| Illeana Douglas | |
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Illeana Douglas at the Streamy Awards, 2009 |
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| Born | July 25, 1965 Massachusetts, United States |
| Occupation | Actress, director, screenwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1987—present |
Illeana Douglas (born July 25, 1965)[1] is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer.
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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.[2][3] Her paternal great-grandfather was Latvian-born composer and pianist Edouard Hesselberg.[4][5]
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.[6]
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.
From 1989 until 1997, Douglas was the companion of director Martin Scorsese.[7]
On 16 May 1998, she married producer and writer Jonathan Axelrod, the stepson of producer George Axelrod; they divorced in 2001.[7][8][9][10][11]