01.29.2010

Karen Allen Uncensored

by admin

Enlarge the pictures . . .

Though born in Illinois, Karen Allen spent her youth traveling the country with her family. She packed up and moved herself to New York after high school to study art and design at the Fashion School of Technology, and always having an itch to travel, followed graduation by globetrotting around the Western Hemisphere. This is where she discovered her passion for acting.

In the late 1970s, Karen settled back in New York to continue honing her craft, utilizing the wisdom of such renowned acting teachers as Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg to guide her. By 1978, she was cast as Katy in the wild comedy “Animal House,” which was an instant box office success and raised Karen’s exposure up a notch. But minor roles followed, including a bit part in Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” and William Friedkin’s Al Pacino gay crime drama “Cruising.

Then, in the spring of1980, Steven Spielberg (floundering after his “1941” misfire that reunited many “Animal House” faces) auditioned and cast Karen as the fiery ex of Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Not only did the film go on to great successes, but Karen’s portrayal of Marion Ravenwood was one of the movie’s highlights and proved to be her crowning role.