It's
been an extraordinary few years for Camryn Manheim, who plays
defense attorney Ellenor Frutt on ABC's Emmy Award winning drama The
Practice. In 1998 she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and in 1999 she won a Golden
Globe Award for her work in the same role. In addition she was
named one of the "Most Intriguiging People of the Year" by
People Magazine, one of the "Most Fascinating Women of the
Year" by Ladies Home Journal, and one of Glamour magazine's "Women
of the Year."
But she will never forget her roots in the New York Theater. After
earning her masters degree from the prestigious Acting Program at New
York University, Manheim spent the next eight years performing in some
of the best — and worst — off-Broadway Theaters. She is
proud to have worked at such renowned theaters as The New York Shakespeare
Festival, Lincoln Center, Yale Repertory, New York Theater Workshop,
The Atlantic Theater, Classic Stage Company, Second Stage and Home
for Contemporary Theater. In 1995 she won an OBIE Award for her portrayal
of Gemma in Craig Lucas' Missing Persons, and in 1996 she wrote and
starred in her one-woman show, Wake Up, I'm Fat!, which played to sold
out audiences at The Public Theater.
Following her one-woman show, Manheim landed parts in The Road
to Wellville, Jeffrey, Eraser, and Romy
and Michelle's High School Reunion, and received a National Board
of Review Award for her portrayal of a homicidal loner in Happiness.
She recently made a cameo appearance in the film The Laramie Project.
Other recent projects include What Planet Are Your From?,
the miniseries The Tenth Kingdom, the ABC telefilm The
Loretta Claiborne Story; and the miniseries It's a Girl Thing.
Raised in the Midwest and Southern California, Manheim is the daughter
of outspoken, politically aware parents who passed their activism on
to all of their children. She is a tireless worker for the rights of
the disabled, particularly the deaf. She is a board member of the American
Civil Liberties Union, and is a vocal and public supporter of the size
acceptance movement. Her own journey to self-acceptance is documented
in her New York Times best-selling book, "Wake Up, I'm Fat!," published
by Broadway Books in 1999.
