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
Intriguing 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.
