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Mimi Cozzens enjoyed a diverse career spanning stage, screen, and television for over four decades.
Born Mildred Gloria Cozzens in Brooklyn, New York, she was raised in Glendale, Queens. Of Irish and English descent, she was one of two daughters of Milton (Jeff) Cozzens, a Dean of Boys and track coach at Clark Junior High School in the South Bronx and the Police Athletic League, and Dorothy (Pitt) Cozzens, Dean and owner of NYC's Academy of Professional Children in the late 1940s.
Mimi and her sister Dorothy Faith worked as child models for the John Robert Powers Agency in NYC, with Mimi booking her first job at just three and a half years old. Her passion for performing grew after singing and dancing on the local TV show "Teen Topper Revue." She graduated from Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, studied at Emerson College in the early 1950s, and later earned a Bachelor of Arts in Speech/Drama with a minor in Broadcasting from Hofstra College.
A seasoned theatre actress, Mimi took on a variety of roles throughout her extensive career—from comedy ("Born Yesterday," "Goodbye Charlie," "The Man Who Came to Dinner") to drama ("The Last of Mrs. Lincoln," "Children of a Lesser God"), musicals ("Guys and Dolls"), and classics including Shakespeare ("The Comedy of Errors") and other plays ("A Month in the Country"). She made her Broadway debut stepping in for Joyce Van Patten in Neil Simon's "I Ought to Be in Pictures," directed by Herbert Ross. Her national tours featured "The Prisoner of Second Avenue," "Same Time, Next Year," and the original Los Angeles tour of "Tribute" starring Jack Lemmon.
In New York, she appeared in productions like "Her Majesty the King" and "I Could Have Been a Kennedy." On the West Coast, Mimi earned acclaim, winning a Dramalogue Award for "After the Fall" (directed by Harris Yulin), an L.A. Weekly Award for "The Front Room" at Theatre East, and an ADA Award for "Only the Dead Know Burbank" at Actors Alley. Later roles included the Mother Superior in "Agnes of God" and Miss Wells, an aging movie star in "The Dinosaur Within," both directed by Michael Michetti.
Known as a dependable character actress, she portrayed various mothers, teachers, judges, nurses, and waitresses while balancing film and television work. Her film credits include Spring Break (1983), Night of the Cyclone (1990), Live Wire (1992), The Pandora Project (1998), Dead Ronnie (2006), the award-winning short Dandelion Dharma (2009), What Would Jesus Do? (2010), Christmas Mail (2010), Mardi Gras: Spring Break (2011), and the upcoming The Master (2012).
On television, she guest-starred in sitcoms like "The Jeffersons," "Seinfeld," "The Drew Carey Show," "3rd Rock from the Sun," "Malcolm in the Middle," "The Golden Girls," "Will & Grace," "Work It," "One Big Family" (starring Danny Thomas), and "Carol & Company" (starring Carol Burnett). Her dramatic TV roles included appearances on "Police Story," "Knots Landing," "Columbo," "St. Elsewhere," "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (as a 120-year-old Romulan waitress), "Providence," "Chicago Hope," "The Practice," "Cold Case," and "Numb3rs." She also featured in commercials for products ranging from detergents and fabric softeners to cough syrups and headache remedies.
A dedicated union activist, Mimi served on the National Board of Directors for both SAG and AFTRA and participated in the historic 2012 vote to merge the two unions.
