Karen Allen

Karen Allen
Born: Oct 5, 1951
Carrollton, IL
Career: 1978-2008
Countries: USA
Genre/Type: Drama
Biography by Hal Erickson
Trained at the Washington Theatre Laboratory and Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Karen Allen was primarily a stage actress when she began to accept small film roles in such productions as National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) and Manhattan (1979), although her most celebrated film assignment was as the plucky Marion in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Spielberg reportedly acknowledged his appreciation of Allen's performance by gallantly kissing her hand after each take; even so, they never worked together again. Allen divided her time between the stage, TV movies and the big screen in the ensuing two decades, preferring roles that allowed her to appear without makeup, with her generously freckled face in full view. Among her more notable post-Raiders films were Starman (1984), The Glass Menagerie (1987), Malcolm X (1992), and In the Bedroom (2001). Temporarily blinded by conjunctivitis shortly before launching her film career, Allen was able to draw from life while portraying the adult Helen Keller in the mid-'80s Broadway play Helen and Teacher. Allen's TV roles included a protrayal of the ill-fated civilian astronaut Christa McAuliffe in Challenger (1990).

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Filmography

Movie/Film Released Rating Role Buy
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2008 Actor [Starring]
Poster Boy 2004 Actor [Starring]
When Will I Be Loved 2004 Actor [Starring]
Plain Dirty 2003 Actor [Starring]
Unseen + Untold: Animal House 2003 Participant [Starring]
In the Bedroom 2001 Actor [Starring]
My Horrible Year! 2001 Actor [Starring]
Shaka Zulu: The Citadel 2001 Actor [Starring]
World Traveler 2001 Actor [Starring]
The Perfect Storm 2000 Actor [Starring]
The Basket 1999 Actor [Starring]
Falling Sky 1998 Actor [Starring]
Wind River 1998 Actor [Starring]
All the Winters That Have Been 1997 Actor [Starring]
'Til There Was You 1997 Actor [Starring]
Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story 1996 Actor [Starring]
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Videos of Karen Allen

Back to the topTop Questions about Karen Allen

She *was* in Indy 4 -- as an older Marion, the mother of Indiana's son. She explains her absence in Crystal Skull: She and Indy were engaged but he broke the engagement a week before the wedding. He left her (while she was pregnant) and she...
She's one of the easiest people to work with I've ever known. She's a completely self-sufficient woman, and that's part of the character she plays. A lot of her charm and the charm of the character is there. And again, it's not an age-depen...
Starman the tv series with Robert Hays was a sequel to the movie.

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Awards

Year Movie/Film Role
1987 Independent Spirit Awards The Glass Menagerie Best Supporting Actress (Nom)
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