Karen Allen
| Sci-Fi/Fantasy | |
| IMDB.com | Karen's Website |
Karen Allen was born in Carrolton, Illinois on October 5th 1951.
Her mother was a teacher and her father a FBI agent so Karen found
herself, and her two sisters, moving around a lot during her youth.
She was always "the new girl in school". Acting did not really cross
Karen Allen's mind until her early 20's when she saw a 'Jerry
Grotowski' theater production that impressed her so much she
instantly decided to give it a shot. She trained as a classical
actress and enrolled at the Actors Studio and with Lee Strasberg in
New York. During this period she made several student films and
directed and acted in several plays.
In 1976 she made her first film appearance in the award-winning
small film, The Whidjitmaker (1976). Her first major film role came
as "Katy" in 1978's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) which
became one of the biggest hits of the year, obtained "classic"
status and launched a whole host of young "hot" stars. However,
shortly after Animal House (1978) opened Karen was struck by a rare
and dangerous eyesight condition called Kerato Conjunctivitis.
Luckily, the condition subsided and Karen could continue her
dramatic rise to the top. Lead roles in cult favorites like The
Wanderers (1979) and the controversial thriller Cruising (1980)
followed, as did smaller parts as in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979).
However, it was her performance in Rob Cohen's A Small Circle of
Friends (1980), as well as her previously mentioned turn in Animal
House (1978), that caught the eye of a certain Steven Spielberg. He
then cast her as the feisty heroine and Harrison Ford's co-star in
his big budget blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which
became a huge hit in 1981-82 and is regarded by many as the greatest
action adventure film ever made.
Strangely following the huge success of Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981) Karen chose to spend over two years out of the limelight -
concentrating on smaller, more personal projects. She won a major
award for her performances on Broadway, won critical acclaim for her
creation of "Abra" in the hugely successful ABC production of "East
of Eden" (1981) and had parts in two smaller indie films: Alan
Parker's Shoot the Moon (1982) and Split Image (1982) co-starring
James Woods and Peter Fonda. She returned to the mainstream in 1984
with Until September (1984) and the hugely successful Starman (1984)
co-starring Jeff Bridges and directed by John Carpenter (of
Halloween (1978) fame), but once again decided to leave the
limelight for a couple of years doing more stage-work and some
troubled 'indie' films.
While Karen has worked almost constantly since then giving notable
performances in Paul Newman's screen adaptation of The Glass
Menagerie (1987), the Christmas hit Scrooged (1988)and Steven
Soderbergh's underrated King of the Hill (1993), she has not been
able to scale the same dizzy heights as the early 1980's hits. Most
of her lead roles in feature films since Starman (1984) have not
been that well received (Animal Behavior (1989), Ghost in the
Machine (1993) and The Turning (1992) among them). However, she has
been seen to good effect on TV in films like Challenger (1990) (TV)
in which she portrayed tragic schoolteacher "Christa McAuliffe" and
All the Winters That Have Been (1997) (TV), co-starring Richard
Chamberlain.
She has also made 'special guest star appearances' on such shows as
"Law & Order" (1990), "Knots Landing" (1979), "Alfred Hitchcock
Presents" (1985), and several TV movies including Hostile Advances:
The Kerry Ellison Story (1996) (TV) and Secret Weapon (1990) (TV).
She also played the lead in the CBS series "The Road Home" (1994).
Karen Allen was married to soap star Kale Browne (with whom she
co-starred in 'Til There Was You (1997)) in 1988 and they have a son
Nicholas. Apart from acting Karen Allen is also an accomplished
singer, songwriter and musician (she played in a band with Kathleen
Turner, and recorded a duet with Jeff Bridges for the Starman (1984)
soundtrack album). She also writes plays, screenplays and poetry,
owns her own Astranga Yoga enterprise and spends time at her
Berkshire Mountains farm or Upper Westside Manhattan townhouse. The
classically trained actress also has a screenplay called "Second
Coming, The", which is about to be made into a movie. Most recently
she stars opposite Peter Coyote in The Basket (1999) and the
blockbuster The Perfect Storm (2000) in which she co-stars with
George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Diane Lane. In addition to these,
she is working on Shaka Zulu: The Citadel (2001) (TV) and recently
made an independent film, In the Bedroom (2001).
Karen Allen is undoubtedly one of the most talented, ambitious and
versatile actresses of the last 20 years. In many ways her own
choices to "go back to theater and smaller projects" are the only
things that have really stopped her being a major, major star. Karen
was voted one of the most beautiful women in the world in 1983, and
is a naturally attractive lady - who often plays characters
significantly younger than herself. She also often plays unglamorous
types - and there is no one better at portraying real, human, and
wholly believable people.