Lori Petty

Lori Petty is one of those actors who believe in staying single and enjoying optimum freedom. However, she had once stated in an interview that the events she experienced in her childhood and the hatred she saw between her parents had her hating the institution of marriage for a very long time, and the feeling continues to date.

She is currently known to be single. However, she had a long-term affair with David Alan Grier in the mid-1990s.

In September 2009, Lori was arrested for drunk driving. On being found guilty, she was slapped with a fine and five years of probation.

Lori Petty was born in Tennessee, US, on October 14, 1964. She had two younger siblings. She had no aspiration for a career in the entertainment industry initially. The family, with no connections whatsoever in the film industry, survived on a very average wage earned by her father, who worked as a Pentecostal minister.

He father’s job required him to travel around quite a lot to different parts of the country, and he would often take his children along with him. Lori, the eldest of his children, accompanied him on most of these tours. This had her facing quite a lot of problems with her education, but it helped her discover an artistic side to herself, which later translated into great acting abilities.

She graduated in 1981 from ‘North High School’ in Iowa. Although she was a pretty decent student, she was considered a misfit, which had her spending more time alone. This further prepared her to express herself better.

Once out of school, she started looking for a job as a graphic designer. She worked for a few years in Nebraska but was soon tired of it. She then started looking for a more exciting profession. Acting seemed like the right choice. Soon, she landed in New York and joined an acting school.

She tried applying for ‘Broadway’ productions and advertisements in New York but did not succeed much. She then arrived in Los Angeles and started auditioning frequently. After months of struggle, she finally faced the camera in the mid-1980s.

In 1986, she appeared in an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone.’ It was a small stint, which had her playing a teenager, with not much to do but look pretty.

The next year saw her in a string of TV roles, in both TV films and series such as ‘Stingray,’ ‘Bates Motel,’ ‘The Line,’ and ‘Head of the Class.’ Although she made a lot of TV appearances, she was not satisfied.

In 1988, she appeared in a short film, ‘...They Haven’t Seen This…’ She made her official film debut with the 1990 film ‘Cadillac Man.’ By then, things had begun to change and Lori was getting noticed. In 1991, she earned her breakthrough role in the action thriller ‘Point Break,’ which saw her appearing alongside the then-budding actor Keanu Reeves.

In 1992, ‘A League of Their Own’ followed. Lori played a tomboyish baseball player in the film and won immense accolades. The film’s eventual success paved her way to further roles. However, she found it difficult to shed her image of an action star with short hair and boyish looks.

She managed to bag a major role in the 1993 family drama ‘Free Willy,’ where she essayed the heart-warming role of a kind, young woman who loves animals. It seemed that she was gifted with immense versatility, as far as her acting skills were concerned. She cemented this belief with her role of a female recruit in the 1994 film ‘In the Army Now.’ She also exhibited her impeccable comic timing with the role that became iconic over the years.