Turner as private eye V.I. Warshawski

Kathleen Turner (born June 19, 1954) is an American actress. Born Mary Kathleen Turner in Springfield, Missouri, the daughter of diplomat Richard Turner, she had lived in four foreign countries by the time she entered college. She has two brothers and a sister. She was a gymnast as a teenager. While attending high school in London, England, she also took classes at the London Central School of Speech and Drama. When her father died in 1973, the family moved back to Springfield.

She attended Southwest Missouri State University at Springfield for two years, then gained her Bachelor in Fine Arts degree from the University of Maryland in 1977.

Turner married realtor Jay Weiss in 1984, and has a daughter, Rachel Ann Weiss, born 1988. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1992.

She was nominated for an Oscar for best actress in 1987 in Peggy Sue Got Married. She received two Golden Globe awards, both for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, in Romancing the Stone (1984) and Prizzi's Honor (1985).

In addition to the television work listed below, she also has appeared as a guest on Friends, King of the Hill (voice), The Simpsons (voice), and Saturday Night Live, which she hosted twice.

Filmography

  • The Doctors (1978-79; TV series)
  • Body Heat (1981)
  • The Man With Two Brains (1983)
  • Romancing the Stone(1984)
  • Crimes of Passion (1984)
  • Prizzi's Honor (1985)
  • The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
  • GoBots: War of the Rock Lords (1986; voice only)
  • Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
  • Julia and Julia (1987)
  • Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1988; TV special; voice only)
  • Switching Channels (1988)
  • Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toon Town (1988; TV special)
  • The Accidental Tourist (1988)
  • The Kennedy Center Honors (1988; TV special)
  • The War of the Roses (1989)
  • V.I. Warshawski (1991)
  • A Breed Apart (1991)
  • A Day at a Time (1992; voice only)
  • John Barry: Moviola (1993; made for TV)
  • House of Cards (1992)
  • Undercover Blues (1993)
  • Serial Mom (1994; a John Waters movie)
  • Naked in New York (1994)
  • ''All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! (1994; TV special)
  • Leslie's Folly (1995; made for TV; also director)
  • American Cinema (1995; special TV series; narrator)
  • Friends at Last (1995; made for TV; also producer)
  • Moonlight and Valentino (1995)
  • Stories From My Childhood #1 (1996)
  • Love in the Ancient World (1997; TV special, hosted)
  • A Simple Wish (1997)
  • Bad Baby (1997; voice only)
  • The Real Blonde (1998)
  • Legalese (1998; made for TV)
  • The Prince of Central Park (1999)
  • Love and Action in Chicago (1999)
  • Stories From My Childhood #3 (1999; voice only)
  • Baby Geniuses (1999)
  • Cinderella (2000; made for TV)
  • The Virgin Suicides (2000)
  • Beautiful (2000)
  • In Bad Taste (2000)
  • Delilah (2000)

As Voice of Jessica Rabbit

  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988; voice only)
  • Tummy Trouble (1989; voice only)
  • Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990; voice only)
  • Trail Mix-Up (1993; voice only)
  • The Best of Roger Rabbit (1996; voice only)