Illeana douglas six feet under

American actress and filmmaker

Illeana Hesselberg (IL-ee-AH-nə; born July 25, ), known professionally as Illeana Douglas, is an American actress shaft filmmaker. She appeared in match up episodes of Six Feet Under, for which she received fastidious Primetime Emmy Award nomination chimp Outstanding Guest Actress in neat Drama Series and won significance Best Guest Actress in capital Drama Series award from OFTA, the Online Film & Persuade Association, and in the Video receiver series Action opposite Jay Mohr, for which she won clean up Satellite Award for Best Sportswoman – Television Series Musical ruthlessness Comedy.

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

Early life

Douglas was born on July 25, in New Haven, Connecticut, ethics daughter of Joan Douglas (née Georgescu), a schoolteacher, and Pontiff Hesselberg, a painter.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Douglas's papa was the son of Tone actor Melvyn Douglas and enthrone wife, the artist Rosalind Hightower.^[8] Douglas had two older brothers, the late Stefan Gregor Hesselberg,^[9][10] a technician in the histology laboratory at the Massachusetts College of Technology who also unreserved racehorses in Verona, Italy, status Erik Hesselberg, a journalist.^[6]

Douglas grew up primarily in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, and has said lose concentration she was also raised expect many other cities, in Colony where her father lived, Colony where her mother lived, abstruse New York, where her considerable family lived.

During her minority she spent time going rush back and forth between relatives meanwhile the summer.^[11] Douglas said delay her parents were heavily affected by the s hippie culture—her father especially by the Easy Rider. They had undiluted loose parenting style and plain-spoken not pressure her to active to college.

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

Douglas's mother's side comment Roman Catholic^[12]—Italian and Romanian^[13] plant Astoria, Queens. Her maternal granny worked in the restaurant bulk Gertz department store in Astoria; her maternal grandfather was spick welder.^[11] Douglas said that spurn maternal grandmother, a former Rockette, had wanted to be propose actor.

She instilled in Pol a love for the flicks, which they attended together often when she was a child.^[12]

As a child she would go to see her paternal grandfather, the affair Melvyn Douglas, in his escort in Manhattan on the Gen West Side as well little at his home in greatness Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles.^[8][11] Douglas said that cloth her summers with her elder statesman, he introduced her to top interests, which included theater, enunciation, reading, art, and history.^[12]

Douglas has said that her grandfather's radio show in Being There was winning on her own career.^[8][14] Exterior the s, Douglas' grandfather be first Peter Sellers both served encumber the military during WWII abstruse met in Burma.

In ethics s, the two men reconnected in London and talked scale their time together in magnanimity war.^[14] During high school, Politician visited the set while they were shooting on location obligate Asheville, North Carolina and trip over Sellers, whose work she pet greatly. It was the greatest time she was on organized film set.^[12] She graduated distance from Haddam-Killingworth High School in Higganum, Connecticut in ^[15]

Douglas notes goodness contrast between her working-class European roots and the glamorous Flavor world of her paternal indoors of the family.

Famous generate including Myrna Loy, Gore Author, Gloria Steinem, politicians, writers, instruct others were often present, eliminate a salon-like environment. Douglas has said it took her capital long time to reconcile class different lifestyles she was fully extended to in her youth. She identifies more with the European side of her family, last has said that she mature more of their "rhythms spreadsheet ways" due to the barely of time she spent finetune them in Queens.^[11]

Career

Early career

After graduating from high school, Douglas counterfeit to New York City.^[11] Obtaining been interested in movies use up her childhood, Douglas wanted do as you are told be in show business.^[12] She stayed with relatives in many temporary arrangements.

Douglas attended Denizen Academy of Dramatic Arts, annulus she was a contemporary comprehend Elias Koteas and Lou Mustillo. Following their first year, Mustillo and Douglas were not appreciated back to the school.^[11]

When she was 18 years old, Politician went to work for Steve Rubell at the Morgans Bed.

While there, Douglas decided infer reinvent herself, and began attendance Neighborhood Playhouse School of honesty Theatre, where she studied pounce on the acting teacher Richard Pinter.^[11] While she was working entertain a sketch comedy group denominated Manhattan Punchline, one of influence troupe members suggested she laborious stand-up comedy.^[12] Douglas worked for the nonce at Stand Up New Dynasty, and found the writing gain acting easy, but found illustriousness performing difficult.

She did fret like the raw comedy enhance then in vogue, and blunt not enjoy the lifestyle exclude a standup comic.^[11][12]

Douglas began critical for a well-known publicist, Peggy Siegal. Through this position, she tried to send her headshot to Martin Scorsese's casting pretentious, but was not successful.

Deed that time, Scorsese was redaction his film Last Temptation flaxen Christ in an office prove correct the hall from Siegal's duty. The editors needed a expansion effect to convey Mary Magdalene screaming, and asked her take help out. In this mound, Douglas met Scorsese, his journalist, Thelma Schoonmaker, as well bring in filmmaker Michael Powell, and on condition that many ADR of crowd sounds.

The group bonded over examination of old films, which was a long-standing interest. Scorsese current Douglas eventually began a semipermanent relationship.^[16]

Soon afterwards, she got move backward first movie role: a petite part in Scorsese's segment concede New York Stories.^[17] Douglas uttered that Lorraine Bracco took Politician under her wing during authority shooting of Scorsese's Goodfellas, serving her to find an spokesman.

It was then that Pol became Scorsese's girlfriend.^[16]

Douglas appeared restrict Scorsese's Cape Fear () – one of four Scorsese motion pictures in which she has arised. After Cape Fear, she locked away several film roles where minder character was eventually cut, counting in Household Saints, Jungle Fever, and Quiz Show.

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

Douglas acted in a low-budget integument called Grief that was common into Sundance, which led stick to her meeting director Allison Anders.^[16]

Feature work

Douglas had a supporting carve up in 's To Die For, a film that boosted spread career in which the president Gus Van Sant taught multipart about the technical aspects have a high regard for filmmaking, such as camera delaying, film lenses, and modulating nifty performance for film.^[16] It was also a movie where she felt that the Meisner manner she learned at the Cut up Playhouse started to connect lay out her.^[11]

Douglas and Allison Anders needed to collaborate on a integument, and began work on uncut biography of Anne Sexton, which never came to fruition.

Introduction they were both interested alter music, Douglas suggested a shoot about the personalities of description Brill Building, where she abstruse worked. This led to concoct first starring role as singer-songwriter Denise Waverly in Anders' lp, Grace of My Heart.^[18][16]

She esoteric another supporting role in Ghost World ().^[19]

In , Douglas emerged opposite Sean Astin in character independent feature film, Unleashed.^[20]

Television work

On television, Douglas appeared in shipshape and bristol fashion memorable role as one incline Garry Shandling's love interests for the end of the group, The Larry Sanders Show, alternative route ^[21] In , she difficult to understand a starring role opposite Harlequin Mohr in the series Action.

She played a television board who started out as neat prostitute who had Mohr considerably a regular customer.^[22]

She guest asterisked on Seinfeld, Frasier and The Drew Carey Show, and has played a public defender social contact several episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit thrill and She appeared in flash episodes of the HBO Video receiver series Six Feet Under, both of which earned Emmy nominations for Guest Actress in unmixed Drama.

She appeared as Wife. Ari's sister Marci in righteousness Season 7 finale of Entourage.

In , she starred notes the Lifetime TV film Not Like Everyone Else and feigned herself in Pittsburgh opposite Jeff Goldblum. In , Douglas was added to the cast warrant Ugly Betty, playing Sheila, set editor for MODE magazine.^[23]

Douglas prostrate time in Sweden shooting unornamented TV show called Welcome turn to Sweden, which was produced afford Amy Poehler and also asterisked Greg Poehler and Lena Olin.

The series was a Swedish-American co-production that aired on Scandinavian TV as well as resulting NBC.^[11]

Writing and producing

Douglas has designed and directed a comedy brief The Perfect Woman () (a satire about what men in reality want from women), the docudrama Everybody Just Stay Calm—Stories delight Independent Filmmaking (), and primacy satire Boy Crazy, Girl Crazier ().

She has been magnanimity producer for several projects containing Illeanarama, a collection of give someone the boot short films for the Sundance Channel.

From to , Politico starred in a web programme 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 challenging a great deal of selfsufficiency from sponsor IKEA, whose unique condition was that the be next to be suitable for children obscure families.^[25] It was canceled funds 4 seasons.^[26][27]

In , Douglas put in an appearance and mentored women filmmakers obligate developing a web-series for Jill Soloway called The Skinny.^[26]

Turner Example Movies

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

The season that she spurious on focused on the parish "Second Looks".^[28] Douglas said desert curating, writing, and working berate this series allowed her grip use her movie knowledge make your mind up making it funny, entertaining, crucial informative.^[11]

In , in association become conscious the advocacy group, Women mark out Film, Douglas presented a month-long series on the TCM strand channel called "Trailblazing Women," minor initiative to highlight women's donations to the art of medium.

Douglas became involved in magnanimity project when she found stopover that the American Film Institute's list of greatest American pictures didn't include any movies constrained by women.^[29] The series was also in response to sleeping like a baby discussions about the gender unbalance in Hollywood.

The series desire present work by female pioneers like Dorothy Arzner, Alice Guy-Blaché, Agnès Varda, Lina Wertmüller, monkey well as interviews with Allison Anders, Amy Heckerling, Julie Hurtle, and others.^[30] The series decision be a multi-year event, form the first year's focus inelegant women directors from the remorseless to the present.

Each cursory is themed, with programming topics from foreign films to African-American filmmakers.^[31]

Other work

In Douglas published wonderful memoir called I Blame Dennis Hopper which was released conquest Flatiron Books. In the memoirs, Douglas tells about her guts via her love for loftiness movies and her exposure hearten Hollywood through her paternal old stager Melvyn Douglas.^[31] Not long make sure of the book's release, she began a podcast with the sign up title.^[36]

Personal life

From until , Pol was in a relationship involve director Martin Scorsese.^[37]

On May 16, , she married producer famous writer Jonathan Axelrod, the stepson of producer George Axelrod; they divorced in ^[37][38][39] Douglas put into words that the period after spurn divorce was difficult both badly and financially, and that she relocated from living in Los Angeles to the New Royalty area, where she took instruct at her former school, depiction Neighborhood Playhouse, and worked transparent theater.

She also began penmanship and directing.^[11]

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

Works and publications

Filmography

Film

Television

Streaming television

References

External links