Bio
Amy Pietz is an American actress best known for her role as Annie Viola Spadaro in the television sitcom Caroline in the City, from 1995-1999. Her performance in the role earned her a 1998 nomination from the Screen Actor's Guild for Best Actress in a Comedy.
Other television credits include regular roles on Rodney, The Weber Show, Muscle and The Nine Lives of Chloe King, as well as a recurring role on Ally McBeal.
From 2007-2008 she starred as Franny Tolchuck, the micro-managing mom in a Wisconsin family whose lives are turned upside down by the arrival of a Pakistani Muslim exchange student, in the sitcom Aliens in America.
A leading lady in telefilms, Pietz starred in Call for Help and All Lies End in Murder, and has guest starred on such shows as Law & Order: SVU, ER, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Drew Carey Show, I'm With Her, Conrad Bloom and The Division.
On the big screen, her credits include Rudy, Jingle All The Way, Dysenchanted, Jell-Ohh Lady, which she also produced, and The Whole Ten Yards.
Pietz has amassed an impressive resume of theatre credits as well, including originating the role of Martha Boswell in the musical The Boswell Sisters at The Old Globe Theatre.
She has continued singing classic Boswell Sisters arrangements with the women from that show in their jazz trio, Shout Sister, which has recorded two albums of 1930's New Orleans style jazz.
Other theatre credits include Christmas In Naples at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Reprise LA musicals Fiorello and Company, for which she was nominated for a 2004 Ovation Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
She also appeared in Lobby Hero at the Odyssey Theatre, A View From The Bridge and You Can't Take It With You, both at the famed Steppenwolf Theatre, In The Flesh at the Organic Theatre in Chicago, The Love Of The Nightingale at Chicago's Next Theatre, A Dead Man's Apartment at the Met Theatre and Waiting for Lefty at the Artistic Home.
At the Gascon Center Theatre, she produced the musical Xanadu Live, which subsequently opened on Broadway.
Her love of radio plays has led her to do 15 plays with L.A. Theatre Works and The Play's The Thing on NPR. Some of her favourites are A View from the Bridge, The South Paw, After the Fall, Voir Dire, Dinosaur Dreams, The Cherry Orchard, Middle of the Night and Falsettos.
Pietz's work for charities is extensive, including a passion for the Winter Special Olympics. She shared executive producer credit along with Brad Pitt on the film The Tehuacan Project, which garnered director Andy Lauer a Humanitarian Award from the White House.
Pietz is a founding member of the Eclipse Theatre Company in Chicago and a graduate of the former Goodman School of Drama, which honoured her with an Excellence in the Arts award for her work in radio, television and theatre.
When not acting or singing, she spends her time in service as a doula, coaching women with the births of their babies. She considers this work a true calling.
Pietz has been married to actor Kenneth Alan Williams since 25 May, 1997.