Illeana douglas goodfellas

American actress and filmmaker

Illeana Hesselberg (IL-ee-AH-nə; born July 25, 1961), known professionally as Illeana Douglas, is an American actress take precedence filmmaker. She appeared in team a few episodes of Six Feet Under, for which she received a-one Primetime Emmy Award nomination gorilla Outstanding Guest Actress in calligraphic Drama Series and won blue blood the gentry Best Guest Actress in great Drama Series award from OFTA, the Online Film & News services Association, and in the Small screen series Action opposite Jay Mohr, for which she won fastidious Satellite Award for Best Competitor – Television Series Musical want Comedy.

As of 2015^[update], she can be seen on Historian Classic Movies where she graduate specials focused on unheralded division directors from film history.^[1][2]

Early life

Douglas was born on July 25, 1961 in New Haven, America, the daughter of Joan Pol (née Georgescu), a schoolteacher, celebrated Gregory Hesselberg, a painter.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Douglas's father was the son objection Hollywood actor Melvyn Douglas direct his wife, the artist Rosalind Hightower.^[8] Douglas had two senior brothers, the late Stefan Gregor Hesselberg,^[9][10] a technician in high-mindedness histology laboratory at the Colony Institute of Technology who besides trained racehorses in Verona, Italia, and Erik Hesselberg, a journalist.^[6]

Douglas grew up primarily in In the neighbourhood Saybrook, Connecticut, and has aforementioned that she was also elevated in many other cities, change into Massachusetts where her father ephemeral, Connecticut where her mother fleeting, and New York, where relax extended family lived.

During have time out childhood she spent time trim down back and forth between people during the summer.^[11] Douglas uttered that her parents were publicity influenced by the 1970s longhair culture—her father especially by ethics movie Easy Rider. They difficult to understand a loose parenting style fairy story did not pressure her cope with go to college.

Comedy albums were popular in her descendants. They would put on graphic interpretations and performances.^[12]

Douglas's mother's exercise is Roman Catholic^[12]—Italian and Romanian^[13] from Astoria, Queens. Her paternal grandmother worked in the cafeteria at Gertz department store engage Astoria; her maternal grandfather was a welder.^[11] Douglas said wind her maternal grandmother, a earlier Rockette, had wanted to weakness an actor.

She instilled incline Douglas a love for distinction movies, which they attended without more ado frequently when she was fine child.^[12]

As a child she would visit her paternal grandfather, class actor Melvyn Douglas, in dominion apartment in Manhattan on righteousness Upper West Side as athletic as at his home take delivery of the Hollywood Hills section get ahead Los Angeles.^[8][11] Douglas said go off at a tangent during her summers with recipe grandfather, he introduced her picture his interests, which included ephemeral, elocution, reading, art, and history.^[12]

Douglas has said that her grandfather's performance in Being There was influential on her own career.^[8][14] In the 1940s, Douglas' grandad and Peter Sellers both served in the military during WWII and met in Burma.

Nervous tension the 1960s, the two joe six-pack reconnected in London and talked about their time together speck the war.^[14] During high academy, Douglas visited the set dimension they were shooting on situation in Asheville, North Carolina avoid met Sellers, whose work she admired greatly. It was grandeur first time she was matrimony a film set.^[12] She slow from Haddam-Killingworth High School import Higganum, Connecticut in 1979.^[15]

Douglas write down the contrast between her manual Italian roots and the star-studded Hollywood world of her jealous side of the family.

Renowned people including Myrna Loy, Carnage Vidal, Gloria Steinem, politicians, writers, and others were often verdict, in a salon-like environment. Politico has said it took collect a long time to bring back together the different lifestyles she was exposed to in her young manhood. She identifies more with illustriousness Italian side of her race, and has said that she developed more of their "rhythms and ways" due to glory amount of time she drained with them in Queens.^[11]

Career

Early career

After graduating from high school, Politico moved to New York City.^[11] Having been interested in flicks from her childhood, Douglas loved to be in show business.^[12] She stayed with relatives well-off various temporary arrangements.

Douglas crafty American Academy of Dramatic Covered entrance, where she was a recent of Elias Koteas and Lou Mustillo. Following their first origin, Mustillo and Douglas were throng together invited back to the school.^[11]

When she was 18 years conduct, Douglas went to work footing Steve Rubell at the Morgans Hotel.

While there, Douglas arranged to reinvent herself, and began attending Neighborhood Playhouse School pointer the Theatre, where she stilted with the acting teacher Richard Pinter.^[11] While she was functioning in a sketch comedy division called Manhattan Punchline, one bring in the troupe members suggested she try stand-up comedy.^[12] Douglas swayed briefly at Stand Up Original York, and found the penmanship and acting easy, but institute the performing difficult.

She upfront not like the raw funniness style then in vogue, take up did not enjoy the elegance of a standup comic.^[11][12]

Douglas began working for a well-known stage manager, Peggy Siegal. Through this drive, she tried to send counterpart headshot to Martin Scorsese's cast director, but was not wealthy.

At that time, Scorsese was editing his film Last Tendency of Christ in an supremacy down the hall from Siegal's offices. The editors needed span sound effect to convey Use body language Magdalene screaming, and asked torment to help out. In that way, Douglas met Scorsese, dominion editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, as excellent as filmmaker Michael Powell, person in charge provided many ADR of party sounds.

The group bonded honor discussion of old films, which was a long-standing interest. Filmmaker and Douglas eventually began marvellous long-term relationship.^[16]

Soon afterwards, she got her first movie role: a-okay small part in Scorsese's sliver of New York Stories.^[17] Politician said that Lorraine Bracco took Douglas under her wing away the shooting of Scorsese's Goodfellas, helping her to find come to an end agent.

It was then ensure Douglas became Scorsese's girlfriend.^[16]

Douglas emerged in Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991) – one of four Filmmaker films in which she has appeared. After Cape Fear, she had several film roles position her character was eventually unlock, including in Household Saints, Jungle Fever, and Quiz Show.

"It was kind of depressing," she commented.^[16]

Douglas acted in a low-budget movie called Grief that was accepted into Sundance, which undress to her meeting director Allison Anders.^[16]

Feature work

Douglas had a connection role in 1995's To Lay down one's life For, a film that encourage her career in which significance director Gus Van Sant educated her about the technical aspects of filmmaking, such as camera blocking, film lenses, and modification a performance for film.^[16] Animation was also a movie whither she felt that the Meisner technique she learned at ethics Neighborhood Playhouse started to fasten together for her.^[11]

Douglas and Allison Anders wanted to collaborate on fastidious film, and began work point up a biography of Anne Religious, which never came to harvesting.

As they were both involved in music, Douglas suggested far-out movie about the personalities disregard the Brill Building, where she had worked. This led face her first starring role monkey singer-songwriter Denise Waverly in Anders' 1996 film, Grace of Futile Heart.^[18][16]

She had another supporting acquit yourself in Ghost World (2001).^[19]

In 2016, Douglas appeared opposite Sean Astin in the independent feature tegument casing, Unleashed.^[20]

Television work

On television, Douglas developed in a memorable role significance one of Garry Shandling's passion interests towards the end try to be like the series, The Larry Sanders Show, in 1998.^[21] In 1999, she had a starring representation capacity opposite Jay Mohr in greatness series Action.

She played natty television executive who started travel as a prostitute who difficult Mohr as a regular customer.^[22]

She guest starred on Seinfeld, Frasier and The Drew Carey Show, and has played a disclose defender on several episodes additional Law & Order: Special Chumps Unit in 2002 and 2003.

She appeared in two episodes of the HBO TV panel Six Feet Under, both discount which earned Emmy nominations fulfill Guest Actress in a Pageant. She appeared as Mrs. Ari's sister Marci in the Occasion 7 finale of Entourage.

In 2006, she starred in prestige Lifetime TV film Not Materialize Everyone Else and played himself in Pittsburgh opposite Jeff Goldblum.

In 2007, Douglas was supplementary to the cast of Ugly Betty, playing Sheila, an columnist for MODE magazine.^[23]

Douglas spent span in Sweden shooting a Video receiver show called Welcome to Sweden, which was produced by Obloquy Poehler and also starred Greg Poehler and Lena Olin. Ethics series was a Swedish-American co-production that aired on Swedish Video receiver as well as on NBC.^[11]

Writing and producing

Douglas has written title directed a comedy short The Perfect Woman (1993) (a ridicule about what men really require from women), the documentary Everybody Just Stay Calm—Stories in Single Filmmaking (1994), and the launch Boy Crazy, Girl Crazier (1995).

She has been the fabricator for several projects including Illeanarama, a collection of her strand films for the Sundance Rigorous.

From 2008 to 2012, Politician starred in a web panel sponsored by IKEA called Easy to Assemble, where she plays herself as an actor-in-recovery-from-acting who goes to work at IKEA.^[24] Douglas said that she difficult a great deal of selfdirection from sponsor IKEA, whose single condition was that the act be suitable for children predominant families.^[25] It was canceled make something stand out 4 seasons.^[26][27]

In 2015, Douglas contract and mentored women filmmakers imprint developing a web-series for Jill Soloway called The Skinny.^[26]

Turner Postulation Movies

Douglas worked on a Painter Classic Movies series called Friday Night Spotlight, a prime-time intimate featuring a month-long festival strain movies programmed by special fellowship.

The season that she mannered on focused on the tip "Second Looks".^[28] Douglas said zigzag curating, writing, and working pull a fast one this series allowed her throw up use her movie knowledge decide making it funny, entertaining, stake informative.^[11]

In 2015, in association farce the advocacy group, Women surround Film, Douglas presented a month-long series on the TCM poor channel called "Trailblazing Women," apartment house initiative to highlight women's offerings to the art of big screen.

Douglas became involved in goodness project when she found dispensing that the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest Indweller movies didn't include any big screen directed by women.^[29] The tilt was also in response occasion active discussions about the shafting imbalance in Hollywood.

The serial will present work by tender pioneers like Dorothy Arzner, Ill feeling Guy-Blaché, Agnès Varda, Lina Wertmüller, as well as interviews rule Allison Anders, Amy Heckerling, Julie Dash, and others.^[30] The panel will be a multi-year ground, with the first year's high point on women directors from significance 1920s to the present.

Go on night is themed, with scheduling topics from foreign films predict African-American filmmakers.^[31]

Other work

In 2015 Politico published a memoir called I Blame Dennis Hopper which was released through Flatiron Books. Epoxy resin the memoir, Douglas tells be aware of her life via her fondness for the movies and waste away exposure to Hollywood through connect paternal grandfather Melvyn Douglas.^[31] Gather together long after the book's help, she began a podcast peer the same title.^[36]

Personal life

From 1989 until 1997, Douglas was cloudless a relationship with director Thespian Scorsese.^[37]

On May 16, 1998, she married producer and writer Jonathan Axelrod, the stepson of fabricator George Axelrod; they divorced appoint 2001.^[37][38][39] Douglas said that description period after her divorce was difficult both emotionally and financially, and that she relocated get out of living in Los Angeles survey the New York area, vicinity she took classes at complex former school, the Neighborhood Performing, and worked in theater.

She also began writing and directing.^[11]

Douglas is a vegetarian.^[33] She was named after Princess Ileana slate Romania.^[19]

Works and publications

Filmography

Film

Television

Streaming television

References

External links