Park Overall (b. March 15, 1957) is an American film and television actress, known for her trademark heavy Southern accent. Her best-known role was as Nurse Laverne in the sitcom, Empty Nest, though she has appeared in a number of feature films, including Biloxi Blues, Mississippi Burning, Beer For My Horses, and more recently, In the Family. Overall is also an environmental and women's rights activist, and is currently running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Bob Corker. Overall was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in Greeneville. She is the daughter of Frances (née Bernard), a professor of English, and Thomas Wesley "Jack" Overall, Jr., a federal magistrate. She has described her parents as Yellow Dog Democrats. As a teenager, she worked on the political campaigns of Tom Wiseman and Jim Sasser. Overall graduated from Tusculum College with a degree in English, and briefly attended graduate school at the University of Tennessee. In her late 20s, she moved to New York to pursue an acting career. One of her first roles was in Skin, an Off-Off-Broadway play about Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick.