Jeremy Piven has paid an emotional tribute to his mother, Joyce Piven, who has died aged 94
The 'Entourage' star, 59, announced that his acting teacher mom passed away on Sunday (20.01.25) and admitted he's "not quite sure how to navigate without her"
23 January 2025
Piven captioned a series of pictures of Joyce, including a selfie of the pair and one of him holding her hand in her hospital bed: "Joyce Piven has left us . I was pretending this day wouldn't come yet here we are. If you know me you understand how much I love this woman. Yes she's my mother but she was an incredible human being."
The 'Serendipity' star hailed Joyce for her commitment to the craft of acting and the "evolution of her students", and revealed she was running lines with him "until the end".
He continued: "Acting teacher to so many of us who genuinely enjoyed the evolution of her students. Taught us to respects the space we occupy when we perform, instilled the integrity of the work and how lucky we are to get it. When we would run lines together (until the end) she would enter into the character and do whatever accent was needed. I secretly filmed her and showed the director and she got the role! They all said she was too frail to fly but we did it anyway. She got a standing ovation on the set (I'm over 80 movies into it and I've never seen that) she was a voracious reader and 15 years ago."
It was Joyce who gave him a copy of Arthur Miller's 2002 short story 'The Performance', which led to him starring in his sister Shira Piven's movie adaptation of the tale in 2023.
He shared: "She gave me a short story by Arthur Miller called "The Performance " she hung on all these years until we got it made into a film .She would ask me about it daily. We are all walking miracles. The film is a tribute to her. (sic)"
Piven's late father, Byrne Piven, was also an actor, and he concluded his touching tribute by saying his mother is "dancing with my father" now.
He added: "Not quite sure how to navigate without her yet this beautiful life is about transformation which was one of her theater games. Taught us Comedy and drama can exist simultaneously ( just like life ) She affected so many lives. She taught acting not so that you could be a professional, but so that you could learn more about yourself. " endings are import" She was graceful until her last breath. Always the teacher... We don't know how long we have here in this human form but I can tell you that we lost a good one. She's dancing with my father. Be good to each other (sic)"
Joyce and Byrne co-founded the Piven Theatre Workshop, with former students including John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Kate Walsh, Lili Taylor, and Aidan Quinn, and were also involved in setting up the Playwrights Theatre Club with improv teacher Paul Sills.
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