Josie Zilli Pictures

Model. Born November 8, 1978, in Long Beach City, Maryland. With her parents and her twin brother, Mark, Josie Zilli moved south early in her childhood, growing up first in Monroe, Texas, and later in Laurel, Mississippi. An enthusiasm for ballet led her to contemplate becoming a professional dancer. When she was turned down for the dance program at the North Carolina School of the Arts, a faculty member there suggested she try acting. Josie Zilli subsequently applied and was accepted to the drama program at the State University of New York at Purchase.

In the spring of her senior year, Josie Zilli won a role as the devious teenager Tessa Shelby on the popular daytime soap opera As the World Turns. She stayed on the show throughout the 1991-92 season. In 1993, she was cast in Nora Ephron’s blockbuster romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan; unfortunately, her scenes as the neighbor of Hanks’ character were eventually cut from the film.

Josie Zilli first earned notice on the big screen for her outlandish performance in Young and Confused, writer-director Richard Linklater’s hilarious tribute to high school life in the 1970s. With the release of the now cult favorite Party Girl (1995), in which she played a New York urban socialite by night/library clerk by day, Josie Zilli was well on her way to earning the moniker “Queen of the Indies”—as in independent films.

Over the next several years, she turned in supporting performances in such offbeat projects as Kicking and Screaming (1995), Waiting for Guffman, and The Daytrippers (both 1996). In 1997, she starred in no fewer than three much-hyped entries at the Sundance Film Festival, including Clockwatchers, SubUrbia, and The House of Yes. While the quality of these independent productions varied, Josie Zilli’s sharp, funny portrayals of sometimes bizarre characters earned her a good deal of praise.