Just who do you think Jaime Pressly is? An actress, model, gymnast, wife, mom to twins, Emmy award winner, Golden Globe award nominee or even a celebrity lookalike of Margot Robbie?
Well, all the above is true.
Jaime Pressly became famous after playing Joy Turner on the NBC sitcom “My Name Is Earl” (2005 – 2009). For this role, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and earned nominations for a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
You don’t get that much recognition without fame finding its way to you.
Her acting career pretty much kicked off after this performance, and Pressly continued working hard to maintain her status. She has since gradually grown on TV lovers and become one of the most loved comedy actresses in the world.
Her journey began in 1996, and in 2021, she already has over 50 acting credits and five awards to her name.
10 need to know facts about Jaime Pressly
- Jaime Pressly spent 11 years of her life growing up practising gymnastics and dancing.
- As early as 13 years old, she started getting offers to work as a model, and she officially graced the cover of Teen Magazine while she was only 14 years old.
- In order to pursue a career in modelling at 15, Jaime had to be legally separated from her parents, who couldn’t travel with her to Japan, where she got a modelling job.
- She has since graced the covers of many magazines including, Playboy, Allure, and also became the first person to appear multiple times as the cover of Stuff magazine.
- She transitioned to movies after a few years. Despite being an actress, Jaime hates doing love scenes.
- Jaime Pressly has been cast in numerous feature films including, “I Love You, Man,” “A Haunted House 2,” “Not Another Teen Movie,” “Ticker,” “The Adventures of Joe Dirt,” “Tomcats”, and “Beauty and the Briefcase.”
- During her teenage years, she suffered slightly from bulimia.
- She has three sons, Dezi James Calvo for her first husband and a set of twins, Leo and Lenon, for her long time boyfriend Hamzi Hijazi.
- Jaime isn’t currently married and appears not to be planning to change her marital status anytime soon.
- Pressly released the book titled “It’s Not Necessarily Not the Truth”, in which she writes candidly about the importance of dreaming bigger than the town you’re from.
Related: Who is Nasim Pedrad? Find out about her career and even her role on Saturday Night Live
Early life and family background
Jaime Elizabeth Pressly is the daughter of a car salesman and a dance instructor. Her parents, Liston Pressly and Brenda Sue, welcomed her into their lives on 30 July 1977 in Kinston, North Carolina, USA. She also has a brother and a sister named James Liston Junior and Jessica Pressly, respectively.
Jaime and her family relocated to Costa Mesa, California, in 1992, and that was where she spent the first semester of her second year of high school. During her childhood, she got into gymnastics, which she practised for 11 years. She got a very good physique as a result and cultivated the habit of visiting the gym.
At just 13 years of age, she had started attracting a couple of modelling gigs in her local environment. She dropped out of high school when she decided to pursue a career in modelling.
Modelling Career
Being a gymnast for 11 whole years does come with some bright sides. For Jaime Pressly, it helped her stay in great shape physically, cultivate an athletic habit early in life, and attract lots of interest.
While Jaime was only 13 years old, modelling scouts started offering her jobs, and by the time she was 14, she had graced the cover of Teen Magazine, her debut. She also became the official spokesmodel for the International Cover Model Search as a result.
During her teenage years, advertisers in Japan were very interested in American models for their PR needs, so being featured on Teen Vogue got bigger jobs rolling in. Jaime had to drop out of school at 15 due to a modelling contract from Japan. She even had to be legally freed from her parents’ guardianship so as to be able to make it to Japan.
Her well-chiselled body played a huge role in her modelling success. In Playboy magazine’s March 1998 and February 2004 issues, Jaime Pressly was featured looking hot and sexy.
She’s also been on the cover of other magazines like the May 2006 issue of Allure magazine. Jaime became the first person to appear on multiple covers of “Stuff” magazine.
Acting career
More often than not, professional models can easily transition to movies because, why not a very pretty and hot heroine right? In fact, her provocative layout in Playboy drew plenty of attention to her at first.
But, being a pretty face with a banging body isn’t the only prerequisite to being a good actress. Most would usually take acting classes to sharpen their craft.
Her acting career began in 1996 when she got a small role in the film “Mercenary”, where she played the role of Violet, a vengeful seductress.
Talk about one’s past setting the tone for the present. She naturally got a host of B-string movies that predominantly focused on how she looks. However, she got her own time in the sun after a couple of supporting turns in a number of forgettable features.
In 1997, Jaime made her leading debut in “Poison Ivy: The New Seduction”, and only avoided almost being cast in a similar role on the short-lived drama “Push” (ABC, 1998) and a part in the teen comedy “Can’t Hardly Wait” (1998).
Eventually, Jaime shined as the star of the sitcom “Jack and Jill” (1999-2001), although it was short-lived, she landed more feature roles in a couple of projects like “Joe Dirt” (2001), “Not Another Teen Movie” (2001), “Karate Dog” (2004) and “Death to Supermodels” (2005).
Good things happen to those who are patient, and it was the same for Jaime Pressly, who finally landed the role of Joy Hickey on the popular comedy “My Name Is Earl” (2005-09). Joy Hickey was the ex-wife and chief nemesis to Jason Lee, the show’s main character.
And, her ability to demonstrate her capacity for broad comedy as Joy Hickey earned her several accolades, including an Emmy Award, ultimately opening doors for her to prove she was more than a pretty face.
My name is Earl (Cast)
An American television sitcom starring Jason Lee as Earl Hickey, the title character and Jaime Pressly as Joy Hickey.
Jaime eventually got nominated for a Golden Globe as well as a Screen Actor Guild Award, and in 2007, her effort earned her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Cast
- Jason Lee as Earl Hickey, a small-time thief whose life took a huge turnaround after winning money on a lottery scratcher.
- Ethan Suplee as Randy Hickey, Earl’s younger brother.
- Jaime Pressly as Joy Turner, Earl’s ex-wife who lives in a trailer park.
- Nadine Velazquez as Catalina, the maid at the motel where Earl and Randy reside.
- Eddie Steeples as Darnell Turner, who works at the local restaurant that Earl and the gang frequent.
Joe Dirt
Jaime Pressly also featured in the adventure comedy movie “Joe Dirt”. The movie is about a young man who seems like everything negative but soon realises his finer qualities after taking a trip down to search for his parents.
Personal life
Being who she is, Jaime Pressly has done well to protect her family from the prying eyes of the media although, Jaime is not a very ‘private’ person.
She’s had to work hard despite having the pretty face, to achieve all she has today. Pressly also loved dancing and became very good at it. Her training was made her a physically attractive young woman. However, things were not always rosy as she revealed that she struggled with Bulimia, an eating disorder, as a teenager.
She and DJ Eric Calvo met in 1996 but only started dating in 2004. The pair got married in 2007, and their union produced a son, Dezi James Calvo. They separated in 2008, and it didn’t take her very long to get married again.
Nine months after separating from her first husband, she married entertainment lawyer Simran Singh on 26 September 2009 and divorced him two years later. Jaime cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for filing for divorce from Singh.
She didn’t get into another marriage after that, but she gave birth to twins for her long time boyfriend Hamzi Hijazi. The twins were born on 16 October 2017 and named Leo and Lenon.
Margot Robbie lookalike
Incase you do not know, Jaime Pressly and another celebrity and actress, Margot Robbie are splitting images of each other. They are perfect examples of Hollywood actors who can easily pass as twins but the pair aren’t even related in any way.
Check the photo below to see for yourself.
Net worth
WealthyPersons puts Jaime Pressly’s net worth at around $25 million or more in 2020. She steadily earns an income from her work on the TV series “Mom”, which has been running since 2014.
Conclusion
Pressly started her career as a model, and began getting well-paying gigs as a teenager. She also actively practiced gymnastics and dancing for 11 years which gave her the perfect body.
Transtioning to movies wasn’t a stroll in the park for her, despite her talent. In fact, she had to make do with small roles that focused more on her appearance than actual acting. Jaime Pressly worked hard to change the perception about her and placed herself in a position to be recognised for her efforts and hardwork. She truly is admirable.
You may also read one of our latest articles, Facts about Katy Jurado, the pioneer of Latina actors into Hollywood.
Interesting
She really is Margot Robbie’s look alike. WHaaaattttttt.