| BIOGRAPHY
After shooting to stardom during the '80s in a string of youth-orientated
movies, former model Phoebe Cates hit her stride in the '90s as
a featured player in ensemble films. Born Phoebe Belle Katz on
July 16, 1963 in New York City, Cates is the daughter of television
producer Joseph Cates (The $64,000 Question) and the niece of
film director Gilbert Cates (1970's I Never Sang for My Father).
Joan Crawford was her godmother.
While growing up in Manhattan, Cates attended New York's prestigious
Professional Children's School. An exceptional dancer, she studied
with the School of American Ballet until a knee injury forced
her to quit in 1977. At the suggestion of the family for which
she babysat, she began modeling in teen magazines and commercials.
A few years later, director Stuart Gillard saw Cates dancing with
friends at New York's Studio 54 and offered her the lead role
in his Blue Lagoon (1980) knock-off, Paradise (1982). She then
gave a standout performance as Jennifer Jason Leigh's sexually
mature best friend in Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont
High (1982), before starring in Private School (1983). Besides
appearing in the film's infamous "mooning" scene (during
which the cast flashes the audience), Cates recorded two songs
for Private School's soundtrack, "Just One Touch" and
"How Do I Let You Know."
In 1984, with her star on the rise, Cates portrayed a young actress
bent on destroying her deadbeat mother in the notoriously tasteless
television film Lace (1984). That same year, she signed on to
play the love interest in Joe Dante's horror-comedy Gremlins.
Written by Chris Columbus and produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin
Entertainment, the bizarre, special effects-laden film about a
group of strange and violent creatures was a colossal success
-- despite premiering only two weeks after Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom (1984) and on the same day as Ghostbusters (1984).
After returning for Lace 2 (1985), Cates appeared as Michael J.
Fox's model wife in Bright Lights, Big City (1988) and as a young
bride-to-be in the coming-of-age film Shag (1989).
Cates began the '90s at a personal low, starring in the sequel
to Gremlins, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1991), and in Ate de Jong's
disastrous Drop Dead Fred (1991). She quickly revived her career
opposite Bridget Fonda, Eric Stoltz, and Tim Roth in the Generation
X comedy Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993), before earning rave
reviews for her performance as the mysterious title character
in Princess Caraboo (1994). The film also starred Cates' husband,
actor Kevin Kline. The actress appeared as herself in Scratch
the Surface (1997), a documentary about teen fashion models in
the '80s, and then opted to take a short break from show business
in order to care for her children. After a four-year hiatus, Cates
returned to the screen in The Anniversary Party (2001), an ensemble
film co-written and co-directed by her friend and Fast Times at
Ridgemont High co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh and actor Alan Cumming.
Acting opposite Kline (who portrayed her fictional husband in
the film), Cates played none other than an actress who has left
show business to raise a family.
In addition to her screen work, Cates has also appeared frequently
on the stage. Her numerous theater credits include The Tenth Man
at Lincoln Center, Much Ado About Nothing at the New York Shakespeare
Festival, The Seagull and The Three Sisters at the La Jolla Playhouse,
and Romeo and Juliet at the Goodman Theater.
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• The Anniversary Party (2001)
• My Life's In Turnaround (1995)
• Princess Caraboo (1994)
• Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993)
• Drop Dead Fred (1991)
• Gremlins 2 - The New Batch (1990)
• Heart of Dixie (1989)
• Shag, The Movie (1989)
• Bright Lights, Big City (1988)
• Date With An Angel (1987)
• Gremlins (1984)
• Private School (1983)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
• Paradise (1981) |
