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Missy Crider, born in Columbia, South Carolina, and raised in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, embarked on her artistic journey at the age of 12 in New York City and Los Angeles while completing high school in her small southern hometown, graduating with a 3.98 GPA. As the eldest of three and daughter to a CPA/college professor and an interior designer, she began her career as an award-winning singer and violinist in country music stage shows in Branson, Missouri. Soon after, a New York agency signed her, leading to her first audition for an NBC pilot. Throughout high school, she balanced musical theater and local plays, traveling regularly between Hollywood and New York. In October 1992, she moved to Los Angeles after filming six movies and miniseries, including the acclaimed original "Lonesome Dove" (1989), alongside Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, and Angelica Huston, which earned her Screen Actors Guild membership.
Crider earned an Emmy nomination from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her lead role opposite Tom Everett Scott in the CBS drama "Love in the Dark Ages" (1994). Shortly after, director John McNaughton cast her as an aspiring singer who lands a record deal in Showtime's campy remake "Girls in Prison" (1994), where she also performed the vocal tracks. Transitioning to film, she starred as Cindy Wells, the female lead in Mitch Marcus's "A Boy Called Hate" (1995), alongside Scott Caan, James Caan, and Elliott Gould. This gritty road movie won the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival. She then portrayed a compassionate southern student caught in small-town violence in Disney's "Powder" (1995), co-starring Jeff Goldblum and Mary Steenburgen.
Her compelling performance caught the attention of renowned producer Steven Bochco, who cast her as Sharon Rooney, an enigmatic murder defendant, in a seven-episode arc during the second season of ABC's acclaimed series "Murder One" (1996). The 1990s saw her in various projects including ABC's "A Mother's Revenge" (1993), Hallmark Hall of Fame's "Jane's House" (1994), NBC's "The Beast" miniseries (1996), Stephen King's "Quicksilver Highway" (1997), Paramount's "Sins of the Mind" (1997), the indie film "Conversations in Limbo" (1998), and the quirky "Stand-ins" (1997), where she portrayed Marlene Dietrich's witty double, delivering 1930s-style banter alongside portrayals of Bette Davis, Jean Harlow, Mae West, Rita Hayworth, and Greta Garbo.
In 1999, Crider's manager received a call from Steven Spielberg, who had seen her work on ABC's "Strange World" (1999) and rewrote a leading role in his NBC/Dreamworks drama "The Others" (2000) specifically for her. Originally conceived as an elderly American Indian woman, the role became Satori, a gifted psychic, starring alongside Bill Cobbs, Julianne Nicholson, and Gabriel Macht. The series, reminiscent of "Dead Poets Society," aired 14 episodes over 2000 and 2001. Demonstrating her versatility, Crider co-starred in Mike Binder’s award-winning comedy "The Sex Monster" (1999), alongside Mariel Hemingway, Kevin Pollak, and Stephen Baldwin. She played Diva, a secretary entangled in a love triangle, in the film that won Best Picture at the Aspen Comedy Festival. Bill Paxton cast her in his directorial debut "Frailty" (2001) as Matthew McConaughey's pregnant wife.
Following this, Crider secured a notable role in David Lynch's acclaimed "Mulholland Drive" (2001) as Diane/Betty, a sharp, enigmatic waitress embodying Naomi Watts' fragile character's identity. She also appeared with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Al Pacino, and Christopher Walken in Revolution Studios' romantic comedy "Gigli" (2003), directed by Martin Brest. Director Gregory Hatanaka cast her in the suspense indie "Reeseville" (2003) and offered her the lead role of Mina in "Until the Night" (2004), portraying the girlfriend of aspiring cinematographer Norman Reedus. Crider also starred in the Hallmark Channel telefilm "Out of the Woods" (2005), opposite Jason London and Edward Asner, filmed in Northern California's Redwoods.
Throughout the 2000s, Crider appeared in numerous films and TV shows, including a recurring role as Rita Brady on FOX’s "24" (2001), appearing in multiple episodes during its sixth season in 2007. Producer Dick Wolf invited her back to the "Law & Order" franchise, guest-starring in "Law & Order: SVU" (2016) opposite Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay, and previously in "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (2006) opposite Vincent D'Onofrio. Other credits from this era include "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2001), "Instinct to Kill" (2001), "CSI: Miami" (2004), Showtime's "Huff" (2006), "Seclusion" (2006), "House" (2005), "Criminal Minds" (2013), "Mistresses" (2014), "The Guardian" (2002), "Without a Trace" (2007), "Along the Way" (2007), CW’s "90210" (2009), "Butterfly Dreaming" (2008), and "The Cry of the Butterfly" (2014) alongside Dee Wallace Stone.
An award-winning actor, singer, writer, producer, and child welfare advocate, Crider has starred in over 60 American films, TV series, and miniseries. In 2010, she received the Norman Mailer Award from the Norman Mailer Writer's Colony and The National Council of Teachers of English for a nonfiction memoir about her grandmother. In 2018, she graduated with honors, earning a BA in Psychology, SAA, from Argosy University. Her works—including children's stories and novels such as The Interims, Semilla Swamp, and Little House War—can be found at MLCrider.com and CriderInk.com.
