Elizabeth Ann Perkins (born November 18, 1960) is an American actress. Her film roles have included About Last Night (1986), Big (1988), Avalon (1990), and He Said, She Said (1991), The Flintstones (1994), Miracle on 34th Street (1994), and her brief voice role as Coral in the Disney/Pixar animated film Finding Nemo (2003). She is also well known for her role as Celia Hodes in the Showtime TV series Weeds, for which she received three Primetime Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations. Early life Perkins was born in Queens, New York, to Jo Williams, a drug treatment counselor, and James Perkins, a farmer, writer, and businessman. She has two sisters . Her paternal grandparents were Greek immigrants from Salonika who anglicized their surname from "Pisperikos" to "Perkins" when they moved to the United States. Perkins was raised in Colrain, Massachusetts; her parents divorced in 1963. She began working in theatre with Arena Civic Theatre, a non-profit community theatre group based in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Perkins attended Northfield Mount Hermon School, an elite preparatory school, and then spent 1978 to 1981 in Chicago attaining her Certificate in Acting from the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University. In 1984, she made her theatrical debut on Broadway in Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and afterward, worked in a number of ensemble companies, including The New York Shakespeare Festival and the Steppenwolf Theater. Career She was listed as one of the 12 "Promising New Actors of 1986" in John Willis' Screen World, and has since landed numerous film roles. Perkins made her film debut in 1986 in Edward Zwick's About Last Night... and had a career breakthrough co-starring with Tom Hanks in Big. She received critical acclaim for her performance in Barry Levinson's Avalon, and was a standout opposite William Hurt in The Doctor (1991), receiving critical acclaim for her performance as a terminal cancer patient. In 1993, Perkins appeared in the television project For Their Own Good. She later starred in the comedy series Battery Park and has appeared in television and films including Miracle on 34th Street and 2000's 28 Days starring as Sandra Bullock's sister. Perkins also had a small role in the 2003 film Finding Nemo, voicing Coral who was the wife of Marlin and mother of Nemo, and who was killed and eaten by the barracuda in the beginning of the film. Perkins also appeared as a psychiatrist