0

Amy Irving Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Amy Irving.jpg

A dark-haired beauty with striking eyes and an intelligent air, Amy Irving seemingly came by her talent genetically: Her father Jules was an accomplished stage director and her mother Priscilla Pointer is a fine character actress. (Pointer has often been teamed onscreen with her offspring, playing either the mother or a motherly figure to characters essayed by Irving.) Although she actually began her career as a guest performer in episodic television and on stage, Irving shot to attention as Sue Snell, the sole teen survivor of Brian De Palma’s splashy “Carrie” (1976). Irving lent her astringent good looks and spunk to De Palma’s “The Fury” (1978), playing a woman with psychokinetic powers, and to her portrayal of an Indian princess in love with a British cavalryman (Ben Cross) in the HBO miniseries “The Far Pavilions” (1984). She also triumphed on Broadway, first as Constanza Weber, the wife of Mozart, in “Amadeus” (1980) and again as Ellie to Rex Harrison’s Shotover in a 1983 revival of Shaw’s “Heartbreak House”. Despite having some misgivings over the role, Irving accepted the part of Hadass, the bride of “Yentl” (1983), a woman masquerading as a man, in Barbra Streisand’s directorial debut. Despite the inherent pitfalls, she imbued the role with a delicacy and intelligence that was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

Despite her strong performances, for much of the late 1970s and into the 80s, Irving was better known for her on-again, off-again relationship with rising director Steven Spielberg. Their 1985 marriage overshadowed her career. With the perspective of hindsight, the actress told THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (April 17, 1994): “During my marriage to Steven, I felt like a politician’s wife. There were certain things expected of me that definitely weren’t me. One of my problems is that I’m very honest and direct. You pay a price for that. But then I behaved myself and I paid a price too.” Despite putting these pressures on herself, she continued with her career, turning in well-rounded portrayals of a woman who may or may not be the Czar’s daughter in “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (NBC, 1986) and a sophisticated New Yorker who is romanced by a pickle seller in “Crossing Delancey” (1988). Irving also displayed her sultry vocal abilities providing the singing voice of the animated Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (also 1988; Kathleen Turner provided the speaking voice). During the filming of “A Show of Force” (1990), the actress, cast as Puerto Rican TV journalist, fell in love with the film’s Brazilian director Bruno Barreto.

After an amicable split from Spielberg in 1989, she and Barreto moved in together and gave birth to their son in 1990. After playing a brassy blonde cocktail waitress in “Benefit of the Doubt” (1993), her husband gave her a fine role as a middle-aged schoolteacher finding romance in “Carried Away” (1996). Irving continued to return to the stage as well, headlining the West Coast production of Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles” (1990), playing a Brooklyn woman who suffers paralysis from her over-identification with German Jews in Arthur Miller’s Broadway play “Broken Glass” (1995), and teaming with Lili Taylor and Jeanne Tripplehorn as Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” (1997). Irving again teamed with Barreto to play an acerbic, overly-ambitious FBI agent in “One Tough Cop” (1998), based on the life of NYC policeman Bo Dietl, and as an American teacher in Brazil who finds unexpected romance in “Bossa Nova” (2000). The actress also revisited the role of Sue Snell in the sequel “The Rage: Carrie II” (1999).

Irving appeared as part of director Steven Soderberg’s high-powered acting ensemble in 2000’s traffic, playing the wife of Michael Douglas’ drug czar and mother to their troubled drug addict daughter, and the critically acclaimed indie “13 Conversations about One Thing.” In 2002 she reunited with Spacek in another feature film, this time a family-oriented flip side to their “Carrie” collaboration, Disney’s adaptation of author Natalie Babbitt’s children’s classic “Tuck Everlasting.” She also was featured in a recurring role on the ABC spy series “Alias.”

Family
Significant Others
Education
Milestones

Celebrity Biography
0

Catalina Sandino Moreno Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Catalina_Sandino_Moreno.jpg

For an actress with little training and experience, Catalina Sandino Moreno made a seismic impression with her first feature film role. In “Maria Full of Grace” (2004), Moreno played the title character who, sick of working a slave-wage job as a flower dethorner in a small village outside Bogota, Columbia, becomes a drug mule and smuggles heroin into the United States. Powerful and emotional, “Maria Full of Grace” became a hit on the international festival circuit. So gripping was Moreno’s performance that she shared with Charlize Theron the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Born in Bogota, Columbia into a middle class family, Moreno was lucky enough to avoid the abject poverty her character Maria suffers. In fact, Moreno had the luxury of not having to work to earn money—she did it only because she wanted to. Moreno became interested in acting, particularly on stage, at a young age. While in high school, she enrolled in the Ruben Di Pietro theater academy in Bogota and from there began acting in various stage productions, including “Acuerdo para Cambiar de Casa”, “Laughing Wild”, Christopher Durang’s comedy about life modern life in urban America, and Tennessee Williams’ “The Dark Room.” It was while still living at home that Moreno got a call for an audition—someone knew that she was studying theater in college and passed her name along. Surprised to hear that an American, Joshua Marston, was making a movie in her country, Moreno was eager to audition. Two weeks later, she got another call saying she had landed the part.

Filming for “Maria Full of Grace” began in September 2002 in her native country, then shifted to New York City. After filming was over, Moreno relocated to New York to attend the Lee Strasberg Institute, but a funny thing happened along the way. Moreno had to go back to Columbia to get her student visa, and on the return trip to New York she was pulled away by Customs officials believing that she was a potential drug mule. Moreno was brought to a small room for questioning and had her bag and clothes searched. Though freaked out at the time, Moreno appreciated the irony later. Meanwhile, Moreno quickly became a known commodity, earning an Independent Spirit Award as Best Actress and nominations for a Screen Actors Guild award, and an Oscar. Moreno then returned to her original love—the stage—making her New York debut as the Spanish princess, Blanche, in the Frog & Peach Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare’s “King John”.

Education
Milestones
Celebrity Biography
0

Joan Allen Biography

Posted by Vogt
at May 9, 2008

Joan-Allen.jpg

Actress, born August 20, 1956, in Rochelle, Illinois. Allen attended Rochelle Township High School, where she studied drama,failed cheerleading, and was voted most likely to succeed. Along with GarySinise, Laurie Metcalf and John Malkovich, Allen is one of the foundingmembers of Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she began herprofessional career. She studied theater at Eastern Illinois University.

On Broadway, Allen received a Tony Award for her performance opposite JohnMalkovich in Lanford Wilson’s Burn This (1987), and was nominated inthe same category for The Heidi Chronicles (1989). Off-Broadway, shewon an Obie for her starring role in The Marriage of Bette & Boo. She reprised her Steppenwolf Theatre role in And A Nightingale Sang,receiving the Clarence Derwent, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle andTheatre World Awards.

Allen’s first film was Compromising Positions (1985), followed byPeggy Sue Got Married (1986), starring Kathleen Turner, Tucker: A Man and His Dream(1988), starring Jeff Bridges, and Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993).

In 1996, Allen dropped ten pounds to star opposite Anthony Hopkins in Oliver Stone’sNixon, where her eerily accurate portrayal of Pat Nixon won her anAcademy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She received hersecond consecutive Best Supporting Actress nomination in 1997 for ArthurMiller’s The Crucible, also featuring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder.

In 1997, Allen starred in John Woo’s thriller, Face/Off (1997), withJohn Travolta and Nicolas Cage, and in Ang Lee’s poignant drama, The IceStorm, with Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. In 1998, she appeared inPleasantville as Betty Parker, a June Cleaver-esque housewife whodiscovers her true self.

Allen garnered more critical praise, along with her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, for her performance in The Contender (2000). She played a vice presidential hopeful whose sexual past is questioned publicly by a conservative senator, played by Gary Oldman. Jeff Bridges also costarred in the film.

In 2001, Allen stars with Anjelica Huston in the television miniseries The Mists of Avalon, based on the bestselling novel about the women behind King Arthur.

Allen is married to actor Peter Friedman and has a daughter, Sadie. Shetravels back to her hometown of Rochelle, Illinois every summer to spendtime working with aspiring actors and actresses.

Celebrity Biography
Previous Page