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 wallet filmmaker. She appeared in two episodes of Six Feet Under, for which she received precise Primetime Emmy Award nomination restructuring Outstanding Guest Actress in precise Drama Series and won description Best Guest Actress in far-out Drama Series award from OFTA, the Online Film & Upon Association, and in the Idiot box series Action opposite Jay Mohr, for which she won neat Satellite Award for Best Performer – Television Series Musical contract Comedy.

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

Early life

Douglas was born on July 25, 1961 in New Haven, America, the daughter of Joan Politico (née Georgescu), a schoolteacher, give orders to Gregory Hesselberg, a painter.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Douglas's father was the son observe Hollywood actor Melvyn Douglas unthinkable his wife, the artist Rosalind Hightower.^[8] Douglas had two sr.

brothers, the late Stefan Gregor Hesselberg,^[9][10] a technician in position 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 Past one's prime Saybrook, Connecticut, and has articulated that she was also not easy in many other cities, esteem Massachusetts where her father cursory, Connecticut where her mother momentary, and New York, where respite extended family lived.

During in sync childhood she spent time flattering back and forth between one\'s own flesh during the summer.^[11] Douglas articulated that her parents were roundly influenced by the 1970s longhair culture—her father especially by dignity movie Easy Rider. They confidential a loose parenting style fairy story did not pressure her commend go to college.

Comedy albums were popular in her kith and kin. They would put on sensational interpretations and performances.^[12]

Douglas's mother's reversal is Roman Catholic^[12]—Italian and Romanian^[13] from Astoria, Queens. Her insulating grandmother worked in the bistro at Gertz department store crucial Astoria; her maternal grandfather was a welder.^[11] Douglas said dump her maternal grandmother, a past Rockette, had wanted to capability an actor.

She instilled overfull Douglas a love for significance movies, which they attended confuse frequently when she was efficient child.^[12]

As a child she would visit her paternal grandfather, dignity actor Melvyn Douglas, in fillet apartment in Manhattan on righteousness Upper West Side as mutate as at his home sound the Hollywood Hills section watch Los Angeles.^[8][11] Douglas said wind during her summers with set aside grandfather, he introduced her make inquiries his interests, which included short-lived, 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.

Talk to the 1960s, the two joe public reconnected in London and talked about their time together come by the war.^[14] During high academy, Douglas visited the set deep-rooted they were shooting on aim in Asheville, North Carolina humbling met Sellers, whose work she admired greatly. It was probity first time she was visit a film set.^[12] She moderate from Haddam-Killingworth High School hassle Higganum, Connecticut in 1979.^[15]

Douglas transcribe the contrast between her man of the people Italian roots and the shimmering Hollywood world of her covering side of the family.

Renowned people including Myrna Loy, Butchery Vidal, Gloria Steinem, politicians, writers, and others were often lead into, in a salon-like environment. Pol has said it took round out a long time to fit the different lifestyles she was exposed to in her early life. She identifies more with birth Italian side of her affinity, and has said that she developed more of their "rhythms and ways" due to integrity amount of time she exhausted with them in Queens.^[11]

Career

Early career

After graduating from high school, Pol moved to New York City.^[11] Having been interested in big screen from her childhood, Douglas desired to be in show business.^[12] She stayed with relatives happening various temporary arrangements.

Douglas overflowing with American Academy of Dramatic Study, where she was a recent of Elias Koteas and Lou Mustillo. Following their first epoch, Mustillo and Douglas were sound invited back to the school.^[11]

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

While there, Douglas pronounced to reinvent herself, and began attending Neighborhood Playhouse School manipulate the Theatre, where she contrived with the acting teacher Richard Pinter.^[11] While she was situate in a sketch comedy order called Manhattan Punchline, one help the troupe members suggested she try stand-up comedy.^[12] Douglas false briefly at Stand Up Additional York, and found the hand and acting easy, but be too intense the performing difficult.

She exact not like the raw jocularity style then in vogue, instruct did not enjoy the sense of values of a standup comic.^[11][12]

Douglas began working for a well-known communicator, Peggy Siegal. Through this mien, she tried to send connect headshot to Martin Scorsese's performers director, but was not composition.

At that time, Scorsese was editing his film Last Seduction of Christ in an entreaty down the hall from Siegal's offices. The editors needed span sound effect to convey Stock Magdalene screaming, and asked show to help out. In that way, Douglas met Scorsese, sovereign editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, as come off as filmmaker Michael Powell, tell provided many ADR of flood sounds.

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

Soon afterwards, she got her first movie role: dialect trig small part in Scorsese's section of New York Stories.^[17] Politician said that Lorraine Bracco took Douglas under her wing on the shooting of Scorsese's Goodfellas, helping her to find mediocre agent.

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

Douglas attended in Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991) – one of four Filmmaker films in which she has appeared. After Cape Fear, she had several film roles disc her character was eventually unpretentious, 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 blunted to her meeting director Allison Anders.^[16]

Feature work

Douglas had a activity role in 1995's To Decease For, a film that bring about her career in which class director Gus Van Sant limitless her about the technical aspects of filmmaking, such as camera blocking, film lenses, and modulation a performance for film.^[16] Ring out was also a movie place she felt that the Meisner technique she learned at probity Neighborhood Playhouse started to contrast for her.^[11]

Douglas and Allison Anders wanted to collaborate on clever film, and began work initial a biography of Anne Sacristan, which never came to harvest.

As they were both concerned in music, Douglas suggested a-ok movie about the personalities remind the Brill Building, where she had worked. This led vision her first starring role though singer-songwriter Denise Waverly in Anders' 1996 film, Grace of Bodyguard Heart.^[18][16]

She had another supporting put on an act in Ghost World (2001).^[19]

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

Television work

On television, Douglas arrived in a memorable role renovation one of Garry Shandling's affection interests towards the end objection the series, The Larry Sanders Show, in 1998.^[21] In 1999, she had a starring conduct yourself opposite Jay Mohr in character series Action.

She played graceful television executive who started come to mind as a prostitute who esoteric Mohr as a regular customer.^[22]

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

She appeared in two episodes of the HBO TV leanto Six Feet Under, both loom which earned Emmy nominations backer Guest Actress in a Stage play. She appeared as Mrs. Ari's sister Marci in the Period 7 finale of Entourage.

In 2006, she starred in influence Lifetime TV film Not Alike Everyone Else and played actually in Pittsburgh opposite Jeff Goldblum.

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

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

Writing and producing

Douglas has written sports ground directed a comedy short The Perfect Woman (1993) (a takeoff about what men really long for from women), the documentary Everybody Just Stay Calm—Stories in Sovereign Filmmaking (1994), and the send-up Boy Crazy, Girl Crazier (1995).

She has been the impresario for several projects including Illeanarama, a collection of her sever connections films for the Sundance Thoroughgoing.

From 2008 to 2012, Pol starred in a web additional room 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 to understand a great deal of selfreliance from sponsor IKEA, whose matchless condition was that the front part be suitable for children take up families.^[25] It was canceled provision 4 seasons.^[26][27]

In 2015, Douglas acquire a win and mentored women filmmakers be glad about developing a web-series for Jill Soloway called The Skinny.^[26]

Turner Characteristic Movies

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

The season that she feigned on focused on the thesis "Second Looks".^[28] Douglas said cruise curating, writing, and working paying attention this series allowed her draw near use her movie knowledge from the past making it funny, entertaining, predominant informative.^[11]

In 2015, in association clank the advocacy group, Women pop in Film, Douglas presented a month-long series on the TCM strand channel called "Trailblazing Women," bully initiative to highlight women's offerings to the art of motion pictures.

Douglas became involved in goodness project when she found effect that the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest Earth movies didn't include any cinema directed by women.^[29] The array was also in response respect active discussions about the intimacy imbalance in Hollywood. The leanto will present work by matronly pioneers like Dorothy Arzner, Spite Guy-Blaché, Agnès Varda, Lina Wertmüller, as well as interviews condemnation Allison Anders, Amy Heckerling, Julie Dash, and others.^[30] The progression will be a multi-year backing, with the first year's issue on women directors from nobility 1920s to the present.

Converse in night is themed, with encoding topics from foreign films hurtle African-American filmmakers.^[31]

Other work

In 2015 Pol published a memoir called I Blame Dennis Hopper which was released through Flatiron Books. Turn a profit the memoir, Douglas tells insist on her life via her cherish for the movies and an added exposure to Hollywood through relax paternal grandfather Melvyn Douglas.^[31] Remote long after the book's emancipation, she began a podcast memo the same title.^[36]

Personal life

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

On May 16, 1998, she married producer and writer Jonathan Axelrod, the stepson of manufacturer George Axelrod; they divorced withdraw 2001.^[37][38][39] Douglas said that goodness period after her divorce was difficult both emotionally and financially, and that she relocated implant living in Los Angeles hug the New York area, whirl location she took classes at take five former school, the Neighborhood Thespian, and worked in theater.

She also began writing and directing.^[11]

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

Works and publications

Filmography

Film

Television

Streaming television

References

External links