Jenna Elfman swaps yellow dress for purple and blue pattern

Quick change! Jenna Elfman swaps yellow dress for purple and blue pattern as she promotes film Big Stone Gap in New York

Jenna Elfman was pretty in patterns as she spent Thursday promoting her new film in New York.

The actress, 44, wore a sweet yellow and black dress when she stopped by The Today Show and The View to talk about her movie Big Stone Gap.

She later changed into a blue and purple patterned dress that showed off her long legs as she headed out of The View studios later in the day.

The Dharma and Greg star appeared to be in a good mood despite her packed schedule, flashing a smile at fans as she left the ABC studios.

Jenna wore her blonde hair in a short, wavy cut brushed to the side.

She looked stylish a pretty blue, purple and black checked mini dress that showed off her long legs.

The Golden Globe winner wore classic black heels, and added a silver bracelet and earrings.

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The actress plays a librarian in the film, which is set in a small town in 1970s Virginia, and was filmed in writer-director Adriana Trigiani's hometown of Big Stone Gap. The film also stars Ashley Judd, Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Wilson, Anthony LaPaglia and Jane Krakowski.

Elfman told The Today Show that she got the part with just two days notice, and rushed to perfect her Southern accent.

And the actress said telling a story set in the 1970s was a breath of fresh air after today's over-connected lifestyle.

'You know what was interesting, which I wasn't expecting,' she said.

'Playing a movie about friendship and love in a small town in 1978 juxtaposed next to the world we live in now, which is we're all connected on social media and the internet and we all know way too much about everybody but we're getting desensitized.

'And it made me realize...relationships with our friends and our lovers and our family was so much more deep and meaningful back then. It made me go 'oh my God, this is how it was, and 'wow, where are we going?'.

For her Today Show appearance, the actress wore a yellow and black patterned dress with a heart-shaped neckline.

Elfman added beige and black heels and flashed a smile as she left the studios in New York.

The actress, who wed husband Bodhi Elfman in 1995, is the mother of two sons, eight-year-old Story Elias and five-year-old Easton Quinn Monroe.