Karen Allen
Karen Allen
Karen Jane Allenis an American actress. She played Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Arkand Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Allen has also had roles in films such as National Lampoon's Animal House, The Wanderers, Cruising, Shoot the Moon, Starman, Scrooged, The Sandlot, The Perfect Stormand Poster Boy...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth5 October 1951
CityCarrolton, IL
CountryUnited States of America
I loved living and breathing theatre so much that I decided I had to find a way to bring my desire to act and my ability to support myself together. I'd run through the possibilities in Washington, so that meant moving to New York.
I just felt like I had to create a life for myself where I was more independent.
I was quite eager to work, anytime somebody was offering me a job, if I liked the role. Because I was always very discriminating from the very beginning, in the sense that I had absolutely no problem saying no to jobs when they came along if somehow they didn't fit into my universe - whatever that was.
I don't necessarily like being defined by my profession.
I'm from a generation of fantastic actresses. It's a big pool of really wonderful actresses, and so many of them we never even get to see on the screen anymore.
I've never done anything for money. My first love is things of limited commercial appeal. I could be happy doing Shakespeare for the rest of my life.
I'm about as healthy as a person can be. I quit smoking seven or eight years ago.
Sometimes I think candor is the only kindness.
Eventually you love people - friends or lovers - because of their flaws.
The secrecy thing has gotten to be more and more prevalent in films, and maybe that's good. It's nice to go see a film and not know anything about it. Sometimes I feel like we know too much about films.
I watch many, many, many independent films every year that you see once in a film festival and they're never heard of ever again. Many of them are very, very good.
When independent films break through and actually make it into any level of mainstream-ness or get seen by people or find a life actually in theaters, it's extraordinary. And it doesn't happen that often.
I have to say from an actor's perspective, to work with a director who has been an actor through most of their career is a pleasure. They generally have a very deep understanding of the process of what you're doing, of how you are building and exploring the character.
I'm always surprised when people say, "Oh, it got such mixed reviews." I guess I didn't read them.