Paget Brewster took an auspicious if roundabout path to an acting career, sorting out fame first in New York, where she was the singer for an underground rock band, later moving to San Francisco where she became a local television personality, and ending up in Los Angeles, where she acted in a string of failed pilots, landed a recurring role on NBC's hit sitcom "Friends" and made her starring regular debut on the 1999 CBS series "Love & Money". Dark-haired and quick witted, with a winning smile and a mischievous allure, Brewster broke through as a talk show host on the aptly named late-night series "The Paget Show", aired on San Francisco's KPIX. Fielding topics that ranged from serious family disputes to drag queen makeovers, she had a likable, spunky presence and came across well in the genre. The series was courted by syndication companies, the USA Network and Fox, but despite this interest, and no doubt partly due to the influx of other talkers on the air at the time, "The Paget Show" never lived past its 65 episode KPIX incarnation. Still, her engaging energetic presence opened doors for acting opportunities, and she filmed two failed sitcom pilots for Fox, the music video network-set "MV24" and a zany vehicle for comedian Dana Gould entitled "World on a String". Persevering despite these early disappointments, Brewster landed a role on the popular NBC sitcom "Friends", playing Kathy, a medical assistant/actress who dates hunky but dim Joey, only to fall in love with his sarcastic, self-effacing roommate Chandler. Brewster appeared on six episodes of the series, significantly raising her profile and lining up more starring roles in failed pilots, including the Fox police series "Ghost Cop" and the CBS detective drama "The Expert". 1998 saw her take on a recurring voice role in the Fox animated adventure adaptation "Godzilla: The Series" and a starring role as a NASA technician in the action packed "Max Q" (ABC), producer Jerry Bruckheimer's misfired TV-movie debut. Brewster struck gold with "Love & Money", a CBS pilot picked up for the 1999 fall season, in which she starred as Allison Conklin, a kindergarten teacher and daughter of privilege who falls for her affluent apartment building's blue-collar superintendent (Brian Van Holt). With a supporting cast including Swoosie Kurtz as her boozy mother and David Ogden Stiers as her austere father, she made her network television starring debut in good company and considered the series, whether or not it proved a hit, an invaluable learning experience.
On the big screen, Brewster starred in the 1998 independent feature "Let's Talk About Sex", as Michelle, an intimacy-wary and controlling single woman who routinely dates much younger men. She could also been seen that year as a movie star who holds a contest to find a boyfriend in the festival screened independent "Skippy". Brewster played a fast-talking down-on-her luck actress in Bill Fishman's "Desperate But Not Serious" (lensed 1998), co-starring Christine Taylor and Claudia Schiffer and was later featured in "The Specials" (lensed 1998) as Ms. Indestructible, comprising, along with actors including Rob Lowe and Thomas Haden Church, a group of oddly powered superheroes in this "Mystery Men" (1999) reminiscent comedy.
Profession(s):
Actor, singer, bartender
Sometimes Credited As:
Family
brother:Ivan Brewster (younger)
father:Galen Brewster
mother:Hathaway Brewster
Companion(s)
Jay Johnston
, Companion
, ```..was regular performer on HBO's "Mr. Show"
2006 Joined the cast of the CBS crime drama "Criminal Minds"
2006 Cast in the teen comedy, "Unaccompanied Minors"
2004 Cast in the black comedy "Eulogy"
2004 - 2006 Cast as Beth Huffstodt in the Showtime original series "Huff"
2002 Co-starred in midseason replacement sitcom "Andy Richter Controls the Universe"
2000 Had featured role in the ABC fall sitcom "The Trouble with Normal"
1999 Co-starred as a kindergarten teacher from a privileged background who falls in love with the superintendent of her apartment building in the CBS sitcom "Love & Money"
1998 Voiced reporter Audrey Timmonds in a recurring role on the Fox animated adaptation "Godzilla: The Series"
1997 - 1998 Played recurring role of Kathy, a girlfriend of dim actor Joey who falls for his ascerbic roommate Chandler, on NBC's "Friends"
1995 Hosted "The Paget Show", her own local late-night talk show in San Francisco, eyed for syndication and nationwide cable broadcast during the talk show boom
1995 Moved to Los Angeles
1987 Moved to New York City at age 18, attending Parsons School of Design and singing in rock bands including Sleeping Pills (date approximate)
Raised in Concord, Massachusets
Headed west to San Francisco with Sleeping Pills; the band soon broke up and Brewster decided to pursue acting
Worked on the San Francisco-based public access TV show "Strange America", writing and performing in comedy sketches
Starred in the failed Fox pilots "World on a String", "MV24" and "Ghost Cop" and the CBS pilot "The Expert"
