Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates at 81st Annual Academy Awards, February 22, 2009
Born	Phoebe Belle Cates (1963-07-16) July 16, 1963 (age 48) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1981–94, 2001
Spouse	Kevin Kline (1989–present)

Phoebe Cates (born Phoebe Belle Cates; July 16, 1963) is an American film actress, model, and entrepreneur known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.

Early life[link]

Cates was born Phoebe Belle Cates in New York City to a family of TV and Broadway production insiders. Her father, Joseph Cates was a major Broadway producer and a pioneering figure in television, who helped create The $64,000 Question.^[1][2] Her late uncle, Gilbert Cates, produced numerous TV specials, often in partnership with Cates' father, and several annual Academy Awards shows.^[3] Her paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother were Russian Jews, and her maternal grandfather was Chinese Filipino.^[4][5][6]

Cates attended the Professional Children's School and the Juilliard School.^[7] When she was ten, she wanted to become a dancer. She eventually got a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, but after suffering a serious knee injury at age 15, she gave up her dancing career.^[8] She next began a career as a professional model, which was short-lived although successful.^[8]

Acting career[link]

After ending her modeling career, Cates decided upon acting.^[8] Although her father was an actor as well, he was not enthusiastic about his daughter's becoming an actress.^[8] Cates' movie debut was in Paradise (released 1982).^[9] At the age of 17, she played a starring role and did several fully nude scenes in the movie, which had a plot very similar to The Blue Lagoon. Cates later regretted being in the movie and said: "What I learned was never to do a movie like that again."^[8] According to her co-star Willie Aames, "she will have nothing to do with the film. She's really upset about it. She won't do any promotion with me."^[10]

Later in 1982, Cates starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High which features "the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history."^[11] She was quoted as saying that she had the most fun in filming that movie.^[8] The following year, she was in the sex comedy Private School (which co-starred Matthew Modine and Betsy Russell), for which she sang on two songs of the film's soundtrack.

Her later film roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences, such as the two Gremlins films and the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred. Her face graced the covers of teen magazines such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and others. In 1984, she starred in the TV mini-series Lace. She sought the role of Lili "to get away from a sameness in her movie portrayals."^[12] During her audition, she so impressed the writer, that he wanted to hire her there and then.^[12] Cates struggled with the portrayal of a bitter movie star because, despite her character's vicious persona, she intended for the audience to sympathize with her.^[13] She did not read the novel on which the movie was based because she did not want to have a "fixed image".^[13]

In 1985, Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations, written by David Henry Hwang of the Second Stage Theatre.^[14] In 1994, she starred in the romantic comedy Princess Caraboo.

Cates retired from acting in the mid-90s in order to raise her children. She did return in 2001, however, for one film with her family, The Anniversary Party, as a favor to the director, her best friend, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Music career[link]

Cates sang the title song (of the same name) for the film Paradise.^[15] She also sang the songs Just One Touch and How Do I Let You Know for the Private School soundtrack.

Personal life[link]

In 1989, Cates and actor Kevin Kline were married having first met in 1983 during Cates' audition for the movie role that Meg Tilly ultimately won in The Big Chill. Kline and Cates currently live in New York City with their two children, Owen Joseph Kline born in 1991 and Greta Simone Kline born in 1994. Both Owen and Greta appeared along with their mother in the 2001 movie, The Anniversary Party. Owen also appeared in the 2005 film, The Squid and the Whale.

In 2005, Cates opened her own boutique called Blue Tree on New York's Madison Avenue.^[16]

Filmography[link]

Cates at the Governor's Ball party after the 1989 Academy Awards, March 29, 1989

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Phoebe Cates

• Phoebe Cates at the Internet Movie Database
• Blue Tree Cates' NY boutique website