Gina Gershon

Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American film, television and stage actress, singer and author, known for her roles in the films Cocktail (1988), Showgirls (1995), Bound (1996), Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back (1996), Face/Off (1997), The Insider (1999), Demonlover (2002), Category 7: The End of the World (2005), P.S. I Love You (2007), Five Minarets in New York (2010), and Killer Joe (2011). She has also had supporting roles in FX's Rescue Me and HBO's How to Make It in America. --- Gershon was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Mickey (née Koppel), an interior decorator, and Stan Gershon, who worked in the import/export business and sales. Gershon is Jewish, and has an older brother and sister, Dan and Tracy. Gershon was raised in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley and attended Beverly Hills High School. She started acting at the age of 14. After high school, Gershon moved to Boston to attend Emerson College. She transfered to New York University, and graduated with a BFA in drama and psychology/philosophy. Gershon attended the Circle in the Square Professional Theater School in New York, working first with David Mamet and later with Harold Guskin and Sandra Seacat, whom she has described in interviews as "a huge influence." Gershon is one of the founding members of the New York-based theater group Naked Angels. She has appeared on Broadway three times, as Sally Bowles in the revival of Cabaret, in the revival of the sex farce Boeing-Boeing, and is currently playing Rosie Alvarez in the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie at the Roundabout Theatre Company. Her first acting venues were stage appearances in Camille and The Substance of Fire. She had a cameo role in The Cars 1984 video "Hello Again" alongside Andy Warhol. Her break came with a bit part in 1986's Pretty in Pink which led to more substantial roles in Sweet Revenge with Nancy Allen and Cocktail, with Tom Cruise and Elisabeth Shue. Gershon also worked in television, with a recurring role on Melrose Place playing a Heidi Fleiss-esque Hollywood madame. She won critical acclaim for her portrayal of Nancy Sinatra in the made-for-TV biopic Sinatra. In 1996, she played Corky, an ex-con who gets mixed up in an affair with Violet (played by Jennifer Tilly), in the mobster flick Bound. The following year, she costarred with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in Face/Off. --- Gershon is regarded as a gay icon because of her roles in movies such as Bound (in which she played a butch lesbian), Prey for Rock & Roll, and Showgirls (in which she played a bisexual, and which is regarded as a camp classic). She was ranked #23 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2004. --- A 2008 Vanity Fair article linked her romantically with former President Bill Clinton. Speaking on the U.S. television show Live with Regis and Kelly on June 9, she said, "It is such a crazy, outrageous lie… I met him three times at events. [These rumors] disturbed me on so many levels.