Elizabeth McGovern

Elizabeth McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American film and theater actress.

Biography

Early life

McGovern was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of Katharine Woolcot Watts, a high school teacher, and William Montgomery McGovern, a university professor.^[1] Her family moved to Los Angeles, where her father accepted a position with UCLA. McGovern started acting in plays in high school. Agent Joan Scott saw her performance in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder, was impressed by her talent, and recommended that she take acting lessons. McGovern followed her advice and studied, first at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and then at The Juilliard School in New York City.

Career

While studying at this school, she was offered in 1980 a part in her first movie, Ordinary People, in which she played the girlfriend of troubled teenager Timothy Hutton. It was also Robert Redford's first film as director. The movie won four Oscars. The next year she earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the early 20th century actress Evelyn Nesbit in the movie Ragtime. The following years she completed her education as an actress at the American Conservatory Theatre and at The Juilliard School, and began to act in theater plays, first off-Broadway and later in famous theaters. Since then she has continued performing on stage between film assignments rather than concentrating on becoming a film star. As a movie actress, big-eyed and slightly baby-faced McGovern has given preference to eccentric roles over those parts typically tailored for actresses of her age. In 1989 she played Mickey Rourke's sweet girlfriend in Johnny Handsome, directed by Walter Hill, and the same year she appeared as a rebellious lesbian in Volker Schlöndorff's thriller The Handmaid's Tale. Besides cinema and theater, she has also played in several television films, the most recent, a Law & Order segment "Harm", where she played a Psychiatrist, Dr. Sutton. In 1992, she married English producer and director Simon Curtis, with whom she lives in London, together with their two daughters.

Filmography

• (BBC4 comedy pilot) (2007)
• Three Moons Over Milford (2006)
• The Truth (2006)
• The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire (2003)
• Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
• The Flamingo Rising (2001)
• The House of Mirth (2000)
• Thursday the 12th (2000)
• Manila (2000)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999)
• Twice Upon a Yesterday (1998)
• The Misadventures Of Margaret (1998)
• The Wings of the Dove (1997)
• Clover (1997)
• Summer of Ben Tyler (1996)
• Broken Trust (1995)
• Wings of Courage (1995)
• The Changeling (1994)
• The Favor (1994)
• King of the Hill (1993)
• Me and Veronica (1992)
• Ashenden, Part 2 (1991)
• Tune in Tomorrow (1990)
• Women and Men (1990)
• A Shock to the System (1990)
• The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
• Johnny Handsome (1989)
• She's Having a Baby (1988)
• The Bedroom Window (1987)
• Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1987)
• Native Son (1986)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
• Racing with the Moon (1984)
• Lovesick (1983)
• Ragtime (1981)
• Heaven's Gate (1981)
• Ordinary People (1980)

Stage work

• The Scarlet Letter...at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester (2005)... as Hester Prynne
• Three Days of Rain...at the Donmar Warehouse, London (1999)... as Nan & Lina

References

External links

• Elizabeth McGovern at the Internet Movie Database
• Elizabeth McGovern, a web page about the actress's work and life