Jun 19, 1930

Madison, Wisconsin, USA

An alumnus of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Wisconsin-born actress Gena
Rowlands entered the Broadway talent pool in 1952. From 1955 through 1957, the
blonde, frosty-eyed actress co-starred with Edward G. Robinson in the original
Broadway production of +Middle of the Night. She also did plenty of Manhattan-based
television during this period, including a recurring role on the forgotten
syndicated series Top Secret U.S.A.
Rowlands made her first film, The High Cost of Loving, in 1... ... (read more...) 958, the same year that
she married legendary actor/director John Cassavetes. The excellent response to her
performance as the deaf-mute wife of a detective on the 1961 TV series 87th Precinct
sparked a grass-roots campaign to have Rowlands appear on the series on a weekly
basis, but her film commitments were such that she couldn't be confined to any one
part for very long. Always a capable leading lady, Rowlands blossomed into full
stardom in the films directed by her husband. She first collaborated with him on A
Child Is Waiting (1963) and then starred as a prostitute in his 1968 film Faces.
Rowlands went on to earn Oscar nominations for her work in two of her husband's
other films, A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980).
After Cassavetes' death in 1989, Rowlands took a two-year sabbatical from films,
returning to play Holly Hunter's mother -- and Richard Dreyfuss' mother-in-law -- in
Once Around (1991). That same year, she appeared as a casting agent in Jim
Jarmusch's Night on Earth. After starring in such films as 1995's The Neon Bible and
Something to Talk About (the latter of which featured her as the "steel magnolia"
wife of Robert Duvall and mother of Julia Roberts), Rowlands stepped in front the
camera for her son Nick Cassavetes' 1996 directorial debut, Unhook the Stars. The
actress turned in a strong performance as a matriarch experiencing various life
upheavals, and the following year again collaborated with her son in his romantic
comedy She's So Lovely. Rowlands continued to stay busy with work for other
directors, appearing in no less than three films in 1998. Particularly notable
appearances included her role as Sean Connery's estranged wife in Playing by Heart
and her portrayal of the grandmother of a disabled boy in The Mighty. In addition to
her film work, Rowlands has earned considerable acclaim for her television roles. In
1985, she earned an Emmy nomination for her role in the powerful AIDS drama An Early
Frost, and has won Emmys for her performances in The Betty Ford Story (1987) and
Face of a Stranger (1991).