Jaime Pressly

Jaime Pressly is an actress and model best known for playing Joy Turner on My Name Is Earl, a role that earned her widespread acclaim and a Primetime Emmy Award. Pressly was born in Kinston, North Carolina, where she trained as a gymnast and dancer before beginning a modeling career as a teenager. She later went on to pursue modeling and acting full-time after briefly relocating to Japan.

Pressly began her acting career in the late 1990s with roles in films including Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997) and Can’t Hardly Wait (1998). She steadily built her résumé with appearances in film and television before breaking through as Joy Turner on My Name Is Earl in 2005. The NBC sitcom became her signature role, earning her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007, as well as Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

In addition to My Name Is Earl, Pressly’s notable credits include Not Another Teen Movie (2001), Joe Dirt (2001), Torque (2024), I Love You, Man (2009), Mom (2014 to 2021) and Welcome to Flatch (2022 to 2023). She also ventured into fashion, launching the clothing line and sleepwear collection J’amie in 2003.

Pressly was engaged to DJ Eric Calvo before they split in 2008. The pair share son Dezi (born in 2007). Pressly married entertainment attorney Simran Singh in 2009, but they divorced in 2011. She has been in a long-term relationship with Hamzi Hijazi since 2011, and they share twin sons Leo and Lenon (born in 2017).