. And I'm called "the indie queen". So it's really a challenging path because I know so much about the indie side of the business. Because I grew up in it [...] But it's different times. And this stuff gets projected onto me. People are like, "You're here [at the Sundance film festival] every year, you do so many indie movies." And I'm like, "No, I did Broken English five years ago."
In 1998, Posey appeared as the unemployed sister of a socially inept garbageman in Hartley's Henry Fool, a gold-digging widow in Alastair Reid's What Rats Won't Do, and the title role in Brian Skeet's The Misadventures of Margaret. In her first major studio film credit, Nora Ephron's romantic comedy You've Got Mail (1998), she portrayed an abrasive publisher, alongside Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The film received positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over $250 million worldwide. She appeared in Robert Dornhelm's The Venice Project (1999) as part of an ensemble cast led by Dennis Hopper and Lauren Bacall.
In Christopher Guest's Best in Show (2000), which revolved around the dog show circuit, Posey starred as a stereotypical yuppie and the owner of a Weimaraner. The film has a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the website's critical consensus reading, "Best in Show boasts an appealingly quirky premise and a brilliantly talented cast." In Wes Craven's horror sequel Scream 3 (2000), she played an ill-fated actress. Her performance earned her positive reviews and a MTV Movie Award nomination. Scream 3 made $161.8 million globally. She appeared as a villainous record label CEO in Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan's musical comedy Josie and the Pussycats (2001) which, despite mixed reviews and lackluster box office returns, later gained a cult following.
In 2001, Posey made her Broadway debut, playing one half a of struggling Manhattan couple, in Elaine May's Taller Than a Dwarf, which was directed by Alan Arkin and ran at the Longacre Theatre. From 2000 to 2001, she provided her voice for episodes of Futurama and The Simpsons, and guest-starred in Will & Grace. She received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for playing an ambitious rival in the CBS television film Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay.