Nancy Allen
36 movies · 7 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Jun 24, 1950 (age 76)
- Place of birth
- New York City, New York, USA
- Also known as
- Nancy Anne Allen · The Scream Queen · نانسی آلن
Biography
Nancy Anne Allen (born June 24, 1950) is an American actress. She came to prominence for her performances in several films directed by Brian De Palma in the 1970s and early 1980s. Her accolades include a Golden Globe Award nomination and three Saturn Award nominations.
The daughter of a New York City police lieutenant, Allen was raised in the Bronx, and attended the High School of Performing Arts, aspiring to have a career as a dancer. In her early twenties, she shifted her focus to acting and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career there. Her first major role was as Chris Hargensen in Brian De Palma's film adaptation of Carrie (1976). Allen was subsequently cast as the lead in the Robert Zemeckis-directed comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), followed by a supporting part in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979).
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Allen married De Palma in 1979, and her subsequent portrayal of a prostitute who witnesses a murder in his feature Dressed to Kill (1980) earned her a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. She then appeared in De Palma's neo-noir film Blow Out (1981), playing a woman implicated in an assassination. Allen and DePalma divorced in 1984.
She appeared in the science fiction films Strange Invaders (1983) and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), and Abel Ferrara's television film The Gladiator (1986). Allen garnered mainstream fame playing Anne Lewis in Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987), a role she reprised for the two sequels that followed. Other credits include Poltergeist III (1988), Limit Up (1990), and Les patriotes (1994).
Allen stepped back from acting in 2008, and became involved in cancer support after her friend, Wendie Jo Sperber, died of breast cancer. In 2010, she was named executive director of the weSPARK Cancer Support Center in Los Angeles, which was founded by Sperber.
Known for
Nancy Allen: movies and TV shows
Acting (43)
- 2012 Bound by Flesh
as Voiceover
- 2008 My Apocalypse
as Linda Savage
- 2002
- 2001 Circuit
as Louise
- 2001
- 1999 Kiss Toledo Goodbye
as Madge
- 1999 Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return
as Rachel Colby
- 1999
- 1999 Secret of the Andes
as Brenda Willings
- 1998 Out of Sight
as Midge
- 1998 The Pass
as Shirley Duprey
- 1997 Against the Law
as Maggie Hewitt
- 1997 Dusting Cliff 7
as Anna Bishop
- 1996
- 1995 Valerie 23
as Rachel Rose
- 1995
- 1994
- 1994 The Patriots
as Catherine Pelman
- 1994 The Man Who Wouldn't Die
as Jessie Gallardo
- 1993 Acting on Impulse
as Cathy Thomas
- 1993 RoboCop 3
as Anne Lewis
- 1991
- 1990 Memories of Murder
as Alice
- 1990 RoboCop 2
as Officer Anne Lewis
- 1989 Limit Up
as Casey Falls
- 1988 Poltergeist III
as Patricia Wilson-Gardner
- 1987 RoboCop
as Officer Anne Lewis
- 1987 Sweet Revenge
as Jillian Grey
- 1986 The Gladiator
as Susan Neville
- 1984 Not for Publication
as Lois
- 1984 The Philadelphia Experiment
as Allison Hayes
- 1984 The Buddy System
as Carrie
- 1984 The Princess and the Pea
as Princess Elizabeth
- 1983 Strange Invaders
as Betty Walker
- 1982
- 1981 Blow Out
as Sally Badina
- 1980 Dressed to Kill
as Liz Blake
- 1980 Home Movies
as Kristina
- 1979 1941
as Donna Stratton
- 1978 I Wanna Hold Your Hand
as Pam Mitchell
- 1976 Carrie
as Chris Hargenson
- 1975 Forced Entry
as Hitch Hiker
- 1973 The Last Detail
as Nancy
Talk shows and appearances (13)
- 2023 RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop
4 episodes
- 2022
- 2020
- 2019 The Movies That Made Us
1 episode
- 2017
- 2016
- 2016
- 2012
- 2004
- 2001
- 2001
- 2001
- 1984