Early life

Nancy Anne Allen was born on Saturday, June 24, 1950, in New York City, the youngest of three children of Eugene and Florence Allen. Her father was a police lieutenant in Yonkers, where she was raised.

Allen was very shy as a child, so her mother enrolled her in dance classes when she was four. She attended the High School of Performing Arts, where she trained for a dancing career, and then attended Jose Quintano's School for Young Professionals.

Film career

Allen's first major film role was very small, playing Nancy, Jack Nicholson's nervous date, in The Last Detail (1973). This inspired her to move to Los Angeles and try for larger parts. She scored the role of the spoiled, rich, and popular mean girl Chris Hargensen in director Brian De Palma's horror film Carrie (1976) opposite Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving and John Travolta, as the title character's chief nemesis.

Allen next appeared in the role of Pam Mitchell in Steven Spielberg's production of I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), which was director Robert Zemeckis's first feature film. She then played Donna Stratton in another Spielbergfilm, the high-profile comedy 1941 (1979) opposite Tim Matheson, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and John Candy.

Brian De Palma and she were married on January 12, 1979, and for the next few years Allen appeared in his films. She starred as Kristina in Home Movies (1980) with Kirk Douglas, as Liz Blake in Dressed to Kill (1980) with Michael Caine, and as Sally Bedina in Blow Out (1981) opposite John Travolta. In filming the latter, she had to overcome a lifelong fear of being trapped in a submerged car filling with water.

For her role as Liz Blake, a prosperous call girl who dabbles in the stock market, in the murder/horror film Dressed to Kill, Allen was nominated for a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Female.

In 1983, Allen starred as supermarket tabloid reporter Betty Walker in Strange Invaders, written by Bill Condon and co-starring Paul LeMat and Michael Lerner.

She and De Palma divorced in 1984. That same year, two of Allen's films were released, The Buddy System opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon and The Philadelphia Experiment opposite Michael Paré. For her role in the latter, Allen was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress. She also hosted the documentary Terror in the Aisles (1984), which presents clips from various horror features, including Dressed to Kill and Carrie. Paul Bartel's Not for Publication and Sweet Revenge, an action caper about white slavery with Gina Gershon and Martin Landau, followed thereafter.

RoboCop era

Allen played the police officer Anne Lewis in the science fiction/action classic RoboCop (1987) opposite Peter Weller in the title role. The film, which was the Hollywood debut of Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, did extremely well at the box office. Allen was nominated for another Saturn Award for Best Actress.

After the success of RoboCop, Allen starred in Abel Ferrara's The Gladiator (1987) and as Patricia Wilson-Gardner in Poltergeist III (1988) opposite Tom Skerritt, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Heather O'Rourke, who died before production was completed. Allen reprised her role as Officer Lewis in RoboCop 2 (1990) alongside Weller. To make her character tougher and more involved in the physical action, she studied martial arts and participated in police training. That same year, Allen toplined Richard Martini's Limit Up. As commodities trader Casey Falls, Allen showcased her comedic abilities. The lighthearted romp also featured Danitra Vance and blues icon Ray Charles. In 1990, Allen also had the distinction of starring in the first ever original film made for the Lifetime television network: the highly rated Memories of Murder.

She married comedian Craig Shoemaker on September 6, 1992. Allen played Officer Lewis a third time in RoboCop 3 (1993) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. For her third performance as the feisty cop, she worked to soften the usually tough-as-nails demeanor of the character: "You do your job and you become more confident with yourself. Therefore, you don't have to prove yourself to anyone and basically deny your womanhood. (It's) not a dirty word. It's actually an asset. And that's what I wanted to show - to loosen her up in that way." The same year, Allen also appeared with Linda Fiorentino in Acting on Impulse. She and Shoemaker eventually divorced in 1994.

Later career

Allen has appeared in a number of documentaries about her most famous films, including Dressed to Kill, Carrie, Blow Out, the RoboCop trilogy, and Poltergeist III.

In 1994, she reteamed with Strange Invaders scribe Bill Condon to star as psychic Jessie Gallardo opposite Roger Moore in the movie of the week The Man Who Wouldn't Die. She starred as Linda Savage in Quality Time in 1997, but the film was not released until 2008 due, in part, to post-production and renamed My Apocalypse. Builder/contractor Randy Bailey and she were married in June 1998.

She had a small but notable role as Midge in the crime thriller Out of Sight (1998) starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, which was directed by Steven Soderbergh. She also played Rachel Colby in the horror film Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return and Madge in the comedy-thriller Kiss Toledo Goodbye with Christopher Walken (both released in 1999). Secret of the Andes, an adventure story with David Keith and Jerry Stiller, was released in 2000.

Her television guest appearances include roles on Touched by an Angel, The Outer Limits, The Commish, Judging Amy, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Bailey and she were divorced in 2007. As an environmentalist, Allen traded her Volvo automobile for a hybrid vehicle to set an example. She also became an activist against breast cancer.

In December 2010, Nancy Allen was named executive director of the weSPARK Cancer Support Center, which was founded by her longtime friend and I Wanna Hold Your Hand co-star, actress Wendie Jo Sperber, and attended the annual Wendie Jo Sperber Celebrity Golf Classic. Of her work at weSpark, she said: "That is what I do. That is what my life is dedicated to. I’m there, I run it. I’ve created the whole program format and I fund raise. It is my life’s work."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Last Detail, TheThe Last Detail	Nancy
1975	Forced Entry	Hitchhiker
1976	Carrie	Chris Hargensen
1978	I Wanna Hold Your Hand	Pam Mitchell
1979	1941	Donna Stratton
1980	Home Movies	Kristina
1980	Dressed to Kill	Liz Blake	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress
1981	Blow Out	Sally Bedina
1983	Strange Invaders	Betty Walker
1984	Buddy System, TheThe Buddy System	Carrie
1984	Terror in the Aisles	Herself
1984	Philadelphia Experiment, TheThe Philadelphia Experiment	Allison Hayes	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1984	Not for Publication	Lois Thorndyke
1986	Gladiator, TheThe Gladiator	Susan Neville	Television movie
1987	Sweet Revenge	Jillian Grey
1987	RoboCop	Officer Anne Lewis	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Actress
1988	Poltergeist III	Patricia Wilson-Gardner
1989	Limit Up	Casey Falls
1990	RoboCop 2	Anne Lewis
1990	Memories of Murder	Jennifer Gordon/Corey	Television movie
1993	RoboCop 3	Anne Lewis	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1993	Acting on Impulse	Cathy Thomas	Television movie
1994	The Man Who Wouldn't Die	Jessie Gallardo	Television movie
1994	Les patriotes	Catherine Pelman
1997	Against the Law	Maggie Hewitt
1997	Dusting Cliff 7	Anna Bishop	aka Last Assassins
1998	Pass, TheThe Pass	Shirley Duprey
1998	Out of Sight	Midge
1999	Secret of the Andes	Brenda Willings
1999	Kiss Toledo Goodbye	Madge
1999	Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return	Rachel Colby	Direct to video
2001	Circuit	Louise
2008	My Apocalypse	Linda Savage	aka Quality Time
2012	Bound by Flesh	Narrator

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983-1984	Another World	Paula James	Unknown episodes
1984	Faerie Tale Theatre	Princess Elizabeth	Episode: "The Princess and the Pea"
1994	Touched by an Angel	Megan	Episode: "An Unexpected Snow"
1995	Outer Limits, TheThe Outer Limits	Rachel Rose	Episode: "Valerie 23"
1995	Commish, TheThe Commish	Gina Raposo	Episode: "Brooklyn"
2001	Judging Amy	Helen White	Episode: "The Unforgiven"
2002	Division, TheThe Division	Christine Ogden	Episode: "Brave New World"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Carin Healy	Episode: "Escape"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1981	Golden Globe Awards	New Star of the Year - Actress	Dressed to Kill	Nominated
1985	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Philadelphia Experiment, TheThe Philadelphia Experiment	Nominated
1988	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	RoboCop	Nominated
1994	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress	RoboCop 3	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]