American actress and casting professional Phyllis Smith. She is well-known for playing Phyllis Vance in the hit television show “The Office” for a long time. Phyllis worked for “The Office” after beginning her career as a casting assistant.
She also received recognition for her game-changing on-air performance. She has also participated in a few movies. She played a few uncredited parts in her early performances.
Phyllis Smith’s Date of Birth and Age
On July 10, 1951, Phyllis was born in St. Louis, Missouri’s neighborhood of The Hill. She is the second of her parents’ ten children. Little is known about her parents’ occupations or backgrounds.
Phyllis Smith’s Husband
In “The Office,” Phyllis was wed to the wealthy CEO of Vance Refrigeration, Bob Vance. In real life, the actress wishes to maintain her privacy.
This means that she has kept all information about her spouse, kids, and other aspects of her private life private. We only know one thing about Smith: she is a career-driven individual who has dedicated her whole life to achieving her professional objectives.
Phyllis Smith’s Education
Phyllis received her degree in elementary education from the “University of Missouri-St. Louis” in 1972.
Phyllis Smith’s Career
She was a cheerleader for the football club known as the “St. Louis Cardinals” at the time (now known as the “Arizona Cardinals”). Up until the 1980s, she was a circus performer.
Phyllis trained with Raoul Appel as a jazz dancer in a professional capacity. She has danced ballet with the St. Louis Civic Ballet and the St. Louis Dance Theater.
Phyllis has visited several US locations as a dancer. She has performed on tour both with Able’s “Baggy Pants Burlesque” and a Vaudeville burlesque production.
In the Mercer Brothers’ program “Giggles Galore,” she displayed her comedic talents. Phyllis, who has been dancing since she was 7 years old and has dedicated her life to it, was forced to stop due to a knee injury. After she reached her late 30s, she quit dancing.
Phyllis then started working as a telemarketer. She didn’t quit, however, until three hours had passed. After that, Phyllis relocated to Hollywood, California, where she launched her acting and casting careers.
As an “extra,” Phyllis made her acting debut in the 1980 comedy Caddyshack. After that, she was chosen to play the mother of ‘Abigail’ character in the 1993 British-American animated kids’ movie ‘Once Upon a Forest.
The movie’s final print, however, removed Phyllis’ narration. In the following years, she appeared in the uncredited parts of the narrator in “The Princess and the Goblin” and the “Maiden from Mombassa” in “The Thief and the Cobbler.”
Then Phyllis started working as a member of the casting staff. For the 1992 television film “A Taste for Killing,” she was employed as a casting assistant. Phyllis served as a casting associate for the western drama series “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” from 1994 to 1997.
She also worked on the casting team for an episode of the science fiction program “Roswell” on the “UPN.” Phyllis helped the “Spin City” casting team on the “ABC” comedy.
Phyllis appeared in the 2005 episode of the “Fox” comedy “Arrested Development” titled “The Immaculate Election” as “Carla.” She also participated in the ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ casting team for the HBO show.
Phyllis had her breakout role on the NBC comedy “The Office” the same year. Her imaginary identity, “Phyllis Vance,” was constructed especially for her. She served as the program’s casting assistant previous to her time spent on the show as an actress.
In the television show, Phyllis’s namesake character was a salesperson who was shown as modest and soft-spoken but who also had the disposition to disagree with her self-centered office boss, “Michael Scott,” played by actor Steve Carell. From 2005 through 2013, Phyllis appeared in 187 episodes of the program.
She and the cast won two “Screen Actors Guild Awards,” one in each the years 2006 and 2007, for their performances in the role in the category of “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.”
From 2009 through 2013, she was also put up for the honor. The performance by Phyllis received a lot of praise as well; the play was a big success.
Phyllis returned to her ‘The Office’ character in the spin-off ‘The Office: The Accountants’ in 2006. She appeared in the “Phyllis” episode. Two years later, in ‘The Office: The Outburst,’ another spin-off, Phyllis repeated the same role.
Phyllis and her ‘The Office’ co-stars made an appearance on the ‘Celebrity Family Feud’ spin-off of the game program ‘Family Feud’ in June of the same year.
Phyllis received the awarded film part of “Lynn” in the comedy “Bad Teacher” in 2011. She made her voiceover debut with the comedic cartoon “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” the same year.
Her most famous voiceover performance was as “Sadness” in the Pixar animated comedy film “Inside Out.” She got an “Annie Award” for “Voice Acting in a Feature Production” in addition to being recognized for her outstanding work as a voice-over artist.
In the Netflix series “The OA,” Phyllis played “Betty Broderick-Allen,” also known as “BBA,” in 2016. She got back into dancing after seeing this science-fiction film about near-death experiences since it had certain dance-like routines.
Phyllis Smith’s Net Worth
The former casting assistant turned American actress Phyllis Smith has a $4 million fortune as of 2022. Smith is best known for her role as Phyllis Lapin-Vance on the NBC television program “The Office” (2005–2013).
She also provided the voice of Sadness in the Disney computer-animated feature film “Inside Out” (2015).