Kimberly Williams-Paisley is an actress, New York Times Best Selling author, Alzheimer’s advocate, and co-founder of a non-profit called The Store, a free grocery in Nashville that aims to address food insecurity.
Over the course of her career, she has appeared in many film, television and theater productions, including the Father of the Bride movies, co-starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, and Martin Short. More recently, she co-starred in the Lionsgate release, Jesus Revolution, with Kelsey Grammar, Johnathan Roumie, and Joel Courtney, and in the Netflix film, Dog Gone, opposite Rob Lowe. She also starred in Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles and its sequel, The Christmas Chronicles 2, with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Her television credits include the long-running ABC comedy series According to Jim (of which she also directed three episodes), and the critically acclaimed Netflix Heartstrings movie “Jolene,” opposite Dolly Parton and Julianne Hough. In Christmas 2021, she produced and starred in, alongside her sister Ashley Williams, a pair of movies for Hallmark Channel entitled Sister Swap. Kimberly’s memoir Where the Light Gets In: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again, chronicling her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease (Crown imprint, Penguin Random House), was published in 2016 and hit the New York Times Best Seller list. She’s been honored with a Champion Award from the Alzheimer’s Association for her advocacy work dedicated to sharing her family’s story, funding research and supporting caregivers. Her annual Dance Party to End Alz in Nashville raised close to $2 million in its first five years.
In 2020, Kimberly and her husband Brad Paisley opened a free, referral-based grocery called The Store. The non-profit aims to empower and dignify individuals and families seeking self-sufficiency by providing choices for their food needs. After the Nashville tornadoes in March 2020, and once the pandemic began, they incorporated disaster relief into their mission, surpassing well over a million meals donated in their first year, and serving five times more people than they’d anticipated. Most recently, The Store doubled its customer base and served 2,455 households in 2024. They also announced plans for a second location to open in 2025. Kimberly has been a global ambassador for the human relief organization CARE for almost a decade, including traveling to Haiti, Guatemala, and Honduras, to follow U.S. funding for programs that support women and children. She’s shared her story back home, engaging with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and in Tennessee to help preserve foreign aid. In December 2024, she appeared on the cover of People magazine, in which she shared her health challenge with vocal paralysis, and the steps she took to get stronger, as well as the incredible surgery that brought her voice back. She currently serves as the host for the third season of the popular Fox series Farmer Wants a Wife. Kimberly will next be seen starring in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming series 9-1-1 Nashville on ABC and Hulu.