Spheeris was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her Greek-immigrant father owned the Magic Empire Shows carnival and was a side-show strong man. Her mother, of Irish heritage, was raised in Kansas and later worked as a ticket taker for the carnival. Her father was 40 years old and her mother was 19 when they began a relationship.[4] Spheeris has three full siblings, plus a number of older half-siblings from her father's first marriage.[5] She is a sister of singer Jimmie Spheeris[6] and a first cousin of musician Chris Spheeris[6] and Greek-French director Costa Gavras,[6] which she says has made her consider that a genetic component exists to her vocation.[6]
Spheeris told author Paul Stenning, "I believe each of us is born with certain characteristics that we genetically inherit, some of which are good, some not so good. My mother was extremely compassionate, my father more of a barbarian. My father was passionately ambitious, where my mother was not. The most significant traits I learned from my parents were a strong sense of survival and unfaltering tenacity."[7]
Spheeris spent her first seven years traveling around the American South and American Midwest with her father's carnival.[8] Her father was murdered in Troy, Alabama, after intervening in a racial dispute. In a 2015 interview, Spheeris stated that her father had come to the aid of an African-American man who had been struck on the back of the head with a cane by a white man over a dispute about cutting in front of him in line. The white man soon after returned and stabbed Spheeris' father. She states that her father's killer served no jail time, the man's legal defense apparently resting entirely on the claim that he was justified in murdering Spheeris senior as "he was defending a black."[5]
In addition, she worked as a writer for the television series Roseanne (1988-1997). In the 1990s, she directed Wayne's World, a comedy based on Mike Myers' sketches from Saturday Night Live. The movie grossed over $183 million and became a popular hit. She directed the Wayne's World music video work for Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", which earned a Grammy Award nomination.[11] She had difficulty working with Myers, while acknowledging him as "profoundly talented," and in an Entertainment Weekly article stated she believes Myers dissuaded Paramount Pictures from hiring her for the sequel.[13]
The Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival named Spheeris its guest of honor for 2013.[14]
The moving image collection of Penelope Spheeris is held at the Academy Film Archive.[15] The Academy Film Archive has preserved several of Penelope Spheeris' films, including Bath, Hats Off To Hollywood, and Shit.[16]
Personal life
Spheeris has a daughter, director Anna Spheeris Fox, born in 1969.[17]
Since September 9, 1998,[18] Spheeris has been in a relationship with a man known as Sin,[19] whom she met while filming the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part III.[20] In a 2015 interview, she revealed that he was in an institution in Florida after he stopped taking his medication (he has schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) and ended up in jail.[21] She has described him as the love of her life.[22]
She appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor podcast on October 18, 2016.
In December 2021, she appeared on the fourteenth episode of The Ghost of Hollywood, where she discussed her work career in filmmaking, with a focus on Suburbia in particular.[24][25]
An interview with Penelope Spheeris and journalist Barney Hoskyns appeared on the Rock's Backpages web site.[26]
The Thing in Bob's Garage – A script was written but never made into a film[28]
The Gospel According to Janis – An autobiography about Janis Joplin was developed by Spheeris for 15 years, and she had received help from David Dalton on the script. In 2004, the project finally began moving forward when singer Pink was cast in the lead role. Peter Newman had helped finance.[29][30]Zooey Deschanel replaced her two years later.[31] In 2009, Deschanel declared the project dead.[32]
Closers – A romantic comedy distributed by Dimension Films, written by Monica Johnson and Josh Stolberg, and produced by Kevin Messick. The plot describes a man who signs up for a secret service in order to get a girl, only to realize that they assassinated her boyfriend.[33]
Posers – A comedy distributed by Miramax about three guys who have to save their uncle's adult bookstore from being seized by launching their own porn site.[34]
Spam on Rye – An action/comedy from Franchise Pictures, written by Sal Stabile and Andrew Wasser. The plot was about a guy who steals a mobster's car to impress a date and finds himself living the life of the one he stole from. David Arquette was being looked at to star.[35][36]
^Rottenberg, Josh (June 16, 2008). "Mike Myers: Man of Mystery". ew.com. Retrieved May 26, 2017. I hated that bastard for years," says Spheeris, who believes Myers dissuaded Paramount from hiring her for Wayne's World 2. "But when I saw Austin Powers, I went, 'I forgive you, Mike.'" She pauses, voice choked with emotion. "'You can be moody, you can be a jerk, you can be things that others of us can't be—because you are profoundly talented. And I forgive you.'
