Camryn Manheim is relatively new to competitive poker playing, but on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown she showed herself to be a quick study more than willing to look you up if you show a moment’s hesitation. She has appeared twice on Celebrity Poker Showdown, playing in Tournament 5, Game 4 and Tournament 7, Game 5. In Tournament 5 Game 4, Camryn was the last poker player at the table to be defeated by Colin Quinn. She has also been featured on the Travel Channel’s World Poker Tour and the Game Show Network’s Celebrity Blackjack.
Raised in Peoria, Illinois, the child of a school teacher and a math professor, Camryn won an Emmy Award in 1998 for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award in 1999 for her role as Ellenor Frutt on the long-running lawyer show The Practice. Her other television credits include appearances on Law & Order, Chicago Hope, Will & Grace, Boston Public, Gideon’s Crossing, Strong Medicine, Two And A Half Men, and The L Word. She recently played Gladys Presley in the 2005 TV miniseries Elvis, which garnered her Emmy, Golden Globe, and Satellite Award nominations for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries. Camryn can be found on the big screen as well, with film credits that include Dark Water (2005), Scary Movie 3 (2004), The Laramie Project (2002), Happiness (1998), Mercury Rising (1998), and The Road To Wellville (1994).
Camryn has recently teamed up with Marlee Matlin and Showtime to produce and star in Sound And Fury, after making her producing debut with the ABC Movie Of The Week, Kiss My Act! A fiercely intelligent and independent woman, Camryn wears 12 earrings in her right ear because she wanted to beat out someone she knew who had 11, a tattoo of a Pegasus (winged horse) on her ankle, and knows sign language. An outspoken advocate for Plus Sized actresses and models, she also wrote the well-received Wake Up! I’m Fat!, published in 1999 by Broadway Books.
Every Wednesday, former music agent Norby Walters draws a diverse group that plays essentially for fun. The minimum bet is just $1, and the rotating roster of players includes Charles Durning, Scott Baio, Alec Baldwin, Robert Downey Jr., James Garner, Dennis Hopper, Camryn Manheim, Burt Reynolds, George Segal, and Sharon Stone.
