Catherine Keener Biography

This section contains Catherine Keener Biography
Catherine Keener was born on the 3rd of March, 1960 in Miami, Florida, USA. She is one of the queens of American independent cinema in the 90’s and was a muse and favorite for director Tom Di Cillo. She underrated actor Dermot Mulroney in 1990, who is said to be one of her peers. When she was in Grade 11, she was temporarily expelled from the Catholic school Monsignor Pace High School and yet, she graduated from it in 1976. She has also graduated from Wheaton College in 1983 and landed her first film role in 1986 where she played a small part in About Last Night.

Throughout the 1990s, she appeared in a string of independent films. She played the lead role opposite Anne Heche, in the acclaimed film Walking and Talking (1996) which is written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. Her performance here earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress.

In 2000, Catherine Keener received an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in Being John Malkovich. She also appeared in Simpatico and although she finally gave birth to a baby boy in the same year, she remained unstoppable as she continued to appear in such quirky films as Death to Smoochy, Full Frontal, and Adaptation (all 2002). She grew up in Hialeah, Florida, a suburb in Miami, Florida and her siblings are four in total. She has a brother and sister who can also act like her. In fact, her sister appeared in an episode of Felicity.

She won The New York Film Critics Circle and Online Film Critics Society awards for her performance in Being John Malkovich. She was also nominated as best actress in the Golden Globe and The Screen Actors for her role in the same film. However, many are skeptic about these awards and nominations, especially her critics. She was Gail Eisenstadt’s assistant casting director. Gail Eisenstadt convinced her to act while dying with lung cancer.

Catherine Keener inspired Tom Di Cillo to write her role in the film The Real Blonde. Tom will never make the film without her. He made it as a rule for this project. Catherine may not possess the classical Hollywood lady look but she has proved that one can be successful in Hollywood by hard work and by not being easily discouraged. Catherine Keener is one of those actresses who had set this pace in Hollywood.

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