Dedee Pfeiffer, best known for playing Cybill’s daughter, Rachel, on the sitcom Cybill, Sheri on the sitcom For Your Love, and her film appearance as Val in The Allnighter.
After a 10-year absence from Hollywood, Dedee Pfeiffer is back starring on the new David E. Kelley helmed drama, Big Sky. The series is set in rural Montana where private detectives search for two sisters who have been kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway, the series airs on ABC.
During her recent time away from Hollywood, Pfeiffer has been hard at work earning a Bachelors Degree in Psychology at Pierce College, Valley College and California State University Northridge. It was at UCLA where she earned a Masters of Social Work. Her area of concentration includes mental illness, substance use and homelessness.
Pfeiffer also had impressive roles in the films Red Surf opposite George Clooney, Falling Down with Michael Douglas, Tune in Tomorrow with Keanu Reeves and Into The Night with Jeff Goldblum.
She has tons of other studio and independent films to her credits including producing the indie award-winning film Loredo. The short film, The Tub in which she starred and produced won multiple awards including a festival Best Actress Award.
Here’s Some of Our Conversation with Dedee Pfeiffer Watch the Complete Interview above!
Hi guys! This is Mohid Moosani from ScreenBinge.com and today we have the legendary Dedee Pfeiffer with us. She doesn’t really need any introduction the world knows her, she’s a legend…. so Dedee how are you doing today?
I’m doing great how are you? Thank you for having me on your show, I’m doing good.
You’re most welcome in fact, it’s a dream come true because I’ve heard your name growing up and right now, I’m interviewing you! My mother is a diehard fan, so, she’s going to be finally happy with something that I’m doing.
My sons.. they’re like mom don’t you know who you’re working with? I’m like no. They’re huge I go oh okay, tell them that their mom is also huge. I try to tell them that but they won’t listen they won’t have it…. it’s gross, they don’t even watch the show Big Sky they won’t even watch the show because they think it’s just too weird like to watch your mom on tv they’re like it’s just too weird and I go…actually I kind of get that that is kind of weird I mean I watch my sister Michelle but it’s weird it’s like weird… when you see somebody you know, especially if you’re related.
So, Dedee correct me if I’m wrong you started your career in 1985?
Actually, it was 1982 I was 18, yeah well, I graduated from high school in 82 I know it’s back then when the dinosaurs were running. We had no computers and no cell phones it was shocking we’d have to stop at payphone booths with a dime and make a phone call… bring out your book because or if you unless you memorize numbers so that’s when I started. Back in 82, I studied for two years right before I actually went and tried to find an agent and stuff because uh-huh, to be honest, I just sucked.
How did you get involved in acting? Did you always want to be in this industry?
I was a nervous wreck I was painfully shy! Looking back, I don’t know why I became an actor because uh I’m actually really shy. I know I’m a little hard to believe but I am! You know as they say, the universe has plans for you…. well, I like to hide behind characters, you know like my characters get to say and do things that say I would never give myself permission to do in real life so there’s always that joy in that funnel.
Especially, with writing too, the world is your palette and as an actor, I love people watching I love human behaviour which is why I took off for college for 10 years yeah. Masters of Social Work because again I’m just so interested in human behaviour.
I was upset because I wasn’t a part of the union, for which you need to have experience and for experience, you have to be in the union. At that time my sister Michelle was working on um with John Landis “Into the night” at Jeff Goldblum. I came home and I was upset, you know she was like that, she went to work and told John Landis that and John was like oh hell no! So, he said to tell her to show up on Hollywood boulevard a Saturday night with her cheapest most nasty hooker clothes and uh I’ll give her a role as a hooker and we’ll get her into the union. But then he said to me I’m probably going to cut it out of the movie because it’s not in the script but I just want to help you get your union card.
You’ve had your share on the big screen with great actors, George Clooney in Red Surf, how was the experience? How was the young George Clooney?
George and I go way back oh…. you know George and I dated way before Red Surf, we did it when we really young anyway. I had I didn’t have an agent…. no wait, okay we met through my sister’s friend right, because he was an acting class with my sister’s friend and it was Jilly Bean.
Jill and she said oh there’s this guy in Matthew’s class named George. He’s gorgeous you gotta meet him and I was like yeah yeah whatever and I met him. I’m like oh she’s right he’s gorgeous so we made it… um, we were young and kind of stupid and he had an agent and was doing things like a killer of the tomatoes or something like that and I was um… what was it, oh no I’m sorry he was making money doing pilots that didn’t go and I was in all these independent films.
So, we wanted each other’s career at the time like I needed money I was starving, I was making no money on independent films and he was making a lot of money on pilots that didn’t go anywhere. So, it was like he wanted to do films I wanted to do TV so we were running around Hollywood just being one of the many actors out of work trying to uh you know…. walk the payment.
In “Falling Down,” you were with Michael Douglas who is another great actor! How was it on the sets with him?
It was amazing I think honestly, I was in shock that I got in the role! Joel Schumacher, the fantastic director. I was very much in shock I mean I just went into actor mode do my role and make sure I’m really good at it and come up with really hot choices and make sure that I’m bringing a lot to the role of “Sheila” the whammy burger girl. Because otherwise, if I thought about the fact that I was looking into Michael Douglas’s eyes acting with him I would have just…. I would have just probably fainted or peed on myself or something because really that’s like huge.
Oh…. Hold on um I still look back and go how did I not faint when I met him? How was I able to perform I still don’t know how I did it I still am in shock I’m still in shock that I did Seinfeld. I’m still in shock that I worked with most of the people that I did um I think I just go into this kind of shock mode and then years later someone goes you know…. you were in Seinfeld. I go oh yeah that’s kind of cool!
Again, in “Tune in Tomorrow,” you were with Keanu Reeves and he’s… you know praised all over the industry for being the kind of humble person that he is. No flashy cars, no… you know that celebrity kind of aura, very down to earth. How did you find Keanu Reeves?
Yeah, I call him Canoe head, he and I were in North Carolina or South Carolina, one of the two when we worked on that. And Julian was the scriptwriter and um that’s where I met him and he was great. We were both young and just we rode around the back of his motorcycle which I swear to you I thought was going to break because, it was like old and I was like it wasn’t some nice big bad Harley like George has Keanu had like this you know motorcycle that I was on the back of running around because there were always hurricanes and stuff, we had terrible weather so they were always cancelling work.
So, we just ran around and drank and just…. oh we ran around one night at the beach at night and just went into the ocean and people thought we were like on drugs. We weren’t we just went into the ocean at night, we just literally walked into the ocean fully dressed on the way to go to dinner on the way back.
He was always very spontaneous, he’s very real um… what I love about him too is that you know, it took me to be getting in my 50s before I really understood… actually I’d have to say now I’m sober three years in my sobriety is when I was able to find my truth and own my truth.
Keanu has always owned his truth and you know and I love that about him he was always very carefree skipped to his own, be danced to his own drum you know… just all of that and um I always loved that I was always very concerned about what people thought of me.
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