Early life

Stowe, the first of three children, was born at the Queen of Angels Hospital, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and raised in Eagle Rock, a suburb of Los Angeles. Her mother, Mireya (née Mora Steinvorth), had come from a prominent family in Costa Rica. Her father, Robert Stowe, was a civil engineer from a "poor Oregon family". One of Stowe's maternal great-great-grandfathers, politician José Joaquín Mora Porras, was a younger brother of President Juan Rafael Mora Porras, who governed Costa Rica from 1849 to 1859. Another one of Stowe's maternal great-great-grandfathers was Bruno Carranza, President of Costa Rica in 1870, albeit briefly, as he resigned three months after taking power. His wife, Stowe's great-great-grandmother, Gerónima Montealegre, was the sister of President José María Montealegre Fernández, who governed Costa Rica from 1859 to 1863. One of Stowe's maternal great-grandfathers was a German immigrant to Costa Rica.

Stowe's father suffered from multiple sclerosis, and she accompanied him to medical treatments.

She originally aspired to become a concert pianist, taking piano lessons between the ages of ten and eighteen. Stowe would later explain that playing the piano was a means of escape from having to socialize with other children her age. Her Russian-born music teacher, Sergei Tarnowsky, had faith in Stowe, even teaching her from his deathbed. Following his death at the age of 92, she quit, later commenting: "I just felt it was time to not be by myself anymore."

Career

Early years

Stowe studied cinema and journalism at the University of Southern California. Not being especially interested in her classes, she volunteered to do performances at the Solaris, a Beverly Hills theater, where a movie agent saw her in a play and got her several offers of appearances in TV and films. In 1978, she made her debut in an episode in the police drama series Baretta, followed by a string of TV work with guest appearances on The Amazing Spider-Man, Barnaby Jones and Little House on the Prairie. In 1978, she played a leading role as Mary in the television movie, The Nativity (1978). She starred in two NBC miniseries: Beulah Land (1980) and The Gangster Chronicles (1981), which starred Brian Benben, her future husband. She also starred in several television films, such as Amazons (1984) and Blood & Orchids (1986).

Breakthrough and film career

In 1987, Stowe appeared in her first breakthrough role in the feature film Stakeout with Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez. The film debuted at No.1 at the box office. She co-starred with Mark Harmon in the comedy Worth Winning, with Kevin Costner in the 1989 thriller Revenge, and opposite Jack Nicholson in 1990 in The Two Jakes. She played a leading role in the 1991 independent film Closet Land.

In 1992, she appeared opposite Kurt Russell in the crime drama Unlawful Entry. That same year, Stowe played Cora Munro in The Last of the Mohicans, which also starred Daniel Day-Lewis. Her critically acclaimed performance in the film, which grossed more than $75 million worldwide, elevated Stowe from supporting player to an A-list movie star. The next year, director Robert Altman cast Stowe in the award-winning ensemble cast movie Short Cuts, where she gave one of her most acclaimed screen performances as the wife of a compulsively lying and adulterous police officer played by Tim Robbins. She won the National Society of Film Critics Awards for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe Award and a Volpi Cup for Best Ensemble Cast for her performance in the movie. She also made a cameo appearance in Stakeout's sequel Another Stakeout. The following year, Stowe played a leading role as a blind musician in the thriller Blink, in the neo-noir thriller China Moon, and in the Western Bad Girls. The year after that, she was a sympathetic psychiatrist in the financially successful and critically lauded science-fiction movie Twelve Monkeys. Stowe received a Saturn Awards nomination for this performance.

In 1994 Stowe was named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World". In 1995, Stowe was chosen by Empire as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History".

Stowe postponed her acting career in 1996 to concentrate on motherhood. In 1998, she came back with The Proposition and Playing by Heart, and then The General's Daughter, opposite John Travolta in 1999. In 2001, she starred in the science-fiction box office bomb Impostor. In 2002, she played Julia Moore in the war film We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson, and the box office flop action-comedy Avenging Angelo opposite Sylvester Stallone. In 2003, she starred in the thriller Octane as Senga Wilson, a single mother trying to save her teenage daughter (Mischa Barton) from a bizarre cult obsessed with blood and cars.

Recent years

Stowe had left the screen in 2003 and settled on a Texas ranch outside Fredericksburg, with her daughter May and husband Brian Benben. Stowe returned to television in 2005 with a role in the television film Saving Milly, an adaptation of Morton Kondracke's book of the same name, of a woman diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Stowe starred in the not-picked-up Fox pilot Southern Comfort about a woman who takes over her mobster husband's business when he gets sent to prison. In 2007, she appeared in the recurring role of Dr. Samantha Kohl in Jeff Goldblum's supernatural detective drama Raines on NBC, a mid-season replacement. The series was canceled after two months. In 2009 she starred in the Lifetime movie, The Christmas Hope.

In 2011, Stowe began playing Victoria Grayson, the glamorous and powerful matriarch of the Grayson family, on ABC's television drama series Revenge. It debuted on September 21, and was picked up for a full season by ABC on October 13. Stowe's portrayal of the character received critical praise, and she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama for this role.

In April 2012, she was listed at No. 5 in People magazine's annual Most Beautiful Woman list.

Personal life

In 1982, Stowe married Brian Benben, whom she met on the set of the NBC miniseries The Gangster Chronicles the previous year. They live west of Austin, near Johnson City, Texas, and have a daughter named May Theodora (born 1996).

In 2008, Stowe traveled to Haiti and helped found Artists for Peace and Justice. She is on the Board of Directors of the foundation.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Gangster Wars	Ruth Lasker
1987	Stakeout	Maria McGuire
1988	Tropical Snow	Marina
1989	Worth Winning	Veronica Briskow
1990	Revenge	Miryea
1990	Two Jakes, TheThe Two Jakes	Lillian Bodine
1991	Closet Land	Victim
1992	Unlawful Entry	Karen Carr
1992	Last of the Mohicans, TheThe Last of the Mohicans	Cora Munro
1993	Another Stakeout	Maria McGuire	Uncredited cameo
1993	Short Cuts	Sherri Shepard
1994	China Moon	Rachel Munro
1994	Blink	Emma Brody
1994	Bad Girls	Cody Zamora
1995	12 Monkeys	Kathryn Railly
1998	The Proposition	Eleanor Barret
1998	Playing by Heart	Gracie
1999	General's Daughter, TheThe General's Daughter	Warr. Off. Sara Sunhill
2001	Impostor	Maya Olham
2002	We Were Soldiers	Julia Moore
2002	Avenging Angelo	Jennifer Barrett Allieghieri
2003	Octane	Senga Wilson

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Baretta	Anna	Episode: "The Marker"
1978	Amazing Spider-Man, TheThe Amazing Spider-Man	Maria Calderon	Episode: "Escort to Danger"
1978	Nativity, TheThe Nativity	Mary	Movie
1978	Deerslayer, TheThe Deerslayer	Hetty Hutter	Movie
1979	Barnaby Jones	Diane	Episode: "School of Terror"
1980	Beulah Land	Selma Kendrick Davis	Miniseries
1980	Little House on the Prairie	Annie Crane	Episode: "Portrait of Love"
1981	Trapper John, M.D.	Cassie	Episode: "Creepy Time Gal"
1981	Gangster Chronicles, TheThe Gangster Chronicles	Ruth Lasker	Miniseries
1984	Amazons	Dr. Sharon Fields	Movie
1986	Blood & Orchids	Hester Ashley Murdoch	Movie
2002	Magnificent Ambersons, TheThe Magnificent Ambersons	Isabel Amberson Minafer	Movie
2005	Saving Milly	Milly	Movie
2006	Southern Comfort	Charlotte	Pilot
2007	Raines	Dr. Samantha Kohl	5 episodes
2009	Christmas Hope, TheThe Christmas Hope	Patricia Addison	Movie
2011-15	Revenge	Victoria Grayson	Series regular (89 episodes)
2016	12 Monkeys	Lillian	Episode 2.13

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1993	Venice Film Festival	Volpi Cup for Best Ensemble Cast	Short Cuts	Won
1994	National Society of Film Critics	Best Supporting Actress	Short Cuts	Won
1994	Golden Globe Awards	Golden Globe Award for Best Ensemble Cast	Short Cuts	Won
1996	Science fiction magazine	Best Actress in a Genre Motion Picture	12 Monkeys	Won
1996	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	12 Monkeys	Nominated
2000	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actress - Suspense	The General's Daughter	Nominated
2000	ALMA Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Feature Film	The General's Daughter	Nominated
2003	American Veterans Center	Best Actress	We Were Soldiers	Won
2005	Imagen Awards	Best Actress	Saving Milly	Won
2012	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress - Television Series Drama	Revenge	Nominated
2012	ALMA Awards	Favorite TV Actress - Drama	Revenge	Nominated
2013	TV Guide Awards	Favorite Villain	Revenge	Nominated
2014	Keck School of Medicine of USC	Humanitarian Award		Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]