Lea Thompson

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Lea Thompson in Back to the Future.

Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961, in Rochester, Minnesota) is an American actress. She attended Marshall-University High School in Minneapolis.

Early life

She studied dance as a girl, and was dancing professionally by the age of 14. Lea then won scholarships to several ballet schools. Being informed by Baryshnikov that she was "too stocky", however, she decided to give up dancing in favor of an acting career. She moved to New York at the age of 20, and performed in a number of Burger King ads in the 1980s along with Elisabeth Shue.

Career

Her first significant movie role was in All the Right Moves (1983) with Tom Cruise. That was followed by Red Dawn (1984) and The Wild Life (1984). Her most famous role was that of Lorraine Baines McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy. She also starred in the movies SpaceCamp (1986) and Howard The Duck (1986), both considered commercial flops. She is also known for playing Alice Mitchell in the film version of Dennis the Menace (1993).

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Lea Thompson in Howard the Duck.

Lea was nominated for a Cable ACE Award for her outstanding work in Nightbreaker, and she has been a winner of the People's Choice Award. Lea also received critical acclaim for her work with Farrah Fawcett in The Substitute Wife.

Thompson found critical and popular success as the star of the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City from 1995-1999.

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Thompson in Caroline in the City

In 2005, Thompson starred in a series of made-for-TV movies for the Hallmark Channel in which she plays "Jane Doe," an ex-secret agent turned housewife who helps the government solve mysteries. She also played a guest role in a 2004 episode of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, playing a woman who had her embryos stolen.

Thompson was a featured celebrity singer on Celebrity Duets but was the 2nd contestant Eliminated (Friday, Sept. 8, 2006).

Personal life

• She is married to film director Howard Deutch. She first met Howard on the set of Some Kind of Wonderful. They have two daughters, Madeline and Zoey. Thompson had previously been engaged to Dennis Quaid, her Jaws 3-D co-star.

• Has a brother, Andrew Thompson, who made a successful career with the Colorado Ballet. They both took ballet classes in their youth and he even helped her pay for classes.

• Danced in more than 45 ballets with the ABT.

• Won scholarships to the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre.

External link

• Lea Thompson at IMDb