JOAN ALLEN
Date of Birth: August 20, 1956
Most of the film world audience didn't really know who this Rochelle,
Illinois native was until she scored back-to-back Oscar nominations for
Nixon and The Crucible. That's because Allen was most often to be found on
the stage where she garnered numerous awards for her work, including a 1989
Tony for her Broadway debut in Burn This.
"I didn't do films until my late twenties," she says. "I was so entrenched in
theater, I didn't know how to act in front of a camera."
But she has since made up for that lack of film experience. As for what
drew her to acting in the first place, she says: "I was a very good girl
for a long time, that's what really drew me to acting. The stage was the
perfect place to be outrageous, to be sad, to be angry, to be all these
different things."
A founding member of Chicago's legendary Steppenwolf Theatre, Allen studied her craft at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois.
She has become one of America's most highly regarded actresses with her work in films such as Pleasantville (1998), The Contender (2000, for which she received her third Oscar nomination and second Golden Globe nomination), and The Notebook (2004). She won a Golden Apple Award as Female Star of the Year in 2000 and received a Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement at the 2003 Hamptons International Film Festival.
Allen married fellow actor Peter Friedman in 1990. They have a daughter, Sadie.
Filmography
Good Sharma (2007)
Bonneville(2007)
The Bourne Ultimatum(2007)
Yes(2005)
The Upside of Anger(2005)
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
The Notebook(2004)
Off the Map (2003)
The Contender (2000)
All the Rage (1999)
Veronica Guerin (1999)
Pleasantville (1998)
Face/Off (1997)
The Ice Storm (1997)
The Crucible (1996)
Nixon (1995)
Mad Love (1995)
Ethan Frome (1993)
Josh and S.A.M. (1993)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
In Country (1989)
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
Manhunter (1986)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Zeisters (1986)
Compromising Positions (1985)