Missy Crider is a 50 years old American actress known for the dozens of characters she has portrayed in movies and TV shows, including Sally Allen in the Lonesome Dove. Aside from being an actress, she is a singer, writer, producer, and child welfare advocate who bagged a degree in Psychology at Argosy University in 2018.
Crider has been in the business of acting right from the early age of 12 when she started high school. She is a sister to Chris Crider, birthed to Mack (college professor) and Linda Crider (interior designer). Being the daughter of a college professor, it is natural that she excelled in her academics. Missy graduated with a cumulative GPA of 3.98 during her college days.
Profile Summary of Missy Crider
- Full Name: Melissa Anne Crider
- Nickname: Lahlitah
- Gender: Female
- Place of Birth: Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
- Date of Birth: 13th June 1974
- Missy Crider’s Age: 50 Years Old
- Ethnicity: White American
- Nationality: American
- Zodiac Sign: Gemini
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
- Missy Crider’s Parents: Mack Crider and Linda Crider
- Siblings: Two, Including Chris Crider
- Missy Crider’s Height: 5 Feet 6 Inches (1.68 m/168 cm)
- Famous for: Acting, Producing, and Writing
- Missy Crider’s Instagram: @missycrider
- Twitter: @CriderInk
10. 50 Years Old Missy Crider Was Born in Columbia, South Carolina but Raised in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
The talented actress and singer was born in 1974, precisely on the 13th of June, in Columbia, South Carolina. But this was not where she spent most of her childhood. She was brought up in Eureka Springs, Arkansas where she attended high school. Being a country girl, her earliest music was country music which doesn’t come as a surprise, judging from where she was raised.
Growing up, Crider was the kind of kid people expected to become a popular and successful adult. She was a popular kid who won several queen awards during high school. In 1990, Crider was the Queen of Eureka Springs Folk Festival. Right after that, she became Prom Queen in 1991. Moving on, she was elected Best-All-Round by the senior class in her high school. Then, in that same 1992, which was the year she graduated, she was crowned as Homecoming Queen at Eureka Springs.
Missy Crider has always been a winner right from her earlier years. Those who know her then aren’t surprised with who she has become and what she has accomplished.
9. She Began Her Career Journey in Musical Theater as a Singer and Violinist
Missy Crider started her career by singing and playing violin in stages. If we are not mistaken, her first performance where she wasn’t singing was in the 1995 movie, A Boy Called Hate. Her roles in the productions she appeared in from her early beginnings were as a singer. She was asked to sing vocal tracks in the TV movie, Girls in Prison, which was directed by John McNaughton in 1994. It was after the movie that she got cast in a film as an actual actress, and then subsequent acting roles followed.
The American actress knows how to juggle activities and careers. In her early years, she worked as a singer and violin player of country music in stage shows in Branson, Missouri. It was while she was at it that she got a call from an agency in New York and also received her first NBC pilot audition. During her high school days, she worked in musical theater and did local plays for seven years even though she had to travel often between Hollywood and New York.
8. She Has Been Cast Alongside Prominent Actors and Has Always Caught the Attention of Big Writers and Producers
Since her first on-screen performance in 1987, Missy Crider has been privileged to work with some prominent performers in Hollywood. In Lonesome Dove, she acted alongside Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Angelica Huston, and others. She worked with Tom Everett Scott in Love in the Dark Ages; Mary McCormack and Anthony LaPaglia in Murder One. In 2003, she acted with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Al Pacino in Gigli, a rom-com. She even acted alongside her ex James Woods.
Missy Crider has an incredible talent for acting; so much that each time she played a role in a film or series, she got introduced to a producer who would want to have her play a role in his production. After being cast in Powder as a southern woman in 1995 and nailed the role, Steven Bochco’s attention was drawn to her and he gave her the role of Sharon Rooney in his ABC series, Murder One.
Similarly, in 1999, Steven Spielberg saw her performance in Strange World and called her manager, seeking to write a major character in The Others for her. It is said that the role was initially meant to be an elderly American-Indian woman, but because of his interest in Missy, it was rewritten as Ellen ‘Satori’ Polaski which Crider portrayed in the horror-mystery series. Moreso, Bill Paxton met Missy when she was being screened for The Sex Monster in 1999, liked what he saw in her, and gave her a role in his 2001 movie, Frailty.
7. Missy Crider’s Net Worth: Her Career Has Been Financially and Otherwise Rewarding
Given the number of projects she has been a part of, no one should be told that most of her wealth comes from being an actress. She has been a part of no fewer than 60 productions over the years. From acting to producing, and writing, she excelled in all of them. Considering the robust resume she has in her profession, it is no surprise that her net worth is guesstimated to be anywhere from $1 to $20 million.
Missy’s career has also been rewarding in terms of the recognition she has received over time. She has won several awards as an actress, including The Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival for playing Cindy Wells in A Boy Called Hate. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, the actress has also received a nomination for Emmy, this was for playing Jenny Oliver in the “Love in the Dark Ages” of CBS Schoolbreak Special.
6. She Is also a Celebrated and Decorated Writer
As is with her career in entertainment, Missy Crider is also a versatile writer. Some of her novels and short stories include Little House War, Healing Marilyn, Shrink, Benevolence Boost, About Helen, and Fast. Her latest book, The INTERIMS, explored themes like hope, depression, suicide, fantasy, and death.
She has also written and published books for children, including Sophella, The Silk, Mr. Zeuss and His Very Strange Shoes, George, and Verla May Coombs. Back in 2010, one of her write-ups won her the Norman Mailer Award after she participated in a national essay-writing competition.
As of this writing, (June 2022) Missy Crider is working as a supervising writer on Jewel and at the same time writing The Interims: When Between Time & Place.
5. Her Maternal Grandmother Ella Mitchell Is One of the Most Significant Figures in Her Life
One significant person in Crider’s life is Ella Buller Mitchell. The woman grew up in Elton Louisiana and brought up three children on her own after her husband died. Missy Crider’s mother, Linda, was only two years at that time. Missy Crider regards Ella as not just her grandmother but as one of the important female figures in her life.
It is said that Ella was very supportive of Missy’s inclination toward art. The write-up that won the actress the Norman Mailer Award in 2010 was about Ella. Participating in the nonfiction category of the national essay-writing competition, she submitted a story about a mystical event involving her late grandmother. She mailed a birthday card to Ella who had passed on and received a response three months down the line.
4. Missy Crider Does Not Have a Husband and Has Never Been Married
James Wood is not the only man that the Lonesome Dove actress dated or got engaged to. She was also engaged to Danny Kastner from 2005 to 2006, but that was only as far as the relationship went. She dated Wolfgang Knoerr from 2006 to 2007, and Salvatore Annuziato from 2009 to 2010.
Missy Crider, for reasons that are clear, hasn’t had many relationships that lasted for many years. Much isn’t known about her love life but it is widely believed that the award-winning actress is currently single. Be that as it may, we can only confirm that like Ingrid Casares, she does not have a husband and has never been married, at least to the best of our knowledge.
3. Her Longest Romantic Relationship Was with American Actor James Wood
Missy Crider met James Woods when they boarded a flight together and sat beside each other to Vancouver, B. C., Canada, where she was to play a role as James’ daughter in a TV movie titled Jane’s House (1994). Even though exactly how long they dated is not known to the public, they dated for a while longer than her other relationships which survived only a year.
Crider and James first got engaged in 1997 when they attended France Cannes Film Festival. Later in 2000, Missy and the actor got engaged again. They were supposed to be wedded on a Ranch in North Carolina but the union never happened.
Before they met and became lovers, Woods had been married and divorced twice. Kathryn Morrison was the first wife of the actor; they got married in 1980 and the union packed up in 1983. In 1989, he got married to Sarah Owen but rushed out of it the following year.
2. Missy Crider Has No Children of Her Own
There is no record of the actress having any child from her past relationships, even though she has been in and out of relationships with men. The Lonesome Dove actress never got around to tying the knot with any man.
Her relationships were always short-term, and for someone who loves children, it is hard to tell whether she decided not to have her children unless married; because of her career, or pregnancy never happened for her.
1. But She Is a Godmother to Levi, Diamond, and Melissa
Most women who have no children of their own usually devote their love and attention to pets. But in Crider’s case, she has taken other people’s children as hers’. Her love for children is evident in how she takes her responsibilities as a child welfare advocate and godmother seriously.
Her brother’s (Chris Crider) son named Levi is her godson. This is also the case with Diamond, one of her friends’ sons. Melissa, her goddaughter was named after the actress: she is the daughter of another friend of Crider.
