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Kathleen Turner has made it her mission to prove that Hollywood leading ladies don't have to be "ladylike" at all - and she's done it her way. For the last 3 decades, she's made her name on the screen and on the stage playing passionate, provocative, fearless (and often very funny) women. Plus she's dealt with the tough stuff: addiction, anger, and activism.
That's a long way from her peripatetic childhood ... moving around from Cuba, Venezuela, and Canada to London because of her dad's job as a US Foreign Service officer. Theatre-crazy, Kathleen made her way to New York, cut her teeth on a soap opera, and then made her unforgettable, red-hot screen debut as the ruthless Matty Walker in 'Body Heat' - a role that got her named "One of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History" by Empire magazine. But she wanted to be more than just a "femme fatale" and followed with a comedy, 'The Man with Two Brains' with Steve Martin. After that, her career was on fire: "Romancing the Stone', 'Prizzi's Honor' (both of which nabbed her Golden Globe Awards), 'Peggy Sue Got Married', 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'. But in the 90's she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and she turned to booze to help deal with the constant pain.
In 2005, Kathleen made a comeback in the Tony-nominated play, 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'. She published a juicy memoir 'Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love and Leading Roles', dared to appear nude in the play 'The Graduate,' acted in films like 'The Virgin Suicides', and was a regular on 'Californication'. Over the years, Kathleen's been a fierce advocate for women's reproductive rights & Planned Parenthood.
She's just wrapped up her North American tour of 'High', a hard-hitting play about addiction and redemption. This fall, Kathleen plans to take her acclaimed one-woman show 'Red Hot Patriot' - about political humorist Molly Ivins - to the Washington Arena Stage... just in time for the US election 2012.
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