Kelly McGillis | |
|---|---|
 McGillis at the2013 Sundance Film Festival | |
| Born | (1957-07-09)July 9, 1957 (age 68) |
| Education | Allan Hancock College Juilliard School (BFA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Notable work | Filmography |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | Melanie Leis (2010–2011) |
| Children | 2 |
Kelly Ann McGillis[1] (born July 9, 1957)[2][3] is an American actress. She is known for her film roles such as Rachel Lapp inWitness (1985), for which she receivedGolden Globe andBAFTA nominations; Charlie inTop Gun (1986);Made in Heaven (1987);The House on Carroll Street (1988); and as Katheryn Murphy inThe Accused (1988).[4] In her later career, she has starred inhorror films such asStake Land (2010),The Innkeepers (2011), andWe Are What We Are (2013).
McGillis was born on July 9, 1957, in the Southern California suburb ofNewport Beach, the eldest of three daughters born to Virginia Joan (née Snell), a homemaker, and Donald Manson McGillis, a physician.[5] Her direct paternal descent isScots-Irish, including German and Welsh ancestry.[6] She attendedNewport Harbor High School.[7]
McGillis attended thePacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts atAllan Hancock College inSanta Maria, California.[8] After dropping out of high school in 1975, she obtained her GED and then moved toNew York City to study acting at theJuilliard School,[9] where she graduated in 1983,Group 12.[8][10]
After making her film debut inReuben, Reuben[11] in 1983, McGillis's breakout role was that of anAmish mother inWitness (1985) for which she receivedGolden Globe andBAFTA award nominations. Her next high-profile role was that of flight instructor Charlotte Blackwood (call sign "Charlie") in the 1986fighter-pilot filmTop Gun starringTom Cruise.[12]
.jpg)
In 1987, McGillis acted in the romance filmMade in Heaven, directed byAlan Rudolph, which was produced byLorimar Productions.[13]
McGillis played the part of caretaker for Miss Venable (Jessica Tandy) in 1988'sThe House on Carroll Street, which also starredJeff Daniels. She overhears a suspicious conversation in the house next door and suspects that she's stumbled on a conspiracy to smuggleNazi war criminals into the United States.
After 1988'sThe Accused, she appeared inCat Chaser withPeter Weller, a film she despised and which discouraged her from pursuing an acting career.[14][15] McGillis appeared in dozens of television and film roles throughout the 1990s before taking a break from acting for a few years.
McGillis played the part ofBabe Ruth's second wife,Claire Merritt Ruth, inThe Babe (1992). From the late-1980s to the mid-1990s, McGillis appeared in Winter People (1989), andNorth (1994), her secondAmish part in television or film, as well as several made-for-TV films.
In 1999, McGillis co-starred withVal Kilmer (who plays Virgil, a blind man), for a second time as his over protective sister inAt First Sight.[16]
She played the suspect in the disappearance of a young woman inThe Monkey's Mask, an international lesbiancult film from 2000 starringSusie Porter. The film is based on the verse novel of the same name byAustralian poetDorothy Porter.[17]
McGillis's early television roles included a part on thedaytime soapOne Life to Live in 1984.
She starred in the 1984 television movieSweet Revenge (also known asBittersweet Revenge) withAlec Baldwin.[18]
Other television films during the 1980s includedPrivate Sessions in 1985, and as anarrator inSantabear's First Christmas. She also narrated the documentaryOut of Ireland forPBS in 1995.
While at Juilliard she performed inWilliam Congreve'sLove for Love, directed by John Bletchley.[citation needed] She appeared in a couple ofoff-broadway andBroadway theater productions during the 1980s in New York City.
During the late-1980s[19] and through the mid-2000s, McGillis was a featured actress at the prestigiousShakespeare Theatre Company inWashington, D.C.[20] In 2002, she appeared in production of John Webber's play "The Duchess of Malfi" at the Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, DC.
In 2004, she appeared in thestage playThe Graduate asMrs. Robinson, touring the United States.[21] McGillis starred in aPasadena Playhouse stage production ofThe Little Foxes byLillian Hellman in May 2009, co-starring withJulia Duffy.[22]
Her stage work includes:Don Juan (1982),The Sea Gull (1985),Peccadillo (1985),The Merchant of Venice (1988),Twelfth Night (1989),Mary Stuart (1990),The Merry Wives of Windsor (1990),Hedda Gabler (1994),Mourning Becomes Electra (1997),A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999),Measure for Measure (1999) andThe Graduate (2004), together with additional roles inLove for Love,Six Characters in Search of an Author,Three Sisters andThe Winter's Tale.
She also appeared in a production ofFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune byTerrence McNally, which toured theUnited Kingdom in 2010.[23]
She began working in television again in 2006, then in 2007 joined the cast ofShowtime'sThe L Word for its fifth season.[24]
She had a role in the 2010vampire filmStake Land,[25] directed by Jim Mickle,[26] starring alongsideNick Damici,Connor Paolo andDanielle Harris.[27]
McGillis was featured in a breast cancerdocu-drama titled1 a Minute, released in 2010.[28]
She starred inTi West's 2011 thrillerThe Innkeepers[29],We Are What We Are andTio Papi in 2013,Grand Street,Love Finds You in Sugarcreek, Ohio (which was McGillis's thirdAmish-themed film),Z Nation, and an episode ofSisters of Mercy in 2014, andBlue in 2015.
An Uncommon Grace onHallmark Channel was McGillis's fourth Amish themed film[30] and she had the lead role inMother of All Secrets in 2017 as Rose Lewis.[31][32][33]
McGillis married fellow Juilliard student Boyd Black in 1979; the couple divorced in 1981.[34] In the mid-1980s, she datedWarren Beatty.[35] She married Fred Tillman in 1989, and they have two daughters.[36] The couple divorced in 2002.
The Centurion, a 110-footschooner valued at $1.5 million owned by McGillis and her then-husband, Fred Tillman, was destroyed by fire in April 1996 at a marina inDania, Florida. The fire started on an adjacent boat at the Port LauDania marina on a Dania Cutoff Canal and spread to the schooner. Tillman had brought the boat from the couple's home inKey West in hopes of selling it at theFort Lauderdale Boat Show.[37]
McGilliscame out as alesbian in 2009 during an interview withSheWired.[38][39] In 2010, she entered into acivil union with Melanie Leis, a Philadelphia sales executive. They had met in 2000 when Leis was a bartender at the Caribbean Bar Grill & Brewery[40] inKey West, Florida,[41] which McGillis owned with her then-husband.[42]
McGillis worked full-time with drug addicts and alcoholics at Seabrook House Drug Alcohol Rehab Center, a rehabilitation center inBridgeton, New Jersey, when she and Leis shared a home inCollingswood.[43]
McGillis currently lives inHendersonville, North Carolina. As of 2013, she has taught acting at the New York Studio for Stage and Screen (NYS3) inAsheville, North Carolina.[44]
McGillis was left scratched and bruised after she was assaulted by a woman who broke into her home on June 17, 2016.[45] She said the attack, as well as others which she has been a victim of in the past, led her to apply for aconcealed carry permit to protect herself. Following the incident, a 38-year-old woman, Laurence Marie Dorn, was charged with second-degree burglary, misdemeanor larceny, misdemeanor stalking, assault and battery, and interfering with emergency communication.[45] Later, Dorn was convicted of misdemeanor breaking and entering and sentenced to probation.[46]
| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Golden Globe | Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture | Witness | Nominated |
| BAFTA Award | Best Actress | Witness | Nominated | |
| Jupiter Award (film award) | Best International Actress | Witness | Nominated | |
| Bravo Otto | Best Actress | Top Gun | Won | |
| 1987 | Jupiter Award (film award) | Best International Actress | Top Gun | Nominated |
| Bravo Otto | Best Actress | Made in Heaven | Won | |
| Golden Ciak | Best Actress | Made in Heaven | Won | |
| 1988 | Bravo Otto | Best Actress | The Accused | Bronze |
| 1989 | Jupiter Award (film award) | Best International Actress | The Accused | Nominated |
| 2018 | California Women’s Film Festival | Best Supporting Actress | Maternal Secrets | Nominated |
| Southampton International Film Festival | Supporting Actress in a Feature | Maternal Secrets | Nominated |
McGillis moved to New York in 1979 to study acting at the prestigious Juilliard drama school, the same year she married fellow student Boyd Black. It was short-lived, the couple divorcing in 1981
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
