Pamela Adlon

Pamela Adlon (born 9 July 1966) is an American actress, voice actress, screenwriter, and producer. She is best known for her voice work, in particular as the voice of Bobby Hill on King of the Hill for which she won an Emmy Award, as well as the title character of Pajama Sam in the Pajama Sam video games. She is also known for playing Dolores in Grease 2 and Ashley Spinelli on the animated series Recess, and for her appearances on Californication and Louie, on which she is also a consulting producer. As of 2016, Adlon stars in the FX comedy television series Better Thingswhich she co-created with Louis C.K.. The series won a Peabody Award, and she has been nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Pamela Adlon was born as Pamela Fionna Segall on July 9, 1966, in The Bronx, New York, to Donald "Don" Maxwell and Marina L. Segall. Her father, Don (1933–1994), was a TV comedy writer-producer and author of comic books and science fiction pulp novels. He produced The Dave Garroway Show, which became AM New York, and then The Today Show. He was a page at NBC with Gil Cates, and wrote erotic fiction under various pseudonyms, including "Troy Conway." Adlon's father was born to a Jewish family in Boston, Massachusetts, and her mother is English. Her mother converted to Judaism. Adlon said her parents met at the USO in Paris.

As a child, Adlon lived in the Carnegie House building at 100 West 57th Street. She has said that she and her family lived bi-coastally, moving between Los Angeles and New York because her father was a journeyman writer and producer for TV. She started performing at age nine; one of her father's friends had a radio studio, so she would do voice over work there, and while in Los Angeles, she did acting work. She attended Sarah Lawrence College for a semester.

Adlon made her acting debut at the age of 16 as "Dolores Rebchuck" in the 1982 musical sequel film Grease 2, starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer. She then had a recurring role as "Kelly Affinado" in the sitcom The Facts of Life (1983–1984). This was followed by appearances in Bad Manners (1984), Willy/Milly(1986), Say Anything... (1989), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and Plump Fiction (1997).

After a successful career as a child actress, she struggled to find parts in her 20s, which led her to develop a voice-over career. She has said that voice-overs saved her career.

Adlon gained further acclaim and recognition for voicing the starring role of Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series King of the Hill (1997–2010), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2002. Adlon also gained recognition for voicing Margaret "Moose" Pearson in Pepper Ann (1997–2000), Ashley Spinelli in Recess (1997–2001), Brigette Murphy in Milo Murphy's Law (2016–2019).

Adlon is recognizable for her husky voice, which led to her voicing young boys in numerous animated series and films. She voiced Baloo in Jungle Cubs (1996–1998), the title role in the video game series Pajama Sam (1996–2001), Lucky in 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1998), Hector MacBadger in Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks (2003–2007), and Andy in Squirrel Boy (2006–2007), among numerous others. She was nominated for an Annie Award for her role as Otto Osworth in the Cartoon Network animated comedy series Time Squad (2001–2003). She continued to voice characters in films, such as The Animatrix (2003) and as Vidia in the Tinker Bell film series (2008–2015).

Adlon had notable live-action roles as Emma Path in the ABC legal drama series Boston Legal (2007–2008), Marcy Runkle in the Showtime comedy-drama series Californication (2007–2014), and as Pamela in the FX comedy series Louie (2010–2015). She was also a writer and consulting producer for the lattermost series.

Adlon's professional relationship with Louis C.K. began in 2006, when she played his wife in the short-lived HBO sitcom Lucky Louie. She starred as the friend of Louie (a fictional character based on himself, Louis C.K.) in his FX single-camera series Louie. She appeared in every season but the third. Adlon co-wrote seven episodes of the series and became a consulting producer. She earned a total of four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her work on Louie. She earned two nominations as a producer for Best Comedy Series, one nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for co-writing the episode "Daddy's Girlfriend Part 1", and one nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

In 2015, FX gave a pilot order for Better Things, a comedy created by and starring Adlon. She plays an actress raising three daughters. The pilot was written by Adlon and Louis C.K., who also directed it. It was picked up for a 10-episode series on August 7, 2015. The show, which premiered on September 8, 2016, is semi-autobiographical. Adlon directed and wrote a majority of the series' episodes.

The series received widespread critical acclaim and was honored with a Peabody Award. Adlon received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the first two seasons of Better Things. She also received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and four nominations for the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy.

Adlon was represented by manager Dave Becky until November 2017, when she fired him following his involvement in the Louis C.K. sexual harassment scandal.

Adlon had recent live-action roles in the romantic drama film First Girl I Loved (2016), the science fiction action film Bumblebee (2018), and the comedy-drama film The King of Staten Island (2020). She had a guest role as Mrs. Wolowitz in the CBS sitcom Young Sheldon (2017) and a recurring role as Dr. Leigh in the acclaimed NBC drama series This Is Us (2020).

In 1996, Adlon married Felix O. Adlon, the son of German director Percy Adlon. They divorced in 2010 and he subsequently moved to Germany. They have three daughters who are also actresses: Gideon, Odessa (who now professionally goes by Odessa A'zion), and Valentine “Rocky”, to whom Adlon has said she is a single parent.

Adlon splits her time between the Upper West Side of Manhattan and Los Angeles.

In January 2020, Adlon became a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Film

Television

Video games

Golden Globe Awards

Peabody Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

Writers Guild of America Awards