The bestJaime Presslymovies and TV shows contain an interesting mix of genres but she always stands out when she gets her chance to shine. Presley started her career as a teenager when she got involved in modeling while also training as a gymnast. By the time she was 15, she dropped out of high school and moved to Japan to further her modeling career. This led to her first TV appearance, where she had an uncredited role onBaywatch,which then led to her first major breakout.
In 1997, the 20-year-old Presley was cast as the lead inPoison Ivy: The New Seduction, the third movie in the franchise that starred Drew Barrymore and Alyssa Milano before her. From there, her career started to pick up steam, although she almost found herself typecast insimilar roles in movies likeJoe Dirtand TV shows likeMy Name is Earl. Despite this, she has remained notable in her choices of roles,picking up several nominations forMy Name is Earland, more recently, the TV show,Mom.
100 Girls
Cast
100 Girls is a romantic comedy following college freshman Matthew, who embarks on a quest to find his mystery “dream girl” after meeting her in a darkened dorm elevator during a blackout. With only a vague recollection of her, he seeks to uncover her identity among a hundred female dorm residents.
At the turn of the millennium, Jaime Pressly appeared in her 8th feature film, the teen rom-com100 Girls.Directed and written by Michael Davis,100 Girlsfeatures an incredibly simple premise and is one of the best examples of the comedic skills that came to define much of Pressly’s acting career. In some ways,100 Girlsloosely resembles Prince Charming’s attempts to find Cinderella from all the women in the kingdom using only her glass slipper, albeit with a modern, raunchy twist. The plot focuses on college student Matthew (Jonathan Tucker) trying to figure out the identity of a woman he had intercourse with in an elevator during a blackout.
Jaime Pressly plays Cynthia in100 Girls,one of the women Matthew believes could be the mysterious stranger from his pitch-black encounter. The film is incredibly lighthearted, and having Pressly as part of the ensemble cast only adds to the appeal and tone that films of the genre from the early 2000s shared.While not Pressly’s most nuanced role, it does stand as the perfect example of her comedic abilities, especially from those of her earlier years on-screen.
1998’sRingmasteris one of the best Jaime Pressly movies from her early career, and one of the first in which she took a leading role. WhileRingmaster,from director Neil Abramson, is most notable for starring Jerry Springer, it was Jaime Pressly’s performance as Angel Zorzak which was the most memorable. It was a role that helped cement her rise to stardom, and displayed many of the specific talents and skills she’d later come to rely on in movies and TV shows likeMy Name Is Earl.
InRingmaster,Jaime Pressly’s character Angel Zorzak is a young woman hungry to find fame. However, she believes the best way to do this is to secure an appearance on aJerry Springer-like reality TV show. Despite the premise sounding comedic, Angel is a surprisingly nuanced character. Her background as one of an impoverished family living in a trailer park gives plenty of opportunity to explore the issue of financial inequity in society and how this is often exploited by reality TV production studios.While not her most well-known project, it was a defining moment for Jaime Pressly, and more than watchworthy for her fans.
Video game adaptationshave dominated the world of movies and TV shows in the 2020s, though it took the genre several decades to reach momentum. In the 2000s, many film studios were starting to invest fully in bringing many video games to the big-screen as live-action stories, andDOA: Dead or Aliveis one such attempt, and one of the best Jaime Pressly movies. Based on the video game franchise of the same name,DOA: Dead or Alivestarred Jaime Pressly as Tina Armstrong, one of several characters from the beat-em-up to make it to direcotr Corey Young’s adaptation.
A professional wrestler taking part in a martial arts tournament, Tina fromDOA: Dead or Alivewas an interesting role for Jaime Pressly, and one that stands out from many of the other performances in her best movies and TV shows. Pressly delivers a fierce intensity to Tina, one that makes her stand out from the likes of Deon Aoki’s Kasumi or Holly Valance’s Christie.It’s not her most nuanced role, but it’s definitely one of Jaime Pressly’s strongest appearances when it comes to action movies.
12Evel Knievel (2004)
Jaime Pressly Played Linda
The 2004 TV movieEvel Knievelis a biopic detailing the rise to fame of the titular stunt performer. It also featured an incredible performance from Jaime Pressly as Linda Bork, Evel Knievel’s wife. While the film, from director John Badham, aired on TNT and never had a theatrical run, it rivals many of Jaime Pressly’s earlier movies both in terms of quality and how well she portrayed her character.
The direct-to-TV biopic is fascinating in its own right, as it deals not only with Knievel’s career but also the legal battles around toy companies using his image.
Linda Bork was far from a simple role, often finding herself torn between supporting her husband’s career and fearing for his safety. Jaime Pressly brings all of these real-life moments, and the emotional nuance of them, to the screen with flying colors. The direct-to-TV biopic is fascinating in its own right, as it deals not only with Knievel’s career but also the legal battles around toy companies using his image. However,it’s the scenes between Jaime Pressly as Linda and George Eads as the Evel that steal the show.
Inferno
Inferno, released in 1999, follows drifter Eddie Lomax, portrayed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, as he seeks vengeance on a gang in a desert town after they beat him and steal his motorcycle. As he plans his retaliation, he receives assistance from local handyman Jubal Early and several supportive women.
1999’sInferno,from director John G. Avildsen, featured an ensemble cast that included several legends of the action genresuch as Jean-Claude Van Damme, Pat Morita and Danny Trejo. Among them was Jaime Pressly in her 7th feature-film appearance as Dottie Matthews. While the movie was panned by critics, the gritty action-thriller has since gained a cult following. What’s more, Pressly’s performance remains one of the strongest of her early career.
Jaime Pressly’s character Dottie Matthews is a waitress who finds herself caught in the middle of a twist-filled crime story. Pressly portrayed the character exceptionally well, and despite her relatively limited screen time,Infernoprovided her an ample opportunity to display the talent that would later see her appear in films like 2004’sTorqueand 2001’sTicker.It may not be her most prominent or central role, but for fans of Jaime Pressly seeking to explore her earlier on-screen roles,Infernois essential viewing.
Jennifer Falls
Jennifer Falls is a single-camera sitcom centered on Jennifer Doyle, portrayed by Jaime Pressly, who must navigate life after losing her high-paying job. Returning to her hometown, she moves in with her mother and works at her brother’s bar. The series explores themes of personal growth and family dynamics as Jennifer adapts to her new circumstances and attempts to rebuild her life in the face of numerous challenges.
One of Jaime Pressly’s lesser-known TV roles was the sitcom,Jennifer Falls. That is likely because it was on the network TV Land and only lasted for one season. In this series, Pressly stars as Jennifer Doyle, the title character,a single mother who loses her high-paying job because of her anger issuesand has to move in with her mother, Maggie (Arrested Development’sJessica Walter). Once there, she has to figure out how to move on and rebuild her life, while reassessing what led to her downfall.
It featured a reunion for Pressly and Ethan Suplee, who starred inMy Name is Earlwith the actress.
The series lasted only one season and 10 episodes and received a lukewarm response from critics. That said, it featured a reunion for Pressly and Ethan Suplee, who starred inMy Name is Earlwith the actress.Pressly is in fine form in the series as a woman with serious anger issues, and it almost seems like a warm-up for her later role onMom, although she was surrounded by a much better show in the latter one. Despite that, she remains highly entertaining in this short-lived series.
Torque
Torque is a high-octane action film directed by Joseph Kahn, which centers around the thrilling world of motorcycle gangs. The story follows Cary Ford, who returns to his hometown to reunite with his girlfriend but finds himself framed by an old rival and biker gang leader for a murder he didn’t commit. With the FBI and rival bikers on his tail, Ford must clear his name and outrun his enemies in adrenaline-pumping chases. The film is a fast-paced ride that showcases spectacular bike stunts and race sequences, capturing the fierce culture of underground bike gangs.
While in no way considered a great movie,Torquedoes have a following from fans of high-octane action movies and motorcycles. Martin Henderson (Virgin River) stars as Cary Ford, a biker who is framed for murder. This not only sends the law after him, but puts a target on his head by Trey Wallace (Ice Cube), the leader of a biker gang known as The Reapers, who believes Ford killed his brother.Jaime Pressly stars as one of the film’s villains, a biker named China.
China is the girlfriend of Hendy James, the leader of a biker gang known as the Hellions. Henry is who really killed Trey’s brother and it is China who gives a false police report that implicates Ford in the murder. This all leads to a big moment where China ends up face-to-face with Ford’s longtime girlfriend Shane (Monet Mazur). The film received poor reviews, but critics did appreciate the tongue-in-cheek humor and the fact that the cast, Pressly included, seemed to know what kind of movie they were in.
Welcome To Flatch
This mockumentary series created by Jenny Bicks explores the daily lives of quirky residents in the small town of Flatch. Through a comedic lens, the show captures the eccentricities and interpersonal dynamics of its colorful characters, offering a glimpse into rural American life.
Welcome to Flatchis a sitcom that aired on Fox from 2022 to 2023. It lasted for two seasons and 27 episodes andJaime Pressly joined the cast in season 2 as Barb Flatch. The series is a mockumentary sitcom that sees the filmmakers head into the small town of Flatch, Ohio, to meet the eccentric residents. The series is similar toMy Name is Earlwhen it comes to the small-town people on display, while it also shares a lot of the heart with that previous Pressly hit series.
Welcome To Flatch: Funniest Characters, Ranked
In the Fox comedy, Welcome to Flatch, each person in the fictional town of Flatch, Ohio has their own special humor, but who is the funniest?
Pressly’s appearance came in the premiere of season 2 when Shrub’s (Sam Straley) grandmother, the oldest woman in Flatch, dies and the next oldest woman takes her place (Old Lady Flatch). Pressly shows up as Barb, her daughter, and she plays a huge role in the second season, restarting her real estate business in the town. She had a huge presence on the show, which kind of played against what made it popular in its first season (Kelly and Shrub’s lives), and the series ended after the second season.
Joe Dirt
Joe Dirt, directed by Dennie Gordon, follows a janitor with a distinctive mullet on a quest to reunite with his parents, whom he lost at the Grand Canyon as a child. Armed with an undying optimism, he embarks on a journey across the country to find them.
For a period of years, it seemed that Jaime Pressly was almost typecast as a small-town, trailer park woman on TV and in films. Her best movie role during this period was the David Spade comedyJoe Dirt. In this movie, Spade plays Joe Dirt, a janitor with a ridiculous mullet haircut who is telling his life story to a shock jock (Dennis Miller) on a radio broadcast. According to Joe, his family forgot and left him at the Grand Canyon, and he grew up to learn how to support himself in a small “chicken town.”
While the movie received bad reviews, it ended up as a cult classic and actually received a sequel in 2014.
Jaime Pressley stars in the movie as Jill,a girl in the town who starts to hit on Joe Dirt at the carnival he works at. She had one of the best moments in the story when the two of them decided to have sex before Joe began to think that she might have been his sister. It is disturbing at points, but then it leads to very funny moments as he retells the story. While the movie received bad reviews, it ended up as a cult classic and actually received a sequel in 2014.
Poison Ivy: The New Seduction
Poison Ivy: The New Seduction, directed by Kurt Voss, is the third installment in the Poison Ivy series. It follows a manipulative seductress who infiltrates a suburban family with the intent to unravel their lives, continuing the saga’s themes of deceit and allure.
Jaime Pressly’s first big movie role came in 1997, when she was 20.She was cast in the straight-to-video sequelPoison Ivy: The New Seduction.This was the third entry in the franchise, which starred Drew Barrymore in the first film and Alyssa Milano in the second. All three of the first movies in the series had the same basic plot, with a young sexually dominant woman who develops a fascination with someone close to them and proceeds to ruin their lives when they won’t reciprocate their feelings.
It still held a spot for fans of 1990s erotic thrillers and helped make Jaime Pressly a star.
The film was not received as well as Barrymore’s installment, but it still held a spot for fans of 1990s erotic thrillers and helped make Jaime Pressly a star. While never matching up to the first, it was at least a marked improvement over the second movie,Poison Ivy: Lilly.With critics pointing out the “sleaze” and “wicked fun,” it enjoyed a nice life on the DTV market and ended up as one of the most aired installments of the franchise on cable networks for years to come.
