City Winery Chicago presents Alicia Witt live on Saturday, December 21st at 12:00PM.
Actor and singer-songwriter Alicia Witt has been acting since the age of 7, when she made her film debut in David Lynch’s sci fi classic Dune. She just finished filming the thriller Longlegs, opposite Nicholas Cage, set for a worldwide theatrical release later this year or in 2024. Recent sightings include I Care A Lot on Netflix, starring Rosamund Pike and Dianne Wiest; as a killer in Lifetime Network’s true crime drama The Disappearance of Cari Farver; and on Orange Is The New Black.
TV includes The Walking Dead; Justified; ABC’s Nashville; FOX’s The Exorcist; Law & Order: Criminal Intent; and Showtime’s 3rd season of Twin Peaks.
Films include Two Weeks’ Notice, Last Holiday, The Upside of Anger, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Urban Legend, Four Rooms, 88 Minutes, and Vanilla Sky. Alicia is also a familiar face to Christmas audiences for her 10 holiday movies, many of which have featured her original music.
Witt spent 5 weeks in the Billboard Top 30 AC Radio chart with her single Chasing Shadows, off her 2021 album The Conduit, which she co-produced. Her newest release is 2023’s Witness, led by the title track, which will debut in April. A classically trained former competitive pianist, Alicia’s music has been described as ‘sharply personal, boldly melodic pop originals in the Carole King/Billy Joel vein’ and ‘touching lost-and-found love ballads’ (Philadelphia Inquirer).
Alicia has performed her original piano-driven pop music all over the world, including at the renowned Grand Ole Opry. She has also opened for Ben Folds Five, Rachel Platten, and Jimmy Webb, to name a few. Her 2018 release, 15000 Days, was produced by Grammy-winning producer Jacquire King (James Bay, Norah Jones, Kings of Leon, Dawes). Witt’s previous album, Revisionary History, was produced by Ben Folds and was described as ‘Grey Seal era Elton John, an alt-universe Fiona Apple, and a film noir chanteuse notching her nights in cigarette burns on the fallboard’ (NASHVILLE SCENE).
As a musical guest, Alicia has appeared on numerous shows including NPR’s Weekend Edition, CBS’ Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Queen Latifah Show, WGBH’S Open Studio on PBS, Good Day Nashville, KTLA’s Morning Show, Good Morning Washington, and many performances on Hallmark’s Home & Family Show.
Witt’s first book, Small Changes, came out in Fall 2021 from Harper Horizons. The book is an inspiring, welcoming and simple yet effective guide to health, happiness and sustainable living. Instead of promoting a rigid diet, Small Changes offers readers a stress-and-judgment-free approach for enacting easy, incremental changes across all areas of life.
On stage, Witt starred in Neil LaBute’s Tony nominated play Reasons to Be Pretty at the Geffen Playhouse. She also appeared at London’s Royal Court theatre in Terry Johnson’s Piano/Forte and made her West End debut with The Shape of Things. She has performed at Williamstown Theatre Festival and has made many appearances in the 24-Hour Plays on Broadway and the 24-Hour Musicals off-Broadway.
Other significant roles include Showtime’s House of Lies, NBC’s Friday Night Lights, and CBS’ The Mentalist. She spent 4 years on the CBS hit show Cybill and has also appeared on the HBO series The Sopranos, CBS’s Two and a Half Men, Ally McBeal, and David Lynch’s original Twin Peaks.