ABOUT THE CAST: KATHLEEN QUINLAN
KATHLEEN QUINLAN (Joan) is noted for her ability to consistently deliver honest and inspired performances on film, television and the stage — an actress who strikes a true balance between critical and popular acclaim.
Quinlan most recently starred opposite Chris Cooper in Breach for Universal Pictures. In Home Sweet Home, which had its premiere at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Quinlan plays a mid-life crisis Mom on the verge of divorce who finds “enlightenment” through tap dancing. She also starred in A Civil Action alongside an ensemble cast that includes John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, and John Lithgow. Adapted from Jonathan Harr’s non-fiction bestseller by writer/director, Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and based on the true story of a 1981 Woburn, MA court case, Quinlan played the leader of a group of eight families involved in a corporate class action suit who have lost their children to leukemia due to the dumping of an industrial solvent into the water supply.
Quinlan received Best Supporting Actress nominations from both the Academy Awards® and Golden Globes® for her touching, heartfelt portrayal of Marilyn Lovell, the wife of astronaut Jim Lovell in Ron Howard’s box-office smash, Apollo 13.
She followed with her starring role opposite Kurt Russell in Jonathan Mostow’s action-thriller Breakdown, as well as George Miller’s Zeus & Roxanne, Paul Anderson’s Event Horizon, Michael Lehman’s My Giant, and John Duigan’s independent drama, Lawn Dogs, in which she portrayed the mother of a 10-year-old (Mischa Barton) who discovers friendship with a local eccentric (Sam Rockwell) who mows the lawns of her well-to-do neighborhood. Lawn Dogs premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.
Among her numerous performances was her indelible performance as Patricia Kennealy, the seductive witch who captivated Jim Morrison (played by Val Kilmer), in Oliver Stone’s The Doors. Other motion picture credits include Trial By Jury, opposite Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Armand Assante; Clara’s Heart, opposite Whoopi Goldberg; Blake Edwards’ Sunset, with James Gardner and Bruce Willis; the Joe Dante-directed segment of Twilight Zone – The Movie; Riki Shelach’s The Last Winter; Bob Mandel’s Independence Day; Sunday Lovers and Hanky Panky, both opposite Gene Wilder; Stanley Kramer’s The Runner Stumbles; Gilbert Cates’ The Promise, with Beatrice Straight; her critically acclaimed performance as a schizophrenic patient in Anthony Page’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden; Jerry Jameson’s Airport ’77; Daniel Petrie’s Lifeguard, opposite Sam Elliott and Anne Archer, and her screen debut in George Lucas’ American Graffiti, with Ron Howard and Cindy Williams.
On television, Quinlan appeared in a special episode of “CSI Las Vegas,” as well as working once more with her “Family Law” writers David Shore and Lawrence Kaplow on “House.” Quinlan starred in the telefilm “In the Lake of the Woods” opposite Peter Strauss, as well as the critically acclaimed “Stolen Children,” “Trapped,” the HBO film “Dreams Lost and Found,” and CBS’s “Children of the Night.”
On stage, Quinlan appeared in “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. She received a Theater World Award in 1978 for her performance in Joseph Papp’s Public theater production of “Taken In Marriage.” Her other stage credits include “Uncommon Women and Others” and “Accent on Youth.”
Born in Pasadena, California and raised in Mill Valley, California, Quinlan trained as a gymnast and diver in school.
Academy Award® winner SYDNEY POLLACK (Thomas Sr.) returns to acting once again, as he has periodically during his long and distinguished career. Among his acting assignments, he has appeared in Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Robert Altman’s The Player, Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her, Steven Zaillian’s A Civil Action, Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Roger Michell’s Changing Lanes, and, most recently, his own UN thriller, The Interpreter.
Pollack has directed 20 films, which have received a total of 46 Academy Award® nominations. Pollack himself has been nominated three times, winning the Best Director Oscar for Out of Africa, which won seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. Pollack won the 1982 New York Film Critics Award for his film Tootsie. He has won the Golden Globe for Best Director twice, as well as the National Society of Film Critics Award, the NATO Director of the Year Award, and prizes at the Brussels, Belgrade, San Sebastian, Moscow and Taormina Film Festivals. Most recently, he was presented the Directors Guild of America John Huston Award by the Artists Rights’ Foundation.
In 1985, Pollack formed Mirage Productions. Under that banner, he has produced films, including Presumed Innocent, The Fabulous Baker Boys, White Palace, Major League, Dead Again, Searching for Bobby Fisher, Sense and Sensibility, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000, Anthony Minghella became a full partner in Mirage Enterprises. Together under that banner, they produced Iris, The Quiet American, Cold Mountain, Breaking and Entering, and Michael Clayton.
Pollack is a founding member of the Sundance Institute, the Chairman Emeritus of the American Cinematheque, a sustaining founder of the Artists’ Rights Board of the Director’s Guild and on the Board of Directors for the Film Preservation Board and the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation.
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