5 Things You Didn’t Know About Parker Posey: Dance Past, ‘White Lotus’ Accent Inspiration and More

Parker Posey has opened up about her early ambitions, her role on The White Lotus and more in these five facts about her!

I Wanted to Be a Dancer

Growing up in Mississippi, Parker studied ballet and at age 12, she auditioned to attend a program at North Carolina School of the Arts. “I didn’t get in and I was devastated,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “And my dad called the dean of the school. He said, ‘My daughter’s going to be really upset. What do I tell her?’ And the dean said, ‘Tell her she’s an actress.’”

Getting Mainstream Roles Has Been Difficult

After staring in a series of indie films in the 1990s, including her breakthrough, Party Girl, and the dark comedy House of Yes, Parker “wasn’t really getting offered anything good,” she told IndieWire. “I would audition for all these great parts that ended up going to bigger names like Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock.” That may change, however, with her scene-stealing role on HBO’s The White Lotus.

James Spader Inspired My White Lotus Accent

Victoria, the pill-popping matriarch of a well-to-do North Carolina family, Parker tapped into her southern roots — and a little something else. “Do you know who [actor] James Spader is, the snob? I wanted to bring like a snotty affect,” Parker, 56, told Variety. “It was so fun to play.”

I Learned About Style From My Grandmother

“She would put on her lashes and high-heeled boots every single day just to play bridge or stay at home and watch All That Jazz with me,” she said in an interview with Vogue. “She always said that if she could do it all over again, she would’ve been a textile designer in New York City.”

I Love New York

“When I think about New York and New Yorkers, we have a relationship already to the city, and that really feeds me a lot,” she told The New Yorker. “And I feel like I’m always, you know, in relationship to it.”