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Lea Thompson

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Lea Thompson
Thompson at the May 2008 Collectormania 13 Convention in Milton Keynes, England, U.K.
Born	Lea Kathleen Thompson May 31, 1961 (age 52) Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, television director, television producer
Years active	1982–present
Spouse(s)	Howard Deutch (m. 1989)
Children	Madeline Deutch Zoey Deutch

Lea Kathleen Thompson^[1] (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress, television director and television producer. She is known for her role as Lorraine Baines in the Back to the Future trilogy and as the title character in the 1990s NBC sitcom Caroline in the City. Other films she is known for include All the Right Moves, The Beverly Hillbillies, Howard the Duck, Jaws 3-D, Red Dawn, and Some Kind of Wonderful. Since 2011 she has co-starred as Kathryn Kennish in the ABC Family series Switched at Birth.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
• 3 Personal life
• 4 Filmography
  • 4.1 Film
  • 4.2 Television
• 5 References
• 6 Further reading
• 7 External links

Early life

Thompson was born in Rochester, Minnesota, the daughter of Barbara Anne (née Barry), a singer and musician, and Clifford Elwin "Cliff" Thompson. She studied ballet as a girl and practiced three to four hours every day. She was dancing professionally by the age of 14.^[2] She won scholarships to several ballet schools, including the American Ballet Theatre, the San Francisco Ballet, and the Pennsylvania Ballet. Thompson danced in more than 45 ballets with the American Ballet Theatre. She also danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Minnesota Dance Theatre and the Ballet Repertory. Her brother Andrew also took ballet classes and went on to become a professional.
Thompson was told by ballet legend and then ABT artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov that she was "a beautiful dancer, but too stocky." Due to this (as well as some small nagging past injuries), she decided to give up dancing in favor of an acting career. She moved to New York at age 20 and performed in a number of Burger King advertisements in the 1980s along with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Elisabeth Shue, her eventual co-star in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III.^[2][3]

Career

Thompson's first significant film roles came in 1983, with Jaws 3-D and All the Right Moves (the latter opposite Tom Cruise). These were followed by Red Dawn (1984) and The Wild Life (1984). In a 2008 interview, she explained that she learned tactics and how to shoot and field strip Soviet weapons for the film Red Dawn.
Thompson's most famous role was that of Lorraine Baines McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy, the first film released in 1985. Thompson's character is the mother of Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, whom Marty meets at an adolescent age after he travels back in time: he has to avoid having Lorraine fall in love with him instead of with his future father George (Crispin Glover), which leads to some awkward scenes when Lorraine is clearly attracted to him.
In 1986, Thompson starred in SpaceCamp and Howard the Duck. For the latter film, she sang several songs on the soundtrack, in character, as musician Beverly Switzler, who was the lead vocalist for a band called Cherry Bomb. The recordings appeared on both the soundtrack album and on singles. Rounding out film appearances in the late 1980s, Thompson starred in Some Kind of Wonderful, Casual Sex?, Going Undercover and The Wizard of Loneliness. She also had a prominent role in the 1989 TV film Nightbreaker, for which she was nominated for a CableACE Award. In the early 1990s, Thompson starred as the mother of the titular character in Dennis the Menace (1993), the villainess in The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and a snooty ballet instructor in The Little Rascals (1994). She also appeared in several TV film throughout the 1990s, including The Substitute Wife (1994), The Unspoken Truth (1995) and The Right To Remain Silent (1996).
Thompson found moderate critical and popular success as the star of the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City, from 1995 to 1999. In 1996, Thompson received a People's Choice Award for "Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Series".^[4]
After a break from acting, Thompson went on to star in several Broadway plays. She later appeared in a TV series called For the People, which only lasted one season. She then starred in a TV film, Stealing Christmas (2003), starring Tony Danza and Betty White. Thompson also appeared in several episodes of the dramedy series Ed and in a guest role for one episode in 2004 on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; she played a woman whose embryos were stolen.
In 2005, Thompson began a series of made-for-TV films for the Hallmark Channel, in which she plays Jane Doe, an ex-secret agent turned housewife, who helps the government solve mysteries. Thompson directed two films from the Jane Doe series – Jane Doe: The Harder They Fall and Jane Doe: Eye of the Beholder.
Thompson was a featured singer on Celebrity Duets and the second contestant eliminated in 2006. In April 2007, she starred in another TV film, A Life Interrupted, which premiered on Lifetime Television.
Thompson guest-starred on the show Head Case in January 2008. She appeared in the TV film Final Approach, which debuted in the U.S. on May 24, 2008.^[5] Her recent film credits include Exit Speed and Spy School. She recently starred in the television movie The Christmas Clause, which received good reviews and ratings. She stars in the new films Splinterheads and Prettyface, and recently filmed the movie Adventures of a Teenage Dragon Slayer.
Thompson stars in Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake, a casual adventure game released in November 2012 by Big Fish Games.^[6] Thompson's daughter Madeline Deutch also features as a paranormal television series host.
Since 2011, Thompson has starred in the ABC Family series Switched at Birth, about a family realizing their 16-year-old daughter is not biologically theirs and was switched with another baby at the hospital.

Personal life

Thompson has been married to film director Howard Deutch since 1989. They first met on the set of the 1987 film Some Kind of Wonderful.^[3]
Thompson and Deutch have two daughters, Madeline and Zoey, with whom she sang on stage in the Bye Bye Birdie production for the 16th annual Alzheimer's Association "A Night at Sardi's" in March 2008.^[7] Both daughters are actresses. Thompson has stated that her career break to raise her daughters helped with her subsequent portrayal of soccer mom Cathy Davis in the Jane Doe TV movie series.
Thompson has four siblings, brothers Andrew (a professional ballet dancer) and Barry, and sisters Colleen Goodrich and Shannon Katona.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	MysteryDisc: Murder, Anyone?	Cecily 'Sissy' Loper	Video
1983	Jaws 3-D	Kelly Ann Bukowski
1983	All the Right Moves	Lisa
1984	Red Dawn	Erica Mason
1984	The Wild Life	Anita
1985	Back to the Future	Lorraine Baines McFly
1986	SpaceCamp	Kathryn Fairly
1986	Howard the Duck	Beverly Switzler
1987	Some Kind of Wonderful	Amanda Jones
1988	Going Undercover	Marigold de la Hunt
1988	Casual Sex?	Stacy
1988	The Wizard of Loneliness	Sybil
1989	Back to the Future Part II	Lorraine McFly
1990	Back to the Future Part III	Maggie McFly / Lorraine McFly
1992	Article 99	Dr. Robin Van Dorn
1993	Dennis the Menace	Mrs. Alice Mitchell
1993	The Beverly Hillbillies	Laura Jackson
1994	The Little Rascals	Ms. Roberts
1998	The Unknown Cyclist	Melissa Cavatelli
2002	Fish Don't Blink	Clara
2003	Haunted Lighthouse	Peg Van Legge	Short film
2005	Come Away Home	Carol
2006	10 Tricks	Grace
2007	California Dreaming	Ginger Gainor
2007	Jane Doe: How to Fire Your Boss	Cathy Davis	Video
2008	Spy School	Claire Miller
2008	Senior Skip Day	Cathleen Harris	Video
2008	Exit Speed	Maudie McMinn
2009	Fatal Secrets	Rebecca
2009	The Check	Darla	Short film
2009	Rock Slyde	Master Bartologist
2009	Splinterheads	Susan Frost
2010	Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer	Laura
2011	Thin Ice	Jo Ann Prohaska
2011	Mayor Cupcake	Mary Maroni
2011	The Trouble with the Truth	Emily
2011	J. Edgar	Lela Rogers
2014	Ping Pong Summer	Mrs. Miracle	Release June 6
2014	Left Behind	Irene Steele	In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Nightbreaker	Sally Matthews
1989	Tales from the Crypt	Sylvia Vane	Episode: "Only Sin Deep"
1990	Montana	Peg Guthrie
1993	Stolen Babies	Annie Beales
1994	The Substitute Wife	Amy Hightower
1995	The Unspoken Truth	Brianne Hawkins
1995	Friends	Caroline Duffy (uncredited)	Episode: "The One with the Baby on the Bus"
1995– 2000	Caroline in the City	Caroline Duffy	97 episodes
1996	The Right to Remain Silent	Christine Paley
1998	A Will of their Own	Amanda Steward	Mini-series (part 1)
2002– 2003	For the People	Chief Dep. Dist. Atty. Camille Paris	18 episodes
2003	Stealing Christmas	Sarah Gibson
2004	Ed	Liz Stevens	3 episodes
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Michelle Osborne	Episode: "Birthright"
2005	Jane Doe: Vanishing Act	Cathy Davis
2005	Jane Doe: Now You See It, Now You Don't	Cathy Davis
2005	Jane Doe: Til Death Do Us Part	Cathy Davis
2005	Jane Doe: The Wrong Face	Cathy Davis
2006	Jane Doe: Yes, I Remember It Well	Cathy Davis
2006	Jane Doe: The Harder They Fall	Cathy Davis
2007	Jane Doe: Ties That Bind	Cathy Davis / Jane Doe
2007	A Life Interrupted	Debbie Smith
2007	Final Approach	Alicia Bender
2008	Jane Doe: Eye of the Beholder	Cathy Davis / Jane Doe
2008	The Christmas Clause	Sophie
2010	Uncle Nigel	Abby Wells
2010	Greek	April	Episode: "Camp Buy Me Love"
2011	Robot Chicken	Lorraine Baines (voice)	Episode: "Major League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"
2011	The Cabin	Lily MacDougall
2011	Game of Your Life	Abbie
2011– present	Switched at Birth	Kathryn Kennish	Main role Also director on episode "Prudence, Avarice, Lust, Justice, Anger"
2012	Love at the Christmas Table	E. Dixie
2013	Call Me Crazy: A Five Film	Julia	A Lifetime original movie
2013	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Jennifer Rhodes	Episode: "Under a Cloud"