JoBeth Williams

JoBeth Williams became a daytime regular in the mid-1970s on both Somerset (1970) and in a vixenish role on Guiding Light (1952) before making a brief but memorable impact in a highly popular film at the end of the decade. In the Dustin Hoffman starring film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Williams plays Hoffman's gorgeous sleepover who gets caught stark naked by his young, precocious son the following morning. She also impressed on the stage with major roles in "Moonchildren" and "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking."

Her star maker would could in the form of the strong-willed mother of three who fights to save her brood from home-invading demons in Steven Spielberg's humongous critical and box-office hit Poltergeist (1982). Officially in the big leagues now, she joined the star ensemble cast of The Big Chill (1983), and appeared opposite Nick Nolte in Teachers (1984).

She was cast in some of the finest TV-movies served up, and won deserved Emmy nominations for her real-life mother of an ill-fated missing child in Adam (1983) and real-life surrogate mother in Baby M (1988). Other monumental mini-movie efforts include her nurse in the apocalyptic drama The Day After (1983); her magnetic performance opposite Terry Kinney as an adulterous worshiper and minister who carry out plans to kill their respective spouses in the gripping suspense show Murder Ordained (1987); alcoholic James Woods' long-suffering wife in My Name Is Bill W. (1989); a social worker trying to reach a deaf girl in Breaking Through (1996); and the overbearing mother whose son turns to drugs in Trapped in a Purple Haze (2000). She continues to balance both film and TV projects into the millennium.

In more recent years, she has appeared in many television series, including Criminal Minds, Dexter, Law & Order: LA and more.