Joan Allen

Born: August 20th 1956

The actress has been Oscar-nominated three times - for Nixon, The Crucible and The Contender.

A keen actress from her school days, Allen never made the limelight despite helping found Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich.

Eventually she made her film debut in 1985 with a minor part in Compromising Positions and followed it with the original Hannibal Lecter thriller Manhunter.

In 1988 she won a Tony award for her debut Broadway performance in Burn This and was nominated for a second, the preceding year for her part in The Heidi Chronicles.

In 1993 Joan was nominated for a best supporting Actress Oscar when she was given a role in Searching for Bobby Fischer.

She played disgraced President Nixon's wife Pat in Oliver Stone's Nixon and in 1996 she was nominated for another Oscar, after her performance as the long-suffering, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible.

The next year she starred in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and switched genres to action for John Woo's Face/Off with Nicolas Cage and John Travolta.

In 1998, she starred in Pleasantville and landed another Oscar nomination for The Contender as a presidential hopeful.

Recent work includes Nick Cassavette's weepie The Notebook and the Matt Damon thriller The Bourne Supremacy.