Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic police partner in the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop and portraying the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho. She appeared as Marlene Griggs-Knope on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. She is also well known as the exasperated wife in Bean.

Early life and education

Reed received her B.F.A. at the University of Washington.

Career

Reed earned a Drama Desk Award for the off-Broadway play Getting Out and an Obie Award for "sustaining excellence in performance in theater". She was a regular in the cast of the 1977 CBS drama The Andros Targets. She had minor film and television work in the 1980s. She won a CableAce Award for Best Actress for the HBO series Tanner '88 (1988). She also co-starred with Daryl Hannah in the film. Her notable film roles include The Long Riders (1980),, , Kindergarten Cop (1990), ,Deadly Whispers 1995 , and Proof of Life (2001). Reed played Janice Pasetti in the quirky NBC sitcom Grand, and then played a judge and single mother in the short-lived NBC sitcom The Home Court. She has provided the voice for the character Ruth Powers in 4 episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons and guest-voiced in an episode of the 1994–1995 animated series The Critic. She played a main role in Jericho and portrayed the mother of main character Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) on Parks and Recreation. In 2005 Reed portrayed executive producer Esther Shapiro in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure, a fictionalized television movie based on the creation and behind the scenes production of the 1980s prime time soap opera Dynasty. Reed has also worked for Storyline Online, reading Stellaluna.

Personal life

Reed met Sandy Smolan when he directed her in Rachel River. They married in 1988 and have two adopted children, Reed and Lily.

Filmography

Film

Television