Missi Pyle Movies
Born Andrea Kay Pyle in Houston, TX, a six-month-old Pyle was given the fateful nickname of "Little Missi," which would stick to her throughout her childhood and to the present day. Pyle was infatuated with acting by the age of 13, and attended Germantown High School in Tennessee, one of the top three performing-arts high schools in the United States. While there, Pyle was tapped as a lead singer in several musical productions, though her eventual goal remained a career in television and film. After graduation from Germantown High, Pyle was accepted to the prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts and was cast as the female lead in a series of Shakespearean productions. During the summer, she crossed the Atlantic to attend the Oxford School of Drama in England, where she further honed her acting skills.By 1996, Pyle had made her film debut in The Cottonwood, which followed a group of wannabe actors hoping to use their lottery winnings to score big in Hollywood. Pyle's breakout role, however, wouldn't come until several years later, when she played a supporting role as a love-struck alien in Galaxy Quest alongside Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver. Though the early 2000s did little to bring Pyle much in the way of mainstream success, they nonetheless helped the actress develop a loyal fan base; her performances in The Wayne Brady Show, Ally McBeal, and Josie and the Pussycats (all 2001) were solid enough to grab the attention of several prominent casting directors. Surely enough, by 2003, Pyle had been chosen for a supporting role in Bringing Down the House with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, as well as a small but indelible role in Tim Burton's big-budget fantasy comedy Big Fish (2003). In 2004, Pyle worked with Ben Stiller in Along Came Polly and lent her support to Soul Plane and 50 First Dates. Working with Stiller proved a lucky experience for Pyle, who accepted a larger supporting role in Stiller's Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), which also stars fellow Galaxy Quest alumni Justin Long. When she isn't filming, Pyle continues her work with the all-female sketch comedy group Bitches and Funny. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
A team of intrepid adventurers travels through the outer reaches of the galaxy, each week finding excitement and adventure on Galaxy Quest! Or at least that's the way it was in the mid-1970s, when brave if reckless Captain Peter Quincy Taggart, lovely Lieutenant Tawny Madison, and inscrutable alien Dr. Lazarus were the leaders of an interstellar law enforcement team on the TV series of that name. Twenty years later, the show is still in reruns, and Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver), and Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman) prop up their sagging careers by making appearances at sci-fi conventions, where they grudgingly shake hands and give autographs for the show's socially inept following. However, it turns out that nerdy sci-fi fans aren't the only ones watching: somewhere in another solar system, a group of alien rebels living under a regime of violence and repression have picked up broadcasts of Galaxy Quest, and they aren't aware that it's fiction. They travel to Earth and encounter the Galaxy Quest cast, who figure that they're just another bunch of guys who like to dress funny. However, they soon realize that they're being hired not for another autograph-signing session but for a real-life outer space rescue mission. Galaxy Quest was directed by Dean Parisot, who had a background in TV directing before his theatrical debut with the dark comedy Home Fries. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, (more)
- 1999
With the gang's high school reunion approaching, Kate (Christa Miller) hopes to spend quality time with class geek-turned-computer billionaire Patrick Wells (Stan Cahill), while Lewis (Ryan Stiles) somehow manages to persuade Bo Derek to be his date. At the festivities, Drew (Drew Carey) is surprised that former cheerleader Kelly Walker (Anna Gunn), who used to cut him dead, is now fascinated by him and won't leave him alone. Meanwhile, Oswald (Diedrich Bader) is hilariously humiliated by his old classmate Stacey (Missi Pyle), once fat and ugly and now trim and beautiful--and thirsting for revenge! This episode is highlighted by a performance of the song "Whip It", to say nothing of Drew's shocking confession at the end (shocking, that is, to everyone but the viewers). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
In this comedy drama, a winning lottery ticket gives four aspiring actors the chance of a lifetime. The quartet is first seen commiserating over the failure of their latest off-Broadway production in the Cottonwood Diner in Greenwich Village. To ease the sting of a scathing review, the four buy a lottery ticket and promise that they will use the wealth to make a film. Sure enough, they win $3 million. After viewing many popular hit movies including The Godfather, Rocky and When Harry Met Sally, they set to penning a highly derivative script. Trouble comes when one of them, a compulsive gambler, backs out and uses his share to bet the ponies. The remaining trio then bring in a new partner, the daughter of famed vaudevillian Danny Rose. After that they convince a relative to manage them and head off to solicit a hot young director. More trouble comes when the Screenwriter's Guild tries to sue them for plagiarism. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
