Lori Petty (born October 14, 1963)^[1] is an American actress, director, and screenwriter. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1990 comedy film Cadillac Man and later starred in films Point Break (1991), A League of Their Own (1992), Free Willy (1993), The Glass Shield (1994) and played the title role in Tank Girl (1995). She created and starred in the short-lived Fox sitcom Lush Life in 1996 and acted in number of independent and smaller-scale movies in later career.

In 2008, Petty wrote and directed independent drama film The Poker House based on her early life during the 1970s. In 2014 she joined the Netflix comedy-drama series, Orange Is the New Black as Lolly Whitehill as a guest star in the second season, and a recurring character in the third, fourth and seventh seasons.

Petty, the eldest of three children, was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the daughter of a Pentecostal minister.^[2] She had a difficult upbringing after her mother left her abusive father and became a drug addicted prostitute, which left the young Petty responsible for her younger sisters.^[3] Petty graduated from North High School in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1981, and worked for several years in Omaha, Nebraska, as a graphic designer before pursuing acting.^[2]

Petty got her break playing a terrorist named Skunk on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children in 1985.^[4] She later made guest starring appearances on television series such as The Equalizer, The Twilight Zone, Head of the Class, Miami Vice and Freddy's Nightmares. In 1987 she starred in the made-for-television horror film Bates Motel.^[5] The following year she appeared in the made-for-television movie Police Story: Monster Manor, and was regular cast member in the short-lived comedy series, The Thorns.^[6] In 1989, Petty co-starred in the made-for-television movie Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder and from 1989 to 1990 was regular cast member in the Fox crime drama, Booker.^[7]

In 1990, Petty made her film debut as Robin Williams's wannabe fashion designer girlfriend in the dark comedy Cadillac Man. The following year, Petty played the surfer who taught Keanu Reeves how to surf in the 1991 action thriller Point Break directed by Kathryn Bigelow. In 1992, Petty starred in the sports comedy-drama film, A League of Their Own directed by Penny Marshall starring opposite Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Madonna. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $132.4 million worldwide.^[8] The following year she went to star in the family drama film Free Willy. Released on July 16, 1993, the film received positive attention from critics and was a commercial success, grossing $153.7 million from a $20 million budget.^[9][10] Later that year, Petty had supporting role in the romantic drama film Poetic Justice directed by John Singleton. In 1994 she starred in the police drama film The Glass Shield. It received positive reviews but was released only in selected theatres.^[11][12] Also in 1994, Petty starred in the comedy film In the Army Now. It was universally panned by critics but grossed $28,881,266 at the box office.^[13][14]

In 1995, Petty played the title role in Tank Girl, an adaptation of the British cult comic book of the same name, directed by Rachel Talalay. Financially unsuccessful, Tank Girl recouped only about $6 million of its $25 million budget at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.^[15] Despite the box-office failure of the film, it has since become a cult classic and has been noted for its feminist themes.^[7] The following year, Petty returned to television starring and creating the short-lived sitcom Lush Life with her friend Karyn Parsons, but it was cancelled after five episodes. She went to star in smaller-scale thriller films Countdown (1996), The Arrangement (1999), Firetrap (2001) and Route 666 (2001). She also was featured in the independent films Relax... It's Just Sex (1998), Clubland (1999), MacArthur Park (2001) and Prey for Rock & Roll (2003). In 2001, she made her directorial debut with the drama film Horrible Accident.^[6]

Petty made guest-starring appearances in a number of television series, include Profiler, Star Trek: Voyager, ER and NYPD Blue. She starred in a series of television commercials created by Merkley Newman Harty's Steve Bowen for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's "Go, Baby, Go" advertising campaign in 1998.^[16][17] Petty also provided the voice of the supervillain Livewire on the Warner Bros. series Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, and the video game Superman: Shadow of Apokolips. Although she was originally cast as Lt. Lenina Huxley in Demolition Man, disagreements over the character's direction led producer Joel Silver to recast the role with Sandra Bullock.^[18] From 1998 to 1999 she had the recurring role on Brimstone as the owner of Stone's hotel. She narrated the first three books of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series—One for the Money, Two for the Dough, and Three to Get Deadly in 2002. C. J. Critt read the unabridged version for Recorded Books. Petty read the abridgments for Simon & Schuster.^[19] In 2006 she starred in The Fair Haired Child, the episode of Showtime horror-anthology series, Masters of Horror. She had the recurring role as Janice Burke, a woman with Huntington's Disease, in the Fox series, House from 2008 to 2009, and the following year played the role of "Daddy", an alpha female inmate, in Prison Break and its spin-off movie, Prison Break: The Final Break.

Petty directed and wrote the 2008 independent drama film The Poker House – a film dramatizing her own difficult childhood^[3] – won awards at the Los Angeles Film Festival. it starred Jennifer Lawrence, Selma Blair and Chloë Grace Moretz. The film received mixed reviews from critics.^[20]

In 2014, Petty was cast as Lolly Whitehill, a inmate with an interest in conspiracy theories in the Netflix comedy-drama series, Orange Is the New Black.^[7] She was a guest star in the second season, and a recurring character in the third, fourth and seventh seasons appearing total in 24 episodes. Along with cast she received Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2016 and 2017. She also made guest-starring appearances on Gotham, Hawaii Five-0 and Swedish Dicks. She appeared in horror films Dead Awake (2016), A Deadly Legend (2020) and You're All Gonna Die (2023). In 2021, she starred in the HBO miniseries Station Eleven.^[21]