Jeremy Piven’s mom Joyce has died at the age of 94.
The actor, 59, took to Instagram to share her passing and paid tribute to the acting teacher with a touching caption.
Posting a number of photographs of him with his mom, he admitted he wasn’t ‘quite sure how to navigate without her.’
The three-time Emmy winner also wrote that Joyce, who was the co-founder of Evanston’s renowned Piven Theatre Workshop, ‘was graceful until her last breath.’
‘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,’ Jeremy stated in the lengthy caption.
‘Yes she’s my mother but she was an incredible human being. Acting teacher to so many of us who genuinely enjoyed the evolution of her students.’
Jeremy Piven’s mom Joyce has died at the age of 94. The actor, 59, took to Instagram to share her passing and paid tribute to the acting teacher with a touching caption
Piven went on to say she, ‘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).’
The Vindicta actor continued: ‘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 & 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.’
Jeremy wrapped up his caption writing: ‘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.’
Piven revealed it was Joyce who first gave him a copy of Arthur Miller’s 2002 short story The Performance in 2010, and his sister Shira Piven directed him in a big-screen adaptation.
‘She hung on all these years until we got it made into a film,’ the Sweetwater star gushed.
‘She would ask me about it daily. We are all walking miracles. The film is a tribute to her.’
The Entourage star admitted he wasn’t ‘quite sure how to navigate without her’ in his post; they are pictured at the 2006 Golden Globes After Party in LA
The Entourage star also wrote that Joyce, who was the co-founder of Evanston’s renowned Piven Theatre Workshop, ‘was graceful until her last breath’
‘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,’ he stated in the lengthy caption
After he announced the sad news, a number of celebrity pals shared their condolences in the comments, including Cindy Crawford, Jamie Foxx, and Piers Morgan
Jeremy plays a tap dancer who must perform for Adolph Hitler in 1937 in The Performance, which is currently screening through Thursday exclusively in AMC Theatres in limited States.
Back in the early 1970s, Piven (born Goldstein) and her late husband Byrne Piven co-founded the Piven Theatre Workshop which trained everyone from John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Kate Walsh, Lili Taylor, and Aidan Quinn.
20 years earlier, the married couple were founding members of the improv-heavy Playwrights Theatre Club headed up by Paul Sills, who went on to create The Second City in 1959.
Joyce’s teaching methods and secret acting tips were captured in the book she and Byrne co-wrote in 2012, In the Studio With Joyce Piven.
After the Entourage alum announced the sad news, a number of celebrity pals shared their condolences in the comments, including Cindy Crawford, Jamie Foxx, and Piers Morgan.
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