Kelly McGillis Biography

Kelly McGillis was born and raised in Newport Beach. After high school, she was accepted into the acting program at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts where she began to study acting in earnest. McGillis was so taken with her studies that she applied to and was accepted by the drama department of the Juilliard School in New York. It was while she was a student there that she was discovered by Robert Ellis Miller who cast her in his film "Reuben, Reuben" as Tom Courtney's love interest. Shortly thereafter, she appeared on stage in the world premiere of Garson Kanin's play "Peccadillo," starring opposite Christopher Plummer and Glynis Johns.

Her big break was being cast to star opposite Harrison Ford in Peter Weir's "Witness" playing the unforgettable role of the Amish widow Rachel Lapp. This was soon followed by other films such as Tony Scott's "Top Gun" opposite Tom Cruise; Alan Rudolph's "Made in Heaven" with Timothy Hutton and Debra Winger; Jonathan Kaplan's "The Accused" opposite Jodie Foster; and numerous others. Not restricting herself to the big screen, McGillis continued to work in television, starring in several miniseries and movies of the week. She had a guest star arc on the Showtime series "The L Word" and produced and starred in a film adaptation of Kate Chopin's novel "Grand Isle."

However, McGillis has always had a love of the stage, which was nurtured by her years at Juilliard. Since her graduation, she has found time on a regular basis to perform live theatre -- very often classics by Chekhov, Shaw, Ibsen, Shakespeare, and O'Neill. She has regularly appeared in starring roles with the prestigious Shakespeare Theatre of Washington, DC and also performed in a national tour of the stage play "The Graduate" as Mrs. Robinson. She has received critical acclaim for her starring performance as Regina in the California revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" and for her UK tour of Terrence McNally's "Frankie and Johnny" in the Clair de Lune. She has also appeared in "Stake Land," "The Innkeepers," "We Are What We Are," "Tio Papi" and "Grand Street."

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