Kimberly Williams was born on September 14, 1971 in Rye, New York to parents Gurney, a freelance medical journalist, and Linda, a fund-raiser. Kimberly has two younger siblings: Jay, a camera assistant, Torrence, California firefighter, and Ashley , also an actress.

She has been in show business since the age of thirteen, appearing in commercials for such companies as Pizza Hut and Clearasil. She got her first (and best known) film role as Annie Banks in the 1991 remake of Father of the Bride while she was a sophmore at Northwesten University in Evanston, Illinois.

She took a break from acting after filming to pursue her education, with the exception of the film Indian Summer, which she shot during her summer break.

After graduating from Northwesten in 1993, she filmed the sequel to Father of the Bride in 1994. Her next big role came when she starred as Isabel Lukens in the short-lived ABC drama Relativity in 1996. She also dated tennis star Pete Sampress from 1997 to 1999.

She then starred in a series of independent films, most noteably the epic mini series The 10th Kingdom opposite John Larroquette. Her most current TV role is that of Dana, sister-in-law of Jim Belushi in his sitcom According to Jim.

She got engaged to country music star Brad Paisley in late 2002, even appearing in his award-winning music video "I'm Gonna Miss Her" which also features Little Jimmy Dickens, ESPN sportscaster Dan Patrick, and even risque' talk show host Jerry Springer. She also appears briefly in Brad's video for "Little Moments", a song that she is the basis for. The couple married on March 15, 2003 in Southern California Kimberly's sister Ashley played Dylan Messenger on the NBC sitcom Good Morning Miami until cancellation in spring 2004.