Illeana Douglas Biography

Illeana Douglas (born July 25, 1965) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer.

Background

Douglas is a granddaughter of the actor Melvyn Douglas and his first wife, artist Rosalind Hightower, and has said that her grandfather's performance in Being There, in particular, was influential on her own career. Her paternal great-grandfather was Latvian-born composer and pianist Edouard Hesselberg.

Career

Douglas is known for her part in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991) " one of four Scorsese films in which she has appeared " plus her starring role as singer-songwriter Denise Waverly in Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart (1996) and supporting roles in To Die For (1995) and Ghost World (2001).

On television, Douglas appeared briefly as Garry Shandling's love interest on The Larry Sanders Show, starred in the series Action (1999) with Jay Mohr, guest starred on Seinfeld, Frasier and The Drew Carey Show, and has played a public defender on several episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002 and 2003. She appeared in two episodes of the critically acclaimed HBO TV-series Six Feet Under, both of which earned Emmy nominations for Guest Actress in a Drama. She also appeared as Mrs. Ari's sister Marci in the Season 7 finale of Entourage.

In 2006, she starred in the Lifetime TV film Not Like Everyone Else and played herself in Pittsburgh opposite Jeff Goldblum. In 2007, Douglas was added to the cast of Ugly Betty, playing Sheila, an editor for MODE magazine.

At the Walt Disney World Resort in the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park, Douglas plays Aerosmith's manager in the preshow video for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster attraction. She later appeared in an Aerosmith music video as Liv Tyler's mother.

Douglas has tried her hand at writing and directing, with a comedy short The Perfect Woman (1993), the documentary Everybody Just Stay Calm"?Stories in Independent Filmmaking (1994), and the satire Boy Crazy, Girl Crazier (1995); and she has been the producer for several projects including Illeanarama, a collection of her short films for the Sundance Channel.

In April 2011, she was scheduled to begin a potentially recurring role on the CW drama series Gossip Girl as Lily's older sister, Carol, though Sheila Kelley replaced her as Carol due to scheduling conflicts.

Personal life

From 1989 until 1997, Douglas was the companion of director Martin Scorsese.

On 16 May 1998, she married producer and writer Jonathan Axelrod, the stepson of producer George Axelrod; they divorced in 2001.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Hello Again	Mother in park
1988	The Last Temptation of Christ	Crowd member
1989	New York Stories	Paulette's friend
1990	Goodfellas	Rosie
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	Nan
1991	Cape Fear	Lori Davis
1993	Alice: The Miracle of the Andes	Liliana Methol
1993	Household Saints	Evelyn Santangelo
1993	Grief	Leslie
1994	Quiz Show	Woman at book party
1995	Search and Destroy	Marie Davenport
1995	Judgement	Laurel	Short film
1995	To Die For	Janice Maretto	Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated"?Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1996	Wedding Bell Blues	Jasmine
1996	Grace of My Heart	Denise Waverly
1997	Picture Perfect	Darcy O'Neil
1997	Weapons of Mass Distraction	Rita Pasco	Television movie
1997	Rough Riders	Edith Roosevelt	Television movie
1997	Bella Mafia	Teresa Scorpio Luciano	Television movie
1997	Hacks	Georgia Feckler
1998	The Thin Pink Line	Julia Bullock
1999	Flypaper	Laura
1999	Stir of Echoes	Lisa Weil
1999	Happy, Texas	Doreen Schaefer
1999	Message in a Bottle	Lina Paul	Nominated"?Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress " Drama
1999	Lansky	Anna Lansky	Television movie
1999	Rock 'n' Roller Coaster	Band manager	Short film
2000	The Next Best Thing	Elizabeth Ryder
2001	Ghost World	Roberta Allsworth
2002	Dummy	Heidi
2002	The New Guy	Kiki Pierce
2002	Point of Origin	Kate	Television movie
2002	The Adventures of Pluto Nash	Dr. Mona Zimmer
2003	The Kiss	Joyce Rothman
2003	Missing Brendan	Julie Conroy
2005	Alchemy	KJ
2005	The Californians	Olive Ransom
2006	Not Like Everyone Else	Toni Blackbear	Television movie
2006	Factory Girl	Diana Vreeland
2006	The Bondage	Elaine Edwards
2007	Walk the Talk	Jill
2007	Order Up	Waitress	Short film
2007	Osso Bucco	Megan
2007	Expired	Wilman
2008	The Year of Getting to Know Us	Christine Jacobson
2008	Otis	Kate Lawson
2009	April Showers	Sally
2009	Life Is Hot in Cracktown	Mommy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Homicide: Life on the Street	Gina Doolen	Episode: "Autofocus"
1995	The Single Guy	Martha	Episode: "Sister"
1998	Seinfeld	Loretta	Episode: "The Strong Box"
1999	Brother's Keeper	Ginny	Episode: "Dating the Teacher"
1999-2000	Action	Wendy Ward	13 episodes Satellite Award for Best Actress " Television Series Musical or Comedy
2001	Frasier	Kenny's wife	Episode: "Hungry Heart"
2001	The Drew Carey Show	Rachel Murray	2 episodes
2001-2005	Six Feet Under	Angela	3 episodes Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
2002-2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Gina Bernardo	3 episodes
2006	Crumbs	Shelley	3 episodes
2006-2007	Shark	Gloria Dent	2 episodes
2007	Ugly Betty	Sheila	3 episodes
2008	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Beverly Tyson	Episode: "Contract"
2008-2012	Easy to Assemble	Illeana	48 episodes
2010-2011	Entourage	Marcie	2 episodes
2011	The Cape	Netta Stilton	2 episodes
2013	Maron	Herself	Episode: "Dominatrix"

Web television

• Easy to Assemble (2008-2012)