Hollywood actress Karen Allen: biography and filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

If you love Indiana Jones movies, you probably know this actress. What should a movie connoisseur know about Karen Allen?

Biography

The actress was born in Illinois in October 1951. Her mother, Ratricia Howell, was a teacher, and her father, Carroll Allen, was an FBI agent. The origin of the actress is British. As a child, Karen Allen moved frequently because of her father's job. She admits that the annual school changes prevented her from making at least one true friend. Nevertheless, the family had warm relations.

The actress graduated from college in Maryland and went to study art and design in New York. For a while, Karen studied at the University of Maryland, and then traveled to South and Central America. In 1974, she joined a theater troupe. Three years later, Karen Allen returned to New York. There she began to study at the theater institute.

First roles

In 1978 Karen Allen's debut film was released. The actress starred in the film "The Menagerie" directed by John Landis. Her next two major works were Wanderers in 1979 and A Little Circle of Friends in 1980. In the latest film, Karen played the role of one of the radic altuned female students of the sixties. In addition, she also appeared in the series "Quiet Marina", which was on CBS for a long time. Performed Karen and episodic roles. In 1981, she worked on the mini-series East of Paradise. The moment of tremendous success was approaching.

Successful career

Karen Allen's life changed when Steven Spielberg's blockbuster hit the screens. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, she played the lively Marion Ravenwood, the love interest of Harrison Ford's character. For her work, the girl even received an award as the best actress. After that, Karen started getting offers regularly.

In 1982, she appeared in the movie Split Personality. It was Karen Allen who also played in the romantic drama Until September. The filmography of the actress in 1984 was replenished with the successful sci-fi film "The Man from the Stars", where she worked with Jeff Bridges.

Karen also made her Broadway debut in 1982, and has since taken a break from her film career to pursue theatrical arts. Despite her intense work in plays, in 1987 she played in Paul Newman's The Glass Menagerie with John Malkovich. The following year brought Karen the role of Claire in the holiday comedy A New Christmas Tale, where she appeared on screen with Bill Murray. In 1989, the melodrama "Animal Behavior" was released with the actress. In 1990, she worked on several television films at once. Spike Lee's famous film Malcolm X was released in 1992.

After himthe actress again engaged in small television roles. She also appeared in TV shows. She can be seen in several seasons of Law & Order. Among other things, she even worked on a video game. In 1998, Karen starred in the film Falling Skies, and in 1999, in the drama film Basket.

At the beginning of the 2000s, the actress appeared in a large number of television films, including such works as "The Wanderer", "Kill Edgar", "When They Love Me" and others. In 2008, the film "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was released, where Karen Allen appeared again with Harrison Ford. According to the story, the heroes have already had a son. He was played by Shia LaBeouf. The film received neutral reviews from critics and brought in good box office receipts, although we have to admit that the success of the first part was not repeated by him.

Private life

Karen Allen was married to musician Stephen Bishop in the early eighties, but the marriage was not very happy. In 1988, the actress married actor Cale Brown. In 1990, the couple had a son, Nicholas, and in 1998 they divorced. After the birth of Nicholas, the actress paid a lot of attention to his upbringing. He became a famous chef and won a TV cooking show last year.

The actress herself became interested in knitting. In 2003, she opened her own textile company. The company sells Allen's own products, created on a special Japanese knitting machine. For her textile work, Allen received an honorary bachelor's degree from the New York University in 2009. University of Technology, the same school she attended for a while in the seventies. Karen now lives in Massachusetts and teaches acting and yoga classes.

Creative plans

A TV movie is planned to be released in the near future, in which Karen took part. In addition, in 2016, she first tried herself as a director and released a short film in which, among others, her ex-husband Cale Brown played. It is likely that more directorial work awaits us in the future.

Also, fans can look forward to Karen's appearance on Broadway. She is still part of the theater troupe and is actively involved in performances.

Allen has no major roles in cinema at the moment. However, according to some reports, the release of the next film from the Indiana Jones franchise is scheduled for 2019. Perhaps Spielberg will again ask Karen to play the role of Marion Ravenwood.