Bound Showgirl

Background:

"As an actress, I have one rule for myself; F*** the rules." Gina Gershon

Exotic actress Gina Gershon is widely recognized for playing strip dancing queen Cristal Connors in Paul Verhoeven' Showgirls (1995) and costarring as Jennifer Tilly's ex-con, lesbian lover in the Wachowski brother's Bound (1996). Debuting with 1986's Pretty in Pink, Gershon later played roles in such films as Red Heat, Face/Off, Guinevere, The Insider, Driven, Prey for Rock & Roll, Out of Season, and 3-Way. Her upcoming films include Man About Town, Syriana, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, Dreamland, and Kettle of Fish.

Dark-eyed, brunette Gina Gershon stands at 5' 5¾” tall and has French, Dutch and Russian lineage. She was involved with restaurateur Sean McPherson (separated in 1999) and has been dating actor Owen Wilson (born on November 18, 1968) since 2000.


California Valley Girl

Childhood and Family:

On June 10, 1962, Gina Gershon was born in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, California, to a salesman father and an interior decorator mother. The youngest of five children, Gina has four older siblings, one of whom is Tracy Gershon, a judge on Nashville Star on the USA Network.

After graduating from Beverly Hills High School, the California Valley Girl moved to New York and enrolled in the New York University, studying child psychology. She also studied drama at the Circle in the Square Professional Theatre School in New York under renowned tutors Sandra Seacat, David Mamet and Harold Guskin and signed up with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, California.


Rocked with Gina Gershon

Career:

Starting out in theater, Gina Gershon became one of the founding members of the New York-based theater group, Naked Angels, where she performed in such plays as “Camille” and “The Substance of Fire.” She subsequently landed on the big screen with an unaccredited role as a dancer in Beatlemania (1981) and Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985). In 1986, she made her feature film debut in Howard Deutch's classic 1980s teen film Pretty in Pink (starring Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy) and followed it up with appearances in Larry Gross' 3:15 (starring Adam Baldwin) and the CBS crime movie Stark: Mirror Image.
Gershon won her first significant role as Catherine 'Cat' Manzetti in Walter Hill's Red Heat (1988, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi) and then was seen in Tom Cruise's vehicle, Roger Donaldson's romantic comedy Cocktail (1988). She subsequently was cast in Voodoo Dawn (1990), Out for Justice (1991) and City of Hope (1991). After appearing in Robert Altman's adaptation of Michael Tolkin's novel, The Player (1992), Gershon earned positive reviews while portraying Frank Sinatra's first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra, in CBS’ biographical miniseries "Sinatra" (1992, starring Philip Casnoff). She then scored more roles in films like Joey Breaker, Love Matters (TV) and Flinch. She also had a reoccurring role on the series "Melrose Place."

Cristal Connors, the glamorous star of the stage show Goddess and rival to Elizabeth Berkley's character, helped to catapult Gershon's name toward the spotlight. She played the role in Paul Verhoeven's notorious drama about Las Vegas dancers, Showgirls (1995).

"I decided to make my part campy because I initially thought that it was going to be really dark and really intense and then it just turned out to be completely different. So instead of going in that direction, I decided to make it so that drag queens would want to dress as my character on Halloween." Gina Gershon (on her role in Showgirls)

The next year, Gershon rebounded with a starring role as Jennifer Tilly's lesbian lover, a tough female ex-con named Corky, in writer-director Wachowski brothers' mob-romantic thriller Bound. Afterward, she was cast to play Nicolas Cage's love interest in John Woo's Face/Off (1997, also starring John Travolta) and landed roles in the following films: This World, Then the Fireworks, Black & White, Palmetto, Lulu on the Bridge and I'm Losing You.

The rest of the 1990s saw Gershon costar as Angela Beale, a sexy actress charged with murder, in the TNT movie Legalese (alongside James Garner) and play the supporting role of a mobster's mistress in Bruno Barreto's adaptation of Bo Dietl and Ken Gross' book, One Tough Cop (with Stephen Baldwin and Chris Penn). She also costarred with Stephen Rea and Sarah Polley in Audrey Wells' debut feature film Guinevere and appeared in Al Pacino's vehicle, director-producer Michael Mann's biopic, based on a true story about a CBS unaired 60-minutes-episode on malpractices in the tobacco industry, The Insider. On television, Gershon got her first series regular role as female private detective Glenn Hall (1999-2000) in the ABC crime drama series "Snoops."

Following her debut on the Broadway stage playing Sally Bowles in the acclaimed revival of "Cabaret," Gershon became the ex-wife of Sylvester Stallone's character in Renny Harlin's Driven (2001) and played Lenny Kravitz's girlfriend in his music video for "Again." She added to her acting resume such films as Picture Claire, Demonlover, Borderline and starred as the guitarist/lead singer of the all-girl rock quartet Clamdandy in Alex Steyermark's musical drama movie Prey for Rock & Roll (2003, also produced).

In 2004, she costarred with Dennis Hopper and David Murray in writer-director Jevon O'Neill's Out of Season and with Desmond Harrington and Dwight Yoakam in Scott Ziehl's darkly comic thriller, based on Gil Brewer's 1963 pulp novel “Wild To Possess,” 3 Way. She also produced and starred as the rock star in the musical series "Rocked with Gina Gershon" and played the regular role as Six in the animated comedy series "Tripping the Rift" (later replaced by Carmen Electra). More recent, she was a regular in the series "The Studio" and appeared in Alex Steyermark's One Last Thing (starring Michael Angarano).

Gershon just completed her upcoming films, writer-director Mike Binder's Man About Town (starring Ben Affleck) and Stephen Gaghan's true-life film about CIA veteran Robert Baer, Syriana (starring George Clooney). She will also appear in writer-director Jeff Garlin's romantic comedy I Want Someone to Eat Cheese with, Jason Matzner's Dreamland, Claudia Myers' romantic comedy Kettle of Fish and will star in an action miniseries helmed by Dick Lowry, "Category 7: The End of the World."

"After the first time I see myself in any movie I've just done, I usually think about other careers I could pursue." Gina Gershon


Awards:
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