Ellen Barkin

Born: April 16 1954
Where: New York, USA

After a career which saw her shine in movies including Diner, The Big Easy and Sea of Love, Barkin doesn't really need to work - she married the boss of Revlon.

After attending New York's High School for the Performing Arts, she studied history and Drama at Hunter College, and attended workshops at The Actors Studio.

Barkin debuted on-stage in 1980's Irish Coffee and continued theatre work while appearing the following year in the soap opera Search for Tomorrow.

She had roles in various TV movies before making her critically acclaimed film debut as the neglected wife of an obsessive record collector in Barry Levinson's Diner.

She followed that with similarly fine turns in Tender Mercies, Daniel and Eddie and the Cruisers.

Barkin played up her kookiness for the The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension and starred as a feisty prosecutor in The Big Easy.

She played the sexpot in the otherwise disappointing Siesta with her than husband Gabriel Byrne.

However, Barkin impressed opposite Al Pacino in the gritty thriller Sea of Love and the sexchange comedy Switch in 1991 (for which she was Golden Globe nominated).

Man Trouble, co-starring Jack Nicholson, misfired, but she was back on much firmer ground with This Boy's Life.

In 1995, she starred as Calamity Jane in Wild Bill and played Jewel Stern in Tony Scott's thriller The Fan with Robert De Niro.

Subsequent appearances included Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam cast her after originally wanting her to star in Brail) and Drop Dead Gorgeous (as Kirsten Dunst's mum).

In 2000, she unwisely starred in crime thriller Mercy featuring lesbians and bondage and the comedy Someone Lie Us didn't fare much better.

The same year she married billionaire Revlon boss Ron Perelman (they have since separated).

In 2004, she starred in the woeful Spike Lee social satire She Hate Me with Anthony Mackie and Tod Solondz's controversial teen drama Palindromes.