Cracks In Sidewalks

She has played a repressed housewife, the wife of a car inventor, the wife of a President who is forced to leave office; the mother of a chess prodigy, Toby Maguire’s mother, a VP with a sex scandal, a CIA director, and an alcoholic single mother.  You might ask, what do each of these roles have in common?  Joan Allen, and Joan Allen, is always good.

She’s been one of those actresses that I have loved to watch over the years, subtle but strong defining her characters.   She seems to have made wise choices, or wise directors and writers have sought her out for the right roles.

Born in Rochelle, Illinois in 1956, Joan Allen was a very shy child who used acting as a means in which to draw her self out, having the freedom to express emotions and actions she could not otherwise express. And she excelled in doing so, so much so, that by the time she was attending Eastern Illinois State, she was catching the eye of a young actor named John Malkovich, who invited her to come to Chicago and join he and some other actor’s at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.  Early members of the company already included a young Gary Sinise and a young Laurie Metcalf among others.  In Chicago while with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, she was a secretary during the days so she could afford to perform at night.

Working her way through the theatre she came to NYC eventually landing on Broadway along side Malkovich in her Tony Award winning role in Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This.”  Then came movie rolls in films such as “Peggy Sue Got Married,” Coppola’s “Tucker,” “Searching For Bobby Fischer,” Oliver Stone’s “Nixon,” and the “The Crucible” along side Daniel Day Lewis.  Later I was happy to see her in other memorable films playing roles such as the wife of John Travolta in John Woo’s “Face/Off,” and the estranged wife of Kevin Kline in “The Ice Storm,” a brilliant movie!   And in recent years “The Contender,” “The Notebook,”  “The Bourne Supremcy,” and “The Upside of Anger.”

Joan Allen seems to do all of this effortlessly.  She transparently transcends into each of these parts, and she is always good.  Actually I should say great!  An actress who’s very recognizable as she’s been seen in so many parts and has had a deservedly successful career; but because of her co-star status, a name not on the tip of everyone’s tongue, and I’m here to say if you love film and good acting, it should be.  An exciting actress of depth and dimension I look forward to seeing her again and again.  She’s like a stamp of approval in my book.  With several movies due out soon, I’m certain we have much more to discover from Joan Allen and luckily we won’t have to wait too long.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 5:41 am and is filed under Daily Crack. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.