KIMBERLY Williams-Paisley has been an actress since 1991 when she starred in her breakthrough performance of Father of the Bride.
Although she used to be Hollywood’s “It girl,” Kimberly is now focused on her relationship with her husband and kids.
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Kimberly is married to country singer, Brad Paisley.
They share two children together.
She was born in New York in September 1971 and has two siblings- Ashley, who is also an actress, and a brother, Jay.
Her parents were Linda and Gurney, a fund-raiser and a health and science writer.
Kimberly has been in show business since the age of 13 and has since starred in over 50 movies and TV shows.
She even directed Rye High School’s musical, Revue, in 1989.
The actress went to Northwestern University to earn a degree in drama.
However, she dropped out in her sophomore year to pursue acting and landed her first role in 1991.
She did return years later to complete her degree.
FATHER OF THE BRIDE
Kimberly took the leap of faith and left college after scoring a role in Father of the Bride.
She played Annie Banks, a 22-year-old college graduate, who has returned home from Europe engaged.
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Annie had only known her fiance for three months but still wanted to marry him.
This caused a fight between her and her father, George (Steve Martin).
George takes a liking to Bryan and his family but does not want to let go of his daughter.
The movie focuses on how George deals with the upcoming wedding and meeting this new family.
It also stars Diane Keaton and sparked a sequel Father of the Bride Part II, two years later.
HOLLYWOOD’S IT GIRL
Those two roles, skyrocketed her career and Kimberly soon became Hollywood’s “It girl.”
In 1992, she was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough performance for Father of the Bride.
She didn’t win but went on to win other awards in her career.
In the ’90s, Kimberly went on to star in many roles including Indian Summer, Coldblooded, The War at Home, and Simpatico.
During this time, she also scored her first recurring role in a TV show.
Kimberly played Isabel Lukens on the show, Relativity.
Even though the actress scored critical acclaim for her performance, the show was canceled after 17 episodes, due to low ratings.
She went on to star in other independent and international films throughout the ’90s and early ’00s.
ACCORDING TO JIM
When one door closed, another door opened for Kimberly.
After having one show get canceled, she scored her way onto another one, and this time it was successful.
In 2001, Kimberly began her role as Dana, Jim’s sister-in-law, in the sitcom, According To Jim.
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The show ran for eight seasons, with Kimberly starring in the first seven.
She left before the last season to focus on motherhood but made a guest appearance on the series finale.
Season one debuted with 10 million views and stayed there until season five when ratings began to drop.
According to Jim was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards, Young Artist Awards, and an NAACP Image Award, but sadly, never won any of them.
The sitcom also starred Jim Belushi, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and Larry Joe Campbell.
REAL-LIFE BRIDE
Kimberly went from playing a bride on-screen to becoming a real-life bride.
Brad Paisley went on a date in 1991 and together they saw Father of the Bride.
Well, instead of focusing on his date next to him, he was more preoccupied with Kimberly on-screen.
When that relationship didn’t work out and he went to go see the sequel by himself a few years later, Brad knew he had to meet the beautiful brunette.
Years later, the country singer shared the story with Good Housekeeping.
“I thought, ‘She seems like a great girl — smart and funny and all those things that are so hard to find,” he told the magazine.
His album, Part II, had a line about going to see Father of the Bride, so he used that as an excuse to get Kimberly to star in his next music video, I’m Gonna Miss Her.
“It felt natural to ask her to be in it. Even though I didn’t know if she was married, divorced, or just out of rehab,” he expanded.
She accepted the role and they began dating shortly after.
Brad professed his love for Kimberly one night while walking on the pier in Venice Beach.
Six months later, he proposed to her in that same spot.
Of course, she said yes and they got married in March 2003.
They will be celebrating 20 years of marriage next year.
Kimberly went on to star in many more of her husband’s music videos.
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EXPANDING THE FAMILY
Kimberly continued acting in many roles including According to Jim, George Lopez, We Are Marshall, Identity Theft, and more.
She took a small break from acting when she welcomed their first child, William, in 2007.
During that time, she only stared in two episodes of the shows Wonder Pets and Boston Legal.
In 2009, Kimberly welcomed their second child, Jasper.
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It was after she had her second child that she took a few years off from acting to focus on motherhood.
NASHVILLE AND ACTING RESURGENCE
In 2012, Kimberly returned to full-time acting when she landed the role of Peggy Kenter on the show, Nashville.
She had a recurring role on the show and starred in 22 episodes from 2012 to 2013.
Peggy was the former mistress and second wife of Teddy Conrad.
That same year, the actress also starred in the movie, Eden Court, and an episode of the show, Royal Pains.
Kimberly had a recurring role on Two and a Half Men in 2014 and starred in many Hallmark Christmas movies.
In 2015, she played Samantha in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.
Since returning to acting, she has slowed down her career, usually only taking on one project per year, so she can spend time with her kids.
Her biggest roles in the past few years have been The Christmas Chronicles and its sequel.
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Kimberly’s latest roles were two Hallmark Christmas movies in 2021.
WHERE IS SHE NOW?
Although Kimberly continues to act, she tends to stay out of the spotlight.
According to her Instagram, she is set to star in a film by Lionsgate called Jesus’ Revolution.
The 50-year-old gave her followers a sneak peek into her look for the film.
It is set to release on Easter 2023.
She and Brad keep their children out of the spotlight and off of social media.
Even though she doesn’t post about them, she does post about her fur babies.
Kimberly is clearly an animal lover because besides the two dogs they adopted, Hoot and Annie, they also have a donkey and a bearded dragon, according to an interview she did with Southern Living.
She also posts pictures with Brad and throwback clips of According to Jim, as well as selfies and pictures of everyday life.
The actress also paired with Hilton Hotels to share family travel tips for the Summer.
Along with acting, Kimberly can also add director, writer, and producer to her resume, as she has done all three in many of the roles she’s been in.
In 2017, she wrote an NYT Bestselling memoir, Where The Light Gets In: Losing My Mother Only To Find Her Again, about her mother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s.
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