Early life

Blair was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and was raised in Westport, Connecticut. She began her career as a 6-year-old child model and started acting with a regular role on the short-lived Hidden Faces (1968-69) daytime soap opera. Her first theatrical film appearance was in The Way We Live Now (1970). Blair was selected from a field of 600 applicants for her most notable role as Regan in The Exorcist (1973). The role earned her a Golden Globe and People's Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as an Academy Award nomination. She reprised her role in the sequel, Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), garnering a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress of 1978. Between these two films, she appeared in Born Innocent (1974), Airport 1975 (1974), Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) and Sweet Hostage (1975) opposite Martin Sheen.

Later career

Blair's career took a new turn in the 1980s, as she starred in a film in 1980 entitled Ruckus along with actor Dirk Benedict. She also starred in a number of successful low-budget horror and exploitation films, including Hell Night (1981), Chained Heat (1983) and Savage Streets (1984).

Blair later worked in numerous films, mostly comedies, including the Exorcist send-up Repossessed in 1990, and a cameo role in Scream (1996). In 1997, she appeared in a Broadway revival of Grease. She was cast as a regular in the BBC television show, L.A. 7 (2000). She hosted Fox Family's Scariest Places on Earth (2000-06).

In 2006, she guest starred on the TV Series Supernatural playing the part of Detective Diana Ballard as she aids Sam & Dean Winchester in the Episode: "The Usual Suspects" which aired November 9th, 2006.

Other interests

Blair also became an animal rights activist and humanitarian, working with PETA, Feed the Children, Variety, the Children's Charity, and other organizations. Blair also devotes time to a non-profit organization she organized, the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, which works to rescue abused, neglected and mistreated animals. She commenced to follow a vegan diet, and was a co-author of the book Going Vegan!

Legal problems

Towards the end of the 1970s, Blair encountered trouble with law enforcement authorities as she was charged with drug possession and conspiracy to sell drugs. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of conspiracy to possess cocaine, in exchange for three years' probation and a $5,000 fine. Blair was also required to make at least 12 major public appearances to tell young people about the dangers of drug abuse. Though she pursued roles in subsequent films, Blair found it hard to restart her screen career and landed low-grade films in the 1980s and later. As she herself said in an interview, her career "went down faster than the Titanic".

Honors

In 1997, she appeared in a documentary for Channel 4 in the UK entitled "Didn't You Used to be Satan?", which served as a biography of her life to that point and how the film The Exorcist had dominated her career and life.

She also appeared in critic Mark Kermode's 1998 BBC documentary "The Fear of God" (which Kermode directed and hosted), included as a special feature on the DVD of The Exorcist. Most of Kermode's linking scenes to camera were removed from the DVD version to shorten the running time. The version shown on BBC TV in 1998 was shown intact.

In 2008, she appeared at the 18th annual Malaga Fantasy and Horror Film Festival to accept a lifetime achievement award for her work in the horror genre.

She appeared in the 2009 documentary Confessions of a Teenage Vigilante, discussing her role as Brenda in Savage Streets (1984). The documentary was included as a bonus feature on the 2009 DVD release of the film.

In 2010 she appeared as herself on the cable series Pit Boss and Jury Duty. She appeared in the 2011 Rick Springfield documentary Affair of the Heart, and was a panelist in a 2011 episode of The Joy Behar Show.

In 2012 Blair appeared at a pre-taped 84th Academy Awards ceremony honoring makeup artist Dick Smith, who had created the iconic makeup for Blair in The Exorcist.

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1973	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress	The Exorcist	Nominated
1974	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	The Exorcist	Won
1974	Golden Globe Awards	New Star of the Year - Actress	The Exorcist	Nominated
1978	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Exorcist II: The Heretic	Nominated
1982	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actress	Hell Night	Nominated
1984	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actress	Chained Heat	Nominated
1985	Golden Raspberry Awards	Scream Queen	Herself	Won
1986	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actress	Night Patrol	Won
1986	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actress	Savage Island	Won
1986	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actress	Savage Streets	Won

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	The Way We Live Now	Sara Aldridge
1971	The Sporting Club	Barby
1973	The Exorcist	Regan MacNeil	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress
1974	Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic	Sarah Travis	Television movie
1974	Born Innocent	Chris Parker	Television movie
1974	Airport 1975	Janice Abbott
1975	Sweet Hostage	Doris Mae Withers	Television movie
1976	Victory at Entebbe	Chana Vilnofsky	Television movie
1977	Exorcist II: The Heretic	Regan MacNeil	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1978	Stranger in Our House	Rachel Bryant	Television movie
1979	Wild Horse Hank	Hank Bradford
1979	Roller Boogie	Terry Barkley
1980	Ruckus	Jenny Bellows
1981	Hell Night	Marti Gaines	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1983	Chained Heat	Carol Henderson	Nominated—Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1984	Night Patrol	Officer Sue Perman	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1984	Savage Streets	Brenda	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1984	Terror in the Aisles	Regan MacNeil	Archive footage
1985	Red Heat	Christine Carlson
1985	Savage Island	Daly	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress
1987	SFX Retaliator	Doris
1987	Nightforce	Carla
1988	Moving Target	Sally Tyler
1988	Grotesque	Lisa
1988	Silent Assassins	Sara
1988	Witchery	Jane Brooks
1989	Up Your Alley	Vickie Adderly
1989	The Chilling	Mary Hampton
1989	Aunt Millie's Will	Unknown	Short film
1989	W.B., Blue and the Bean	Annette Ridgeway
1990	Zapped Again!	Miss Mitchell
1990	Repossessed	Nancy Aglet
1991	Bedroom Eyes II	Sophie Stevens
1992	Fatal Bond	Leonie Stevens
1992	Dead Sleep	Maggie Healey
1992	Calendar Girl, Cop, Killer?: The Bambi Bembenek Story	Jane Mder	Television movie
1992	Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride	Hannah Hawkes	Television movie
1993	Bad Blood	Evie Barners
1993	Phone	Unknown	Short film
1994	Skins	Maggie Joiner
1994	Double Blast	Claudia
1995	Sorceress	Amelia Reynolds
1996	Prey of the Jaguar	Cody Johnson
1996	Scream	Obnoxious Reporter	Uncredited
1997	Marina	Marina	Short film
2003	Monster Makers	Shelly Stoker	Television movie
2005	Diva Dog: Pit Bull on Wheels	Unknown	Short film
2005	Hitters Anonymous	Brenda
2006	All Is Normal	Barbara
2006	The Powder Puff Principle	School Board President	Short film
2009	Imps*	Jamie
2012	An Affair of the Heart	Herself

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968-1969	Hidden Faces	Allyn Jaffe	Unknown episodes
1982	The Love Boat	Muffy	Episode: "Isaac Gets Physical"
1985	Murder, She Wrote	Jane Pascal	Episode: "Murder Takes the Bus"
1989	Monsters	La Strega	Episode: "La Strega"
1990	MacGyver	Jenny Larson	Episode: "Jenny's Chance"
1992	Married... with Children	Ida Mae	Episode: "The Magnificent Seven"
1996	Renegade	Teddy Rae Thompson	Episode: "Self Defense"
1997	The RuPaul Show	Herself	Episode: "13 December 1997"
1999	Godzilla: The Series	Alexandra Springer	Episode: "S.C.A.L.E."
2000	L.A. 7	Joni Witherspoon	9 episodes
2000-2003	Hollywood Squares	Herself	10 episodes
2001-2006	Scariest Places on Earth	Host	15 episodes
2006	Supernatural	Detective Diana Ballard	Episode: "The Usual Suspects"
2010-2012	Pit Boss	Herself	12 episodes
2012	Celebrity Ghost Stories	Herself	Episode: "Victoria Rowell/Dot Jones/Carlos Mencia/Linda Blair"
2014	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself	Episode: "Scream Queens"

Charities

Linda Blair supports the following charitable causes: Animals, Heart Disease.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]