# Kathleen Quinlan

Kathleen Denise Quinlan (born November 19, 1954) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1977 film of the novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and her Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated role in the 1995 film Apollo 13, along with many roles in other feature films, television movies and series, in a career spanning almost five decades.

## Early life and education

She was born in Pasadena, California, the daughter of Josephine (née Zachry), a military supply supervisor, and Robert Quinlan, a television sports director, and raised in Mill Valley, California, where she attended Tamalpais High School and studied drama. In her senior year, George Lucas shot American Graffiti at her high school gym and Fred Roos asked her to read for a small part. She played opposite Cindy Williams at the Sock Hop. She was primarily a gymnast and 1, 3, and 5 meter diver in her school years, which led to her being cast as a stunt double for Trish Van Devere's triumphant dive at the end of the movie One is a Lonely Number. She continued both her athletics and drama education at College of Marin until it became necessary to find a way to make a living. She was invited to move to Los Angeles at 19 years old (because of American Graffiti) to try working as an actress.

## Career

Quinlan had an uncredited role in 1972's One Is a Lonely Number but her official credited film debut was in George Lucas's 1973 movie American Graffiti, at the age of nineteen.
As a young actress in the 1970s, she also had guest-starring roles in many popular television series of the day, including Police Woman, Kojak, Ironside, Emergency!, and The Waltons.
Her most celebrated roles include playing Deborah, a sixteen-year-old schizophrenic, in the film version of the novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, for which she earned a Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama Golden Globe nomination, and portraying Marilyn Lovell, the wife of Tom Hanks's astronaut character Jim Lovell, in the 1995 movie Apollo 13, earning her both a Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Golden Globe nomination and a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination.
Quinlan also appeared in feature films like Lifeguard (1976), Airport '77 (1977), The Promise (1979), The Runner Stumbles (1979), Sunday Lovers (1980), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Sunset (1988), Clara's Heart (1988), and Trial by Jury (1994). She featured in numerous TV movies as well, including Little Ladies of the Night (1977), She's in the Army Now (1981), Blackout (1985), Trapped (1989), Strays (1991), Last Light (1993), the adaptation of the novel In the Lake of the Woods (1996), Blessings (2003), and more. She played Jim Morrison's Celtic pagan consort Patricia Kennealy-Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors. In 1997, she appeared in Event Horizon (1997) and won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award as Favorite Supporting Actress-Suspense for Breakdown (1997), playing Kurt Russell's character's kidnapped wife.
She had a main role for three seasons on the series Family Law, along with recurring roles as the mother of the two brothers on Prison Break, and in Chicago Fire and Blue. She was in two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, plus episodes of many other shows, such as Diagnosis: Murder, Glee, The Event, and House. She appeared in the 2006 remake of the horror classic The Hills Have Eyes, the 2007 film Breach, the 2008 film Made of Honor, and played a senator in "Alliances," a 2011 episode of the science-fiction series Stargate Universe.
As of 2022, Quinlan's recent work includes a 2019 episode of How to Get Away with Murder, a lead role in the film Walking with Herb, filmed in 2018 and released in 2021, and a part in the horror flick The Stairs.

## Personal life

She was married to artist Warren Long in 1987. She met actor Bruce Abbott on the TV movie Trapped (1989) and they married on April 12, 1994. They divorced December 24, 2022. They remain good friends, and have one son, Tyler, who was born in 1990.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1973 | American Graffiti | Peg | |
| 1976 | Lifeguard | Wendy | |
| 1977 | Airport '77 | Julie | |
| 1977 | I Never Promised You a Rose Garden | Deborah Blake | |
| 1979 | The Promise | Nancy McAllister / Marie Adamson | |
| 1979 | The Runner Stumbles | Sister Rita | |
| 1980 | Sunday Lovers | Laurie | Segment: "Skippy" |
| 1982 | Hanky Panky | Janet Dunn | |
| 1983 | Independence Day | Mary Ann Taylor | |
| 1983 | Twilight Zone: The Movie | Helen Foley | Segment: "It's a Good Life" |
| 1984 | Last Winter | Joyce | |
| 1985 | Warning Sign | Joanie Morse | |
| 1987 | Wild Thing | Jane | |
| 1987 | Man Outside | Grace Freemont | |
| 1988 | Sunset | Nancy Shoemaker | |
| 1988 | Clara's Heart | Leona Hart | |
| 1991 | The Doors | Patricia Kennealy | |
| 1994 | Trial by Jury | Wanda | |
| 1995 | Apollo 13 | Marilyn Lovell | |
| 1995 | Perfect Alibi | Melanie Bauers | |
| 1997 | Zeus and Roxanne | Mary Beth Dunhill | |
| 1997 | Breakdown | Amy Taylor | |
| 1997 | Event Horizon | Peters | |
| 1997 | Lawn Dogs | Clare Stockard | |
| 1998 | My Giant | Serena Kamin | |
| 1998 | A Civil Action | Anne Anderson | |
| 2003 | The Battle of Shaker Heights | Eve Ernswiler | |
| 2004 | El Padrino | Judge Scorsi | |
| 2006 | The Hills Have Eyes | Ethel Carter | |
| 2007 | American Fork | Agnes Orbison | |
| 2007 | Breach | Bonnie Hanssen | |
| 2008 | The Dissection of Thanksgiving | Carol | |
| 2008 | Made of Honor | Joan | |
| 2009 | Adult Film: A Hollywood Tale | Mary Bernstein | |
| 2010 | Elektra Luxx | Rebecca Linbrook | |
| 2010 | The River Why | Ma | |
| 2010 | Eagles in the Chicken Coop | Mary Bernstein | |
| 2010 | Harm's Way | Bea | |
| 2012 | Life's an Itch | Audrey | |
| 2013 | Horns | Lydia Perrish | |
| 2014 | After | Nora Valentino | |
| 2017 | Elizabeth Blue | Carol | |
| 2017 | ADDicted | Kate Dawson | |
| 2018 | Chimera Strain | Masterson | |
| 2018 | Parallel | Marissa | |
| 2019 | The Devil Has a Name | Nancy | |
| 2021 | The Stairs | Grandma Bernice Martin | |
| 2021 | Walking with Herb | Sheila Amable-Amo | |
| 2024 | Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 | Annie Pine | |
| TBA | Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 3 | Annie Pine | Filming |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1973 | Emergency! | Janet | "Understanding" |
| 1974 | Harry O | Sharon | "Guardian at the Gates" |
| 1974 | Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law | Jill | "House of Friends" |
| 1974 | Can Ellen Be Saved | Melissa | TV film |
| 1974 | Police Woman | Debbie Sweet | "The Beautiful Die Young" |
| 1974 | Kojak | Janet Conforti | "Hush Now, Don't You Die" |
| 1974 | Where Have All the People Gone? | Deborah Anders | TV film |
| 1974 | Lucas Tanner | Joyce Howell | "Lucas Tanner", "Three Letter Word" |
| 1974 | Ironside | Peggy Lynch | "Run Scared" |
| 1974–1976 | The Waltons | Selina Linville | "The Thoroughbred", "The Collision" |
| 1975 | The Missing Are Deadly | Michelle | TV film |
| 1975 | The Abduction of Saint Anne | Anne Benedict | TV film |
| 1975 | The Turning Point of Jim Malloy | Edith Evans | TV film |
| 1975 | Switch | Robin Morgan | "The Deadly Missiles Caper" |
| 1977 | Little Ladies of the Night | Karen Brodwick | TV film |
| 1981 | She's in the Army Now | Pvt. Cass Donner | TV film |
| 1984 | When She Says No | Rose Michaels | TV film |
| 1985 | Blackout | Chris Graham | TV film |
| 1985 | Children of the Night | Lois Lee | TV film |
| 1986 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Ann Foley | "The Canary Sedan" |
| 1987 | Dreams Lost, Dreams Found | Sarah McAllister | TV film |
| 1988 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Karen Wilson | "Fogbound" |
| 1989 | Trapped | Mary Ann Marshall | TV film |
| 1990 | The Operation | Ginnie | TV film |
| 1991 | Strays | Lindsey Jarrett | TV film |
| 1992 | An American Story | Hope Tyler | TV film |
| 1993 | Stolen Babies | Bekka | TV film |
| 1993 | Tribeca | Karen | "Heros Exoletus" |
| 1993 | Last Light | Kathy Rubicek | TV film |
| 1993 | The Hidden Room | Julia | "Refuge" |
| 1995 | Picture Windows | Hooker | "Lightning" |
| 1996 | In the Lake of the Woods | Kathy Waylan | TV film |
| 1999 | Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke | Nanaline Duke | TV film |
| 1999 | Diagnosis: Murder | Dr. Kate Delieb | "Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of My Life" |
| 1999–2002 | Family Law | Lynn Holt | Main role |
| 2003 | Blessings | Meredith Blessing | TV film |
| 2004 | Perfect Romance | Tess Kelly | TV film |
| 2004 | The Riverman | Sande Keppel | TV film |
| 2004 | The Dead Will Tell | Beth Hytner | TV film |
| 2006 | House | Arlene McNeil | "Meaning" |
| 2007 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Barbara Tallman | "Monster in the Box" |
| 2008–2009 | Prison Break | Christina Rose Scofield | Recurring role (season 4) |
| 2009 | Empire State | Colleen Cochrane | TV film |
| 2010 | The Event | Erika Jarvis | "Your World to Take", "Everything Will Change" |
| 2011 | Stargate Universe | Sen. Michaels | "Alliances" |
| 2011 | Cinema Verite | Mary | TV film |
| 2011 | Glee | Dr. Shane | "Born This Way" |
| 2012–2013 | Chicago Fire | Nancy Casey | Recurring role |
| 2012–2014 | Blue | Jessica | Recurring role |
| 2015 | How Not to Propose | Susan | TV film |
| 2018–2019 | Marvel's Runaways | Susan Ellerh | 3 episodes |
| 2018 | Saving My Baby | Virginia | TV film |
| 2019 | How to Get Away with Murder | Britt | "Say Goodbye" |
| 2023 | Mayans M.C. | Mrs. Buksar | 3 episodes |

## Awards and nominations

* 20/20 Awards Best Supporting Actress Nomination 2016 - Apollo 13 (1995)
* Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nomination 1996 - Apollo 13 (1995)
* Awards Circuit Community Awards (ACCA) Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nomination - Apollo 13 (1995)
* Awards Circuit Community Awards (ACCA) Best Cast Ensemble - Apollo 13 (1995)
* Blockbuster Entertainment Award as Favorite Supporting Actress-Suspense Winner - Breakdown (1997)
* Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (CFCA Award) Nominee for Best Supporting Actress 1996 - Apollo 13 (1995)
* Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards (DFWFCA Award) Nominee for Best Supporting Actress 1996 - Apollo 13 (1995)
* European Cinematography Awards (ECA) Best Actress Winner 2020 - The Stairs (2021)
* FilmQuest (FilmQuest Cthulhu) Best Supporting Actress Winner 2018 - Chimera Strain (2018)
* Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Nomination 1978 - I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
* Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nomination 1996 - Apollo 13 (1995)
* Mystfest Best Actress Winner 1985 - Blackout (1985)
* NOLA Horror Film Fest Best Supporting Role Winner 2018 - Chimera Strain (2018)
* Online Film & Television Association (OFTA Television Award) Best Actress in a New Drama Series Nominee 2000 - Family Law (1999)
* Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast Winner 1996 - Apollo 13 (1995) (shared with Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise)