Piper Perabo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Piper Perabo
Perabo at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Piper Lisa Perabo (1976-10-31) October 31, 1976 (age 48) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	Ohio University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Stephen Kay ​ (m. 2014)​
Relatives	Lilli Kay (step-daughter)

Piper Lisa Perabo (born October 31, 1976) is an American actress. She became well-known after her role in the movie Coyote Ugly (2000). She also starred in popular films like Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and its sequel Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005).

Piper Perabo played CIA agent Annie Walker in the TV show Covert Affairs (2010–2014). For this role, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama.

Early Life and Education

Piper Perabo was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. Her mother, Mary Charlotte, was a physical therapist, and her father, George William Perabo, taught poetry.

She is of English, German, Irish, and Norwegian background. Her parents named her after the famous actress Piper Laurie. Piper is the oldest of three children; she has two brothers named Noah and Adam.

School Days and College

Piper graduated from Toms River High School North in 1994. She then went to Ohio University and earned a degree in theater in 1998. In 1996, she also studied at the Trinity/La MaMa Performing Arts Program. During her last year of college, she studied Latin, physics, and poetry.

How She Started Acting

Piper was discovered a year before she finished college. She was visiting her boyfriend in New York City and went with him to an audition. A casting director named Denise Fitzgerald saw her and asked her to try out for a part. Piper didn't get that role, but the casting director helped her find an agent, which was a big step for her career.

Acting Career Highlights

After college, Piper moved to New York City. She worked as a waitress while also studying acting and performing in plays. She landed her first movie role in the comedy Whiteboyz just one month after moving to the city.

Breakthrough with Coyote Ugly

In 2000, Piper Perabo got a big role in the musical comedy-drama film Coyote Ugly. She played Violet "Jersey" Sanford. For this movie, she won an MTV Movie Award for Best Music Moment. Even though critics had mixed feelings about the film, it was a huge success at the box office, making over $113 million worldwide. That same year, she also appeared as an FBI agent in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Focus on Independent Films

After Coyote Ugly, Piper decided to work on independent films. In 2001, she starred in a Canadian drama called Lost and Delirious. In this film, she played a boarding school student who falls in love with a classmate. Critics praised her performance, with one calling it her "breakout performance."

The next year, she played a French exchange student in the comedy Slap Her... She's French. This movie was released later in North America under a new title, She Gets What She Wants.

Family Films and Other Roles

Piper played Nora, the oldest child, in Cheaper by the Dozen (2003). She played this role again in the 2005 sequel, Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Her other films from this period include The I Inside (2003), Perfect Opposites (2004), George and the Dragon (2004), The Cave (2005), Imagine Me & You (2005), Edison (2005), and The Prestige (2006).

Perabo at the premiere of Looper at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012

Covert Affairs and Recent Work

In 2008, Piper Perabo starred with Jamie Lee Curtis in the family comedy Beverly Hills Chihuahua. She also made her off-Broadway stage debut in the play Reasons to Be Pretty.

Soon after, she read the script for the TV spy drama series Covert Affairs. She loved the character of Annie Walker, a smart and strong CIA field agent. Piper was cast in the lead role, and the show ran for five seasons, from 2010 to 2014. Her performance earned her a nomination for a Golden Globe Award in 2010.

In 2012, Piper had a supporting role in the time travel thriller film Looper, alongside Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. She also had a recurring role in the sitcom Go On.

More recently, Piper starred in the thriller Into the Grizzly Maze (2015) and the ABC drama series Notorious (2016). She also appeared with Antonio Banderas in the film Black Butterfly (2017). In 2019, she joined the Netflix comedy series Turn Up Charlie and starred in the action film Angel Has Fallen. In 2020, she was in the horror series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels and the dark comedy film Spontaneous.

Since 2021, Piper Perabo has been a recurring cast member on the popular TV series Yellowstone, playing Summer Higgins, an animal rights activist.

Personal Life

In 2013, Piper Perabo got engaged to director and writer Stephen Kay. They got married on July 26, 2014, in New York City. Piper is a stepmother to Stephen Kay's daughter.

Piper is good friends with actress Lena Headey. They worked together on the 2005 films The Cave and Imagine Me & You. Piper speaks French fluently. She supports LGBT rights and women's leadership in politics. She is also part owner of two businesses: Employees Only, a bar, and Jack's Wife Freda, a restaurant.

Advocacy and Community Involvement

Piper Perabo has been involved in various forms of advocacy. She has participated in peaceful protests to support causes she believes in. For example, she was arrested while protesting a Supreme Court confirmation hearing and also at a climate change protest led by Jane Fonda.

She has used her social media accounts, like Twitter and Instagram, to encourage people to register to vote and learn about voting. She has also supported organizations that help people understand Voter ID requirements. Piper is on the advisory board of The Hometown Project, a group that helps elect candidates in local elections. She has also publicly supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles

Stage Performances

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Piper Perabo para niños