Actor Lauren Weedman has depended on her lovely, expressive face to make a living in Hollywood for more than three decades.
Weedman cracked audiences up in projects including “Date Night,” “Looking,” “Will & Grace,” “Arrested Development,” “Euphoria,” “Special” and “Mom.” Recently, she’s had recurring roles on Emmy-winning comedies “Abbott Elementary” and “Hacks.”
Then, in August 2024, the 56-year-old actor experienced severe facial paralysis.
Weedman had developed Bell’s palsy, which temporarily paralyzes the muscles on one side of the face. The exact cause of the condition is unknown, but Bell’s palsy often stems from a viral infection that inflames the facial nerve. Stress can be a contributor. Her symptoms included complete freezing of the right side of her face, an inability to align her lips and smile normally, an inability to close her right eye, headache and general malaise.
The paralysis began at the start of a three-week break from work. Weedman wasn’t auditioning for new gigs. She was already employed, having shot two episodes of the new hourlong dark comedy “Sirens,” which premiered May 22 on Netflix.
“The idea of sitting out and waiting for it to get better just was not an option,” Weedman wrote in a text to me.
Some patients diagnosed with Bell’s palsy experience drastic improvement in a few weeks. Many performers might’ve stayed silent about the condition, hoping to pick up where they left off once production resumed. Weedman knew she couldn’t afford to wait out the symptoms. Not only because the single mom needed the money, but because she desperately wanted to remain part of that stellar “Sirens” ensemble.
Created by showrunner Molly Smith Metzler and based on her play “Elemeno Pea,” the sexy, suspenseful, female-focused limited series stars Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy, Milly Alcock, Kevin Bacon and Glenn Howerton. Weedman was cast as Patrice, the longtime chef of Moore’s family. With three episodes left to shoot, that show had to go on.
But without Weedman? Not if she had her say.
Courtesy of Lauren Weedman
“I wanted to talk to [the “Sirens” team] about it as soon as I could so I wouldn’t be stressed the whole time,” the actor told me over Zoom from her home in Santa Monica, California.
A video conference was scheduled between Weedman, Metzler and Quyen Tran, the director of Episodes 3 and 4.
“At that point, I had fallen in love with Lauren like everyone else had,” Metzler said in a phone interview. “I just felt awful that she was going through something like that.”
Grateful for Weedman’s forthrightness — and struck by how candidly and hilariously she spoke about her symptoms — Metzler let the actor take the lead in making next steps. Whatever she needed, they’d make her performance for the series happen.
“We didn’t even wanna conceive of the show without her in it,” Metzler said.
“[Molly] was so kind … But it was really hard for me to think that I mattered,” Weedman said.
Part of it was her Midwestern upbringing. The actor was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, then adopted and raised in Indianapolis. Mainly, Weedman was embarrassed.
“You don’t make a big thing out of being hurt or sick,” Weedman said.
So, she suggested they write Bell’s palsy into her character’s storyline. Metzler, surprised and impressed that Weedman was “so, so game,” agreed.
“It’s such a terrific character trait,” Metzler said, adding that the tortured, long-suffering Patrice is made more relatable and likable by uttering the line, “Every summer, this happens; the stress of this job, my Bell’s palsy is back.”
This wasn’t Weedman’s first bout with Bell’s palsy. She’d had a mild case while pregnant with her son, Leo, now 15, but it resolved relatively swiftly. This felt dreadfully different.
By the time she returned to set, Weedman had gone through steroid and antiviral therapy, was receiving acupuncture and had quit drinking to reduce inflammation. At night, she’d tape her right eye shut to keep it from drying out. While she feared her performance would suffer, it didn’t. But the fatigue and pain were unrelenting, and the prospect of watching herself made Weedman cringe.
“If it serves the character, I don’t care if I look heavy or fat or bad or whatever,” she declared. “But this one was a new level of [vanity].”
Once “Sirens” wrapped, Weedman still wasn’t out of the woods. She’d long ago booked two recurring guest spots: “Abbott Elementary,” where she plays Kristin Marie Schemmenti, the snarky sister of Melissa (Lisa Ann Walter), and “Hacks,” where she portrays feisty Las Vegas Mayor Jo Pezzimenti. In both, she took the same tack.
“Our first and foremost concern was her health, and whether she felt comfortable being on camera,” “Hacks” creator, showrunner and director Lucia Aniello shared via email. “When she said she wanted to shoot, we just went with it!”
Quinta Brunson, creator and star of ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” said she was “really excited about the opportunity” to keep working with Weedman through the condition.
“The way I look at it, that is what normalizes any form of otherness,” Brunson said. “Her dealing with it falls in line with who [Lauren] is. She just rolls with the punches and does her job.”
Weedman’s face has visibly improved since shooting “Sirens,” “Abbott” and “Hacks,” but her neurologist recently cautioned it might take a full year for her to recover completely. She credits talent reps Christie Smith and Lindsay Cohen of Rise Management with recently helping her land a guest spot as a psychotherapist on the upcoming second season of Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This.” But she also said she lost parts on at least two series — a new comedy, an Emmy-nominated drama — due to not yet having regained full control of her facial features.
Weedman is at peace with all of it because she’s “so happy” she was able to keep working.
And so, she marches on, buoyed by the unconditional support of her teen son, who told her, “Mom, it’s no big deal. This is your Bell’s palsy era, that’s all.”
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