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Biography of the Day: Catherine Keener

"Well, for one thing, I like being a supporting actress. I like to come and go in the film. The interesting characters are very few if you want to be the lead, and they depend on you being beautiful. Since I'm not interested in those parts, the pressure's off, in a way. I'm not cast for my physicality. I find that playing so many characters in so many films is a way to be in the moment."
Keener, the third of five children, was born in Miami, Florida, to Evelyn and Jim Keener, a manager of an automotive store. She attended Wheaton College, a women’s school in Norton, Massachusetts. She majored in English and history, and she enrolled in a theater course, but only because she couldn’t get into a photography class. In 1983, upon graduation, Keener moved to New York, where she managed a McDonald's and interned as an assistant to casting agent Gail Eisenstadt. When Eisenstadt relocated to Los Angeles shortly afterward, Keener followed her employer, still relatively unambitious. But when Eisenstadt had a heart-to-heart with Keener about her future, she admitted she wanted to try acting - an unusual transition from the casting industry.
Keener officially broke into films with one line in About Last Night (1986). Although she struggled professionally the next few years, one low-quality project had an unexpected dividend. Keener met actor Dermot Mulroney working on Survival Quest (1989) when Mulroney got himself stuck trying to scale a cliff. The two dated and then married in 1990.
She then guest-starred as an artist on an episode of Seinfeld called "The Letter". She played Jerry's girlfriend, an artist who painted the infamous portrait of Kramer. Keener then earned her first starring role in Johnny Suede with the then unknown, Brad Pitt. Her performance gained critical acclaim and earned her first Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. She later went on to work with director Tom Dicillo, again, in Living in Oblivion (1995). Through another two years of movies she again was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Walking and Talking, an independent cult-comedy film. Critics fell in love with Keener's ability to act so naturally on the screen.
In 2000, Keener earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Being John Malkovich. In 2001, she again worked with director Nicole Holofcener in Lovely and Amazing garnering her a third Independent Spirit Award nomination. In 2002, she co-starred with Edward Norton in the off-Broadway revival of Burn This and the films Full Frontal, S1m0ne, and Death to Smoochy, all of which were box office disappointments, but since have gained a following of fans. In 2005, she made a huge comeback starring in the 2005 political thriller The Interpreter, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, and was the love interest of the main character in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.Keener's performance as Harper Lee in Capote (2005) earned her several awards and nominations, including her second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2006, she starred in the film Friends with Money, directed by Nicole Holofcener, with friend Jennifer Aniston.
In 2007, she will star in the film An American Crime, the true story of Gertrude Baniszewski, a middle aged mother who tortured and killed Sylvia Likens in her Indiana home. The movie is already creating a stir online with dedicated fans, and much Oscar buzz, and is slated for a 2007 release. Keener will play Baniszewski. Also, in 2007, she will play Jan Burres in the movie adaption of the book, Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn.

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