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There are celebrities and then there are actors.

Celebrities love having their names and faces plastered across the tabloids, TV and the Internet, once in a while, making a movie or promoting their personal agenda.

Actors, on the other hand, do the work.

Phyllis Somerville is an actor.

“Acting is about saying something about being human,” said Somerville (BA ’66).

Her name may not be familiar, but you may recognize her face. She played the mother of a pedophile (portrayed by Jackie Earle Haley) in the 2007 Oscar-nominated film, “Little Children.”

Critics called her performance ‘sublime’ and ‘absolutely wonderful.’ Many Oscar prognosticators put her on the short list for Best Supporting Actress. “She should be Oscar bait. Breathtaking work,” said David Poland of Movie City News.

She wasn’t nominated, but her performance was remarkable, nonetheless. “I didn’t think much of (the talk) at the time because I didn’t think it was serious,” said Somerville. “A good thing about ‘Little Children’ is I heard from a lot of old friends and UNI alums. When I was doing press for the movie, I went to a Q & A in Tribeca and there sat Merle and Lynn Lentz. Merle taught design and lighting at UNI in the ‘60s. They show up whenever I’m doing something. But this was amazing.”

She can also be seen in the recent film, “Lucky You,” playing a pawnbroker. “Little Children” and “Lucky You” are the latest in a prolific acting career that has spanned four decades.

The daughter of a Methodist minister, Somerville was born in Iowa City, lived in the Catskill Mountains for three years and then moved to Traer. She and her family moved to Cresco when she was in the eighth-grade. A dearth of plays in high school led her to speech and band. “I was in the All-State band, I played the clarinet and I sang; it was about music and trying to get good grades,” she said.

After high school she went to Morningside College, but transferred to UNI because it offered more theatre productions.

“UNI was very important to me. I had the opportunity and blessing to work with Stan Wood and John Dennis,” she said. “Stan Wood was great. Stan did the kind of teaching that 10- 20- 30-years later I would come up with a problem in a play, slap my forehead and think, ‘Oh, that’s what Stan meant.’ Now that’s teaching.”

She became and remains close friends with David and Judy Adamson (both BA ’67), and Charles Railsback (BA ’61; MA ’64).

“We’ve been friends since 1963 when Phyllis transferred to SCI. She immediately became the best actor in the department,” said David Adamson, lecturer/academic adviser at the University of North Carolina’s Center for Dramatic Art.

“We all thought she was six feet tall and probably could teach Uta Hagen something. When she played Sonia in “Uncle Vanya,” it turned out she actually was shorter and could play a sensitive young woman just as well as the giants we took for granted.”

Railsback and Somerville performed together in “Macbeth” and “Uncle Vanya.”

“When I first saw Phyllis perform she struck me with her maturity, performance skill and strength. Then she was cast as one of the central characters in Durrenmatt’s “The Visit.” That role demanded maturity and strength and Phyllis delivered,” said Railsback, who is on the theatre faculty at Indiana University.

Somerville and her classmates studied under the late Stan Wood and John Dennis, now theater professor and director of the MFA/Acting program at Louisiana State University.

“She was the most talented actress I had the pleasure to work with at UNI,” Dennis said. “She is bright, understands character building and is in touch with her life so it can be used in the world of the play. I remember her with a special pride in being her director, acting coach and friend.”

After graduating, Somerville went to Wayne State University on fellowship, where she did eight performances a week. “All the classics, it was the best training in the world.”

From there she went to the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., performing classics such as “King Lear” and “The Threepenny Opera.” Two years later, she moved to New York City, where she’s lived ever since.

“I love New York. I live on the Lower East Side and it’s like living in a small town. That whole thing about not knowing your neighbors is a crock. I felt comfortable when I set foot in New York City,” she said. “ I like that I have to deal with so many different people everyday just to go about my business — the subway, the walking, the opening up of my life.”

Her first New York show was a Broadway musical, ‘Over Here!’ with the Andrew Sisters and a then-unknown John Travolta. Other Broadway and off-Broadway performances include “Once in a Lifetime,” “ ‘night, Mother” and “The Spitfire Grill.”

Her TV roles are too numerous to list, but there have been several “Law & Order” shows, “NYPD Blue,” “Third Watch,” “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “Swimfan” and soap operas, “The Guiding Light,” “One Life to Live” and “As the World Turns.”

“As a character actor, I have more fun. I was never an ingénue,” said Somerville, whose upcoming movies include “Broken English,” with Parker Posey, Drea DeMateo and Gena Rowlands, and “Capers” with Danny Masterson. She is currently filming “Our Lady of Victory” in which she plays a nun.

Although it’s hard to pick favorites, Somerville said “ ’night, Mother,” “Over Here!” and “Little Children” rank near the top. “Of course, working with Todd Field (“Little Children’) was amazing. He’s got the smarts, the talent, the integrity and the guts, Sometimes one gets lucky.”

Many who know her would say luck has nothing to do with it.

“After more than 40 years in the business, I would say she is still the best I’ve ever worked with,” said David Adamson.