Ellen Barkin
(1954 - )
Ellen Rona Barkin (born April 16, 1954 in New York City) is a Jewish-American actress. She is mother of two children, Jack (born 1989) and Romy Marion (born 1992) (both from her first marriage, to actor Gabriel Byrne), and currently married for the second time to billionaire entrepreneur Ronald Perelman.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Barkin
An offbeat actress with unusual looks and eclectic list of credits, Ellen Barkin has always managed to keep a low profile, even after she began steaming up the screen through a series of sexually charged performances in the late 1980s. A tremendously gifted actress who has chosen to focus her career on smaller, often quirky roles in independent films and the occasional mainstream production, she remains a somewhat enigmatic personality - which seems to suit her just fine.
Born in the Bronx in 1954, Barkin took to entertainment as a child, attending New York's prestigious High School for the Performing Arts, studying history and drama at Hunter College, and eventually honing her craft at the Actor's Studio. Stage performances in "Irish Coffee" and "Extremities" and soap work on "Search for Tomorrow" eventually gave way to feature films, beginning with an uncredited debut in Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke (1978). In 1982, Barkin garnered worthy praise and serious attention as the lone female member of the ensemble cast of Barry Levinson's classic Diner. Well received work in Tender Mercies, Daniel, Eddie and the Cruisers, (all 1983), Harry and Son and the cult hit The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (both 1984) kept her busy, but it wasn't until 1986 and her supporting role in Desert Bloom as the sexy divorcee in 1950s Las Vegas that her natural sex appeal was revealed on screen. The following year she steamed up The Big Easy alongside Dennis Quaid and gained legions of devoted male fans in the process. After appearing in Siesta (1987) where she met future husband (1988-1993) Gabriel Byrne, Barkin once again had moviegoers talking, this time as the uninhibited murder suspect involved in an erotic relationship with detective Al Pacino in Sea of Love (1989). She continued her foray into sexual role playing by worked wonders with a rather bland script in Switch (1991) playing a man who wakes up one morning to find himself a woman. Barkin's flare for comedy was given greater exposure opposite Jack Nicholson in Man Trouble (1992) and she has, thankfully, returned to the genre often in the last few years, most notably as the trailer park dwelling mother of a Minnesota beauty pageant wanna-be in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), and a web-savvy talk show host boss in Someone Like You (2000). Able to hold her own quite affectively opposite the likes of Robert DeNiro and a young Leonardo DeCaprio in This Boy's Life (1993), Barkin finally gained some industry recognition in 1997 with an Emmy for her devastating portrayal of an alcoholic, abusive single mother in the 1960 in "Before Women Had Wings."
Though she continues to appear on film occasionally, these days Barkin dedicates most of her time to her two children and second husband, Ron Perelman, Chairman of the Board of Revlon, Inc.
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