Karen Allen | |
|---|---|
 Allen in 2017 | |
| Born | Karen Jane Allen (1951-10-05)October 5, 1951 (age 74) Carrollton, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Fashion Institute of Technology George Washington University Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Known for | Role ofMarion Ravenwood in theIndiana Jones filmsRaiders of the Lost Ark, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Dial of Destiny |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | karenallen-actor-director |
Karen Jane Allen (born October 5, 1951)[1] is an American film, television and stage actress. She made her film debut in the comedy filmAnimal House (1978), which was soon followed by a small role inWoody Allen's romantic comedy-dramaManhattan (1979) and a co-lead role inPhilip Kaufman's coming-of-age filmThe Wanderers (1979), before co-starring oppositeAl Pacino inWilliam Friedkin's crime thrillerCruising (1980).
Allen's critical and commercial breakthrough came when she portrayedMarion Ravenwood oppositeHarrison Ford inRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981), for which she won theSaturn Award for Best Actress. She later co-starred inShoot the Moon (1982),Starman (1984), for which she was again nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actress, andScrooged (1988).
Allen has also received recognition for her work inThe Glass Menagerie (1987),Year by the Sea (2016), andColewell (2019). She reprised her role as Marion Ravenwood inIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) andIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Her stage work has included performances onBroadway, and she has directed both stage and film productions.
Allen was born on October 5, 1951, inCarrollton, Illinois,[2] to Ruth Patricia (née Howell) (1927–2020), a university professor, and Carroll Thompson Allen (1925–2015), anFBI agent.[3] She is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent.[4] Her father's job forced the family to move often. "I grew up moving almost every year and so I was always the new kid in school and always, in a way, was deprived of ever really having any lasting friendships", Allen said in 1987.[5] Although Allen says her father was very much involved in the family, she felt that she and her two sisters grew up in a very female-dominated household.[6]
After she graduated fromDuVal High School, inLanham, Maryland, at 17, she moved to New York City to study art and design atFashion Institute of Technology for two years.[7] Allen later ran a boutique on theUniversity of Maryland campus[8] and spent time traveling through South and Central Asia.[4] She attendedGeorge Washington University and began to study and perform with the experimental company, the Washington Theatre Laboratory, in Washington, D.C.[7] In 1974, Allen joinedShakespeare & Company in Massachusetts.[9] Three years later, she moved back to New York City and studied at theLee Strasberg Theater Institute.[4]
Allen made her major film debut in 1978 inNational Lampoon's Animal House.[10] Her next two film appearances were inThe Wanderers, in 1979,[10] andA Small Circle of Friends in 1980, where she played one of three radical college students during the 1960s. She also appeared (as a guest star) in the1979 pilot episode of the long-runningCBS seriesKnots Landing.[10] She had a small role as a television actor inWoody Allen's filmManhattan (1979), before being cast as the love interest ofAl Pacino inWilliam Friedkin's controversial filmCruising (1980).
Allen's career-changing role came with the blockbuster movieRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981), directed bySteven Spielberg, in which she playedMarion Ravenwood, the love interest ofIndiana Jones (Harrison Ford). Allen won theSaturn Award for Best Actress for her performance.[11] After a few minor films, including leading roles in the dramatic thrillerSplit Image (1982),[10] directed byTed Kotcheff, and the Paris-set romantic dramaUntil September (1984), directed byRichard Marquand, as well as other stage appearances, she co-starred withJeff Bridges inJohn Carpenter's science-fiction filmStarman (1984).[10] The film was a critical success, and later spawned the short-livedStarman television series in 1986. Allen's performance in the film earned her another nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Actress.
Allen debuted onBroadway in the 1982 productionThe Monday After The Miracle.[12] In 1983, she played the lead in theoff-Broadway playExtremities, a physically demanding role about a woman who turns the tables on a would-berapist who attacks her.[12] She often took breaks from movie roles to concentrate on stage acting; Allen appeared as Laura in thePaul Newman–directed film version of theTennessee Williams playThe Glass Menagerie, withJohn Malkovich andJoanne Woodward, in 1987.[13]
In 1988, Allen returned to the big screen asBill Murray's long-lost love, Claire, in the Christmas comedyScrooged.[10] While the film initially earned a mixed response from critics upon its release, it was a major box office success. In 1990, she portrayed the doomed crew memberChrista McAuliffe in the television movieChallenger,[10] based on the 1986Space ShuttleChallenger disaster. Subsequently, she appeared inSpike Lee'sMalcolm X (1992),[10] in a small supporting role inThe Perfect Storm (2000) andIn the Bedroom (2001). She made guest appearances onLaw & Order (1996) andLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit (2001).[10] She also starred in the short-lived seriesThe Road Home (1994),[10] and portrayed Dr. Clare Burton in the video gameRipper (1996).[10] In 2014 she played the role of Betty Lowe in "Unfinished Business",[10] the 13th episode of the 4th season of theCBS police procedural dramaBlue Bloods.[10]
Allen reprised her best-known role as Marion Ravenwood for the 2008 sequelIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,[10] in which she renews her relationship with Indiana Jones and reveals to him that they have a son named Henry Jones III, who named himselfMutt Williams, played byShia LaBeouf. The film was a critical and commercial success.[14][15]
Allen starred in the American premiere ofJon Fosse'sA Summer Day at the Cherry Lane Theater in New York City, which opened in October 2012.[16]
Allen has a long-standing relationship with the Berkshire Theater Group. It began in 1981, when she appeared in the playTwo for the Seesaw at the Berkshire Theater Festival inStockbridge, Massachusetts. She has also appeared in summer production of the nearbyWilliamstown Theater Festival. In August 2015, Allen directedTerrence McNally'sFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune for the Berkshire Theater Group.[17] In 2016, Allen made her movie directing debut with the short film,A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud., based on the short story byCarson McCullers.[18] It won the Best International Short at theManchester Film Festival in March 2017.[19] Allen played the lead role in 2017'sYear by the Sea, a film based onThe New York Times bestselling memoir by Joan Anderson.[20]
Allen reprised her role as Marion Ravenwood one last time in 2023'sIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.[21][10]
In 2024, she starred inUnsinkable: Titanic Untold as Nancy Smith, the wife of U.S. SenatorWilliam Alden Smith.[22][23]
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In 1988, Allen married actorKale Browne and had a son, Nicholas, in 1990. The couple divorced in 1998.[24] Following the birth of her son, Allen accepted smaller roles in TV and films to concentrate on raising Nicholas.[16] Nicholas went on to become a personal chef and win aChopped competition onFood Network, which aired on December 22, 2016.[25][26][27]
In 2003, Allen started her own textile company, Karen Allen Fiber Arts, inGreat Barrington, Massachusetts. The company has a store in Great Barrington that sells items Allen knits with a Japanese-made knitting machine[17] as well as products made by other designers. For her work in the textile arts, she was awarded an honorary master's degree from theFashion Institute of Technology in 2009.[28] Allen also teaches acting atBard College at Simon's Rock, located in Great Barrington.[29]
As of July 2015[update], Allen lives inMassachusetts.[17] She also works as a stage director.[16]
| Television | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1978 | Lovey: A Circle of Children, Part II | Elizabeth | Television film |
| 1979 | Knots Landing | Annie | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1981 | East of Eden | Abra | Episode: "Part Three" |
| 1986 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Jackie Foster | Episode: "The Creeper" |
| 1990 | Challenger | Christa McAuliffe | Television film |
| Secret Weapon | Ruth | ||
| 1993 | Rapture | Georgianne Corcoran | |
| Voyage | Catherine "Kit" Norvell | ||
| 1994 | The Road Home | Alison Matson | 6 episodes |
| 1996 | Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story | Margaret | Television film |
| Law & Order | Judith Sandler | Episode: "Survivor" | |
| 1997 | All the Winters That Have Been | Helen Raven | Television film |
| 2001 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Paula Varney | Episode: "Scourge" |
| My Horrible Year! | Belinda Faulkner | Television film | |
| Shaka Zulu: The Citadel | Katherine Farewell | ||
| 2009 | A Dog Year | Paula (voice) | |
| 2010 | November Christmas | Claire | |
| 2012 | The Tin Star | Eliza Flynn | |
| 2014 | Blue Bloods | Betty Lowe | Episode: "Unfinished Business" |
| 2020 | 50 States of Fright | Sheriff Stallings | 3 episodes |
| 2022 | The Last Movie Stars | Frances Woodward (voice) | |
| Year | Awards | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Saturn Awards | Best Actress | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Won | [11][30] |
| 1983 | Theatre World Award | Outstanding New York City Stage Debut Performance | Monday After the Miracle | Won | [31][32] |
| 1984 | Saturn Awards | Best Actress | Starman | Nominated | [33][30] |
| 1988 | 3rd Independent Spirit Awards | Best Supporting Female | The Glass Menagerie | Nominated | [34][30] |
| 1990 | Sant Jordi Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Nominated | [32][30] | |
| 2009 | AARP Movies for Grownups Awards | Best Grownup Love Story (Over 50's) (shared withHarrison Ford) | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | Nominated | [35][30] |
| 2016 | Hamilton International Film Festival | Best Actress | Year by the Sea | Won | [36][30] |
| 2020 | 35th Independent Spirit Awards | Best Female Lead | Colewell | Nominated | [34][30] |
| Chlotrudis Awards | Best Actress | Nominated | [37][30] | ||
| 2022 | Woods Hole Film Festival Awards | Best Performance in a Feature Film (Adult) (shared withWilliam Sadler) | A Stage of Twilight | Won | [38][30] |
