Pamela Adlon

**Pamela Fionna Adlon** (/ˈædˌlɒn/, *née* **Segall**; born July 9, 1966) is an American actress, voice actress, screenwriter, producer, and director.[1] She voiced Bobby Hill on the animated comedy series *King of the Hill* (1997–2010), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award, Ashley Spinelli on the animated comedy series *Recess* (1997–2003), and the title character from the *Pajama Sam* video game series. Adlon is also known for her roles on the comedy-drama series *Californication* (2007–2014) and *Louie* (2010–2015), on which she was also a writer and producer.[2] Her work on *Louie* garnered her four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Adlon has starred as Sam Fox on the FX comedy-drama series *Better Things* since 2016, which she also co-created, writes, produces and directs. The series won a Peabody Award, and she has been nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

## Early life

Adlon was born in Albany, New York. She is the daughter of Marina L. and Donald Maxwell "Don" Segall (1933–1994), who was a television comedy writer-producer, and author of comic books and science fiction pulp novels.[4][5][6] Her father produced *The Dave Garroway Show,* which became *AM New York,* and then *The Today Show.* He was a page at NBC with Gil Cates, and wrote erotic fiction under various pseudonyms, including Troy Conway.[6] Adlon's father was from Boston, Massachusetts, and her mother is English. Her father was born to a Jewish family, and her mother, originally an Anglican, converted to Judaism.[6][7] Adlon has said that her parents met at the USO in Paris.[1]

As a child, Adlon lived in the Carnegie House at 100 West 57th Street.[8][9] She has said that she and her family lived bi-coastally, moving between Los Angeles and New York because her father was a journeyman writer and producer for TV. She started performing at age nine; one of her father's friends had a radio studio, so she would do voice-over work there. While in Los Angeles, she did TV and film acting work.[1] She attended Sarah Lawrence College for a semester.[6] After moving to Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, she shared a house with Anna Gunn.[10]

## Career

Adlon said voice-overs saved her career. As successful as her child-actress years had been, she struggled to find parts in her 20s.[4]

Adlon's best known role is playing Bobby Hill on the animated TV show *King of the Hill*, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2002.[11] Though she is mostly known for voicing young boys, Adlon has voiced two girl characters (both of which have boylike qualities): Margaret "Moose" Pearson in *Pepper Ann* and Ashley Spinelli in *Recess*.

Notable live-action roles include Girl Joey in the 1984 teen film *Bad Manners*, Kelly Affinado on *The Facts of Life*, Marcy Runkle on Showtime's *Californication*, and Pamela on FX's *Louie.* (She is also a consulting producer for the show).[12] Adlon was nominated for an Annie Award for her role as Otto Osworth on Cartoon Network's *Time Squad*. In 2006–07, she played the voice of Andy in Cartoon Network's *Squirrel Boy* animated series.

Adlon's professional relationship with Louis C.K. started when she played his wife in the short-lived HBO sitcom *Lucky Louie*. She also starred as the friend of Louie (a fictional character based on himself, Louis C.K.) in his FX single-camera show, *Louie*. She appeared in every season but the third.[13] Adlon co-wrote seven episodes of *Louie*, and became a consulting producer on the show. She earned a total of 4 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her work on *Louie*. She earned two nominations as a producer for Best Comedy Series, one nomination for co-writing, "Daddy's Girlfriend Part 1" in season 3 and the Guest Actress in a Comedy in Season 5.[14]

In 2015, FX gave a pilot order for *Better Things*, which is a comedy created by and starring Adlon. She plays an actress raising three daughters. The pilot was written by Adlon and Louis C.K., who also directed it.[15] It was picked up for a 10-episode series on August 7, 2015.[16][17] The show, which premiered on September 8, 2016, is semi-autobiographical.[18]

Adlon received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Seasons 1 and 2 of *Better Things*.[19]

Adlon was represented by manager Dave Becky until November 2017, when she fired him following his involvement in the Louis C.K. sexual harassment scandal