Jul 16, 1963

New York City, New York, USA

Phoebe Cates (born Phoebe Belle Katz) is an American film actress best known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High. At the height of her popularity, Harper's Bazaar named her as one of America's 10 Most Beautiful Women of 1984.

Cates was born in New York City; her father, director Joseph Cates, is of Jewish heritage; her maternal grandfather was a Chinese Filipino, and her maternal grandmother was a Russian Jew. Cates attended the Professional Children... ... (read more...) 's School.

She achieved icon status in 1982 for her popular girl role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. That same year, in the romance film Paradise, and in contrast to the coyness of Brooke Shields in the similarly themed The Blue Lagoon, Cates displayed copious nudity, although a body double may have been used in some of the close-ups. In 1985 Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations by David Henry Hwang at Second Stage Theatre.
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Her later roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences, who remember her best as the female lead in the two Gremlins films. In 1989, she married actor Kevin Kline, whom she had originally met while auditioning for the part that Meg Tilly ultimately won in The Big Chill. In 1991, she was slated to be in Father of the Bride, but dropped out due to pregnancy. In 1996, she narrated the award-winning documentary short, The Flame, a film about the nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International.

Kline and Cates make their home in New York City and have three children, Owen Kline, born in 1991 (who, in 2005, received rave reviews for his performance in The Squid and the Whale), Greta Kline, born in 1994 and Autumn Belle Kline born in December of 2005. Owen and Greta appeared in Cates' most recent film, The Anniversary Party (2001). The film was an ensemble drama written and directed by Scottish actor Alan Cumming and Cates' real-life best friend of the past 25 years, Fast Times at Ridgemont High co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh. In it Cates played, fittingly enough, a Hollywood actress who has retired from acting to be a full-time mother.

In 2005, Cates opened her own gift store/boutique emporium called Blue Tree on New York's Madison Avenue.