Joan Allen
- Born: 20 Aug, 1956
An almost pathologically shy adolescent, Joan Allen found the courage to come out of her shell on stage. Theater allowed her to be outrageous, to express sorrow and anger, in short, to be anything but the good little Midwestern girl of her upbringing. While attending Eastern Illinois University, the tall, angular student somehow attracted the attention of the flamboyant John Malkovich who would later invite her to move to Chicago and join the now famous Steppenwolf Theatre Company's fledgling ensemble. Working days as a secretary paid the rent while the nights belonged to Steppenwolf, and alongside the likes of Gary Sinise, John Mahoney, Terry Kinney and Laurie Metcalf (to say nothing of Malkovich), Allen developed a restrained acting style that enabled her to disappear into her parts. She...
FAMILY & COMPANIONS
- father Jeff Allen: died in 1995
- mother Dorothy Allen:
- siblings : has three; Allen is the youngest of four surviving children; another sibling died at the age of six months
- sister Mary Allen: born c. 1940
- brother David Allen: born c. 1943
- sister Lynn Allen: born c. 1954
- daughter Sadie Friedman: born in March 1994
- husband Peter Friedman: met when they appeared together in "And a Nightingale Sang" in 1983; married on January 1, 1990; appeared opposite Allen in the Broadway production of "The Heidi Chronicles"; later starred in the musical "Ragtime"
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