Joan Allen

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 (1997), Face/Off (1997), Pleasantville (1998), The Notebook (2004), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), Death Race (2008) and The Bourne Legacy (2012). --- 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. She has an older brother, David, and two older sisters, Mary and Lynn. Allen attended Rochelle Township High School, and was voted most likely to succeed. 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. 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. In 1989, Allen won a Tony Award for her Broadway debut performance in Burn This.  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. 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 1990, Allen married actor Peter Friedman. They divorced in 2002, but live close to each other to share time with their daughter, Sadie, born in 1994.