Joan Allen (born August 20, 1956) is an American actress. She worked in theater, television and film during her early career, and achieved recognition for her Broadway debut in Burn This, winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 1989.

She has received three Academy Award nominations; she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Nixon (1995) and The Crucible (1996), and for Best Actress for The Contender (2000).

Her other films include Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid (also known as Zeisters) (1986), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), In Country (1989), The Ice Storm (1996), Face/Off (1997), Pleasantville (1998), The Notebook (2004), The Bourne Supremacy (2004) The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Death Race (2008).

Early life[link]

Allen, the youngest of four children, was born in Rochelle, Illinois, the daughter of Dorothea Marie (née Wirth), a homemaker, and James Jefferson Allen, a gas station owner.^[1][2] She has an older brother, David, and two older sisters, Mary and Lynn.^[3] Allen attended Rochelle Township High School, and was voted most likely to succeed.^{[citation needed]} She first attended Eastern Illinois University, performing in a few plays with John Malkovich, who was also a student, and then Northern Illinois University, where she graduated with a BFA in Theater.

Allen began her performing career as a stage actress and on television before making her film debut in the movie, Compromising Positions (1985). She became a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble in 1977 when John Malkovich asked her to join.^[4] She's been a member ever since. In 1984, she won a Clarence Derwent Award for her portrayal of Hellen Stott in And a Nightingale Sang.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

In 1989, Allen won a Tony Award for her Broadway debut performance in Burn This.^{[citation needed]} She also starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Heidi Chronicles.

She received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her roles as Pat Nixon in Nixon (1995) and as Elizabeth Proctor, a woman accused of witchcraft, in The Crucible (1996). She was also nominated for Best Actress for her role in The Contender (2000), in which she played a politician who becomes the object of scandal.^{[citation needed]}

She had starring roles in the drama The Ice Storm directed by Ang Lee and the action thriller Face/Off directed by John Woo, both released in 1997, as well as in the comedy Pleasantville (1998).

In 2001, Allen starred in the mini-series The Mists of Avalon on TNT and earned an Emmy nomination^[5] for the role.^{[citation needed]} In 2005, she received many positive notices^{[citation needed]} for her leading role in the comedy/drama The Upside of Anger, in which she played an alcoholic housewife.

She played CIA Department Director Pamela Landy in The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Allen appeared in a remake of the film Death Race, playing a prison warden.^[6]

In 2009, Allen starred as Georgia O’Keeffe in Lifetime Television’s biopic chronicling the artist’s life. Allen returned to Broadway in March 2009, when she played the role of Katherine Keenan in Michael Jacobs' play Impressionism opposite Jeremy Irons at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.^[7]

Allen voiced the character Delphine in Bethesda Softworks' 2011 video game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Personal life[link]

In 1990, Allen married actor Peter Friedman. They separated in 2002, but live close to each other to share time with their daughter, Sadie, born in 1994.^[8]

Filmography[link]

Theatre[link]

Steppenwolf Theatre Company[link]

• Burn This
• The Heidi Chronicles
• The Crucible and Nixon
• The Contender
• Three Sisters
• Waiting For The Parade
• Love Letters
• The Marriage of Bette and Boo
• (And a Nightingale Sang...)
• Nixon and Pleasantville
• The Upside of Anger

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joan Allen

• Joan Allen at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
• Joan Allen at the Internet Movie Database
• Joan Allen at the Internet Broadway Database
• Joan Allen at AllRovi
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Joan Allen on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Joan Allen in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Joan Allen collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Joan Allen at Emmys.com