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Holland Taylor, also known as Penny Taylor, born January 14, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an Emmy Award winning American actress, known for her film, television and theatre work.
Her best known role is as Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half Men.
Holland Taylor was born to C.Tracy Taylor, an attorney and Virginia Taylor. She is the youngest of three girls in the family and her sisters are Patricia and Pamela.
She attended high school at Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school then majored in drama at Bennington College in 1964, before moving to New York City to become an actress.
Her first credits were in the theater and throughout the 60s and 1970s she appeared in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Taylor went on to star in "Breakfast with Less and Bess" and A.R.Gurney's The Cocktail Hour.
Legendary Broadway critic John Simon once said of Taylor, "She is one of the few utterly graceful, attractive, elegant and technically accomplished actresses in our theater."[citation needed]
Encouraged by her acting coach, Stella Adler, Taylor took two roles that would make her well known: alongside Tom Hanks in the 1980s sitcom Bosom Buddies, and a supporting role in the 1984 film Romancing the Stone.
After several years of travelling between California and New York, she finally decided to move permanently to California.
The hard-working actress' rising fame, built slowly over many years, led her to roles that made her a well known name in the industry. She proved herself to be equally adept both at comedy and at drama.
On television, from 1978 to 1979 Taylor was cast as Denise Cavanaugh on the long running soap opera,The Edge of Night. She also starred from 1992 to 1993 in Norman Lear's The Powers That Be with John Forsythe and David Hyde Pierce, from 1995 to 1998 on The Naked Truth.
She played the recurring role of Judge Roberta Kittleson on The Practice from 1998 to 2003, for which she was nominated for two Emmy's, winning one for best supporting actress.
In her Emmy speech, she brought the house down when she lifted the Emmy over her head and said, "Overnight!" Taylor thanked David E. Kelly the Practice's producer/writer and creator, for, "...giving me a chariot to ride up here on: A woman who puts a flag on the moon for women over 40. Who can think, who can work, who are successes, who can cook, and who can COOK!"[citation needed]
From 1999 to 2001, she played the Hedda Hopper-esque Letitia Devine on The Lot for which she was also nominated for an Emmy.
Other guest roles include appearances on ER, Veronica's Closet, and recurring roles on Monk and as billionaire Peggy Peabody on and The L Word.
She delights in spending time with her sisters' children although she has never married nor had children of her own but she has said :
"I always thought I would end up marrying in my 60's".
Her nephew, Brad Anderson directed her in Next Stop Wonderland, 1998 and Happy Accidents, 2000.
For successful Emmy Awards, see the Infobox.
Unsuccesful nominations were :
