Kate Capshaw
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Biography
Best known for playing Willie Scott in future husband Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984), actress Kate Capshaw also enjoyed leading roles in "Windy City" (1984), "SpaceCamp" (1986) and "The Love Letter" (1999). Born in Fort Worth, TX in 1953, Capshaw graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor's in History Education and Master's in Special Education, and spent two years teaching children with learning disabilities before moving to New York to chase her acting dreams. She made her screen debut in 1981 with a six-week stint on long-running soap opera "The Edge of Night" (CBS, 1956-1984), and a year later shared top billing as elementary school teacher Katherine in romantic comedy "A Little Sex" (1982) and played law clerk Elaine Rogers in TV movie "Missing Children: A Mother's Story" (1982). Capshaw got her big break when she won the role of nightclub singer love interest Willie Scott in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984), the second installment of the adventure franchise directed by the man she would marry seven years later, Steven Spielberg. Following the box-office hit, Capshaw played Dudley Moore's wife in comedy "Best Defense" (1984), scientist Jane DeVries in sci-fi horror "Dreamscape" (1984), the one that got away in relationship drama "Windy City" (1984) and Richard Gere's assistant in political tale "Power" (1986). Capshaw then enjoyed leading lady status as NASA-trained astronaut Andie Bergstrom in space adventure "SpaceCamp" (1986) and reluctant secret agent Annie in TV movie "Her Secret Life" (1987), starred opposite Tom Conti in western "The Quick and the Dead" (1987) and played Joanna Gates in murder mystery "Internal Affairs" (1988). After showing up as nightclub hostess Joyce in Ridley Scott's action thriller "Black Rain" (1989), Capshaw played a bigamist's wife in film noir "Love at Large" (1990), widowed mother in western "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" (1991) and schoolteacher in warring neighbor comedy "Next Door" (1994). She also landed her first recurring role when she was cast as private eye client Margo Cody in the crime drama spoof "Black Tie Affair" (NBC, 1993), played the partners of Warren Beatty and Sean Connery in "Love Affair" (1994) and "Just Cause" (1995), respectively, and starred opposite a young Tobey Maguire in the Oscar-nominated short "Duke of Groove" (1996). Capshaw then played Winona Ryder's mother in the adaptation of Whitney Otto's debut novel, "How to Make an American Quilt" (1996), an alcoholic widow in small town drama "A Secret Sin" (1997) and single mother in crime comedy "The Alarmist" (1997). She then took the leading role of middle-aged bookseller Helen MacFarquhar in "The Love Letter" (1999), a romantic comedy she also produced, and enjoyed a memorable role of a bisexual ad executive who goes on a date with Elle Macpherson's lawyer in all-female ensemble "A Girl Thing" (2001). But following a supporting role in coming-of-age "Due East" (2002), Capshaw decided to retire from the film industry.
Filmography
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Life Events
1982
TV movie debut, "Missing Children: A Mother's Story"
1982
Feature film debut, co-starred opposite Tim Matheson in "A Little Sex"
1984
Starred as the entertainer Willie Scott in Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"
1993
TV series debut, starred in the failed NBC detective sitcom "Black Tie Affair"
1993
Converted from Episcopalianism to Judaism after more than a year of study with an Orthodox rabbi (date approximate)
1995
Starred in the Oscar-nominated short "The Duke of Groove"
1995
Had featured role in "Just Cause"
1997
Appeared with her daughter Jessica in "The Locusts"
1998
Delivered a comic turn as an older woman romanced by the younger David Arquette in "The Alarmist"
1999
Produced and starred in "The Love Letter"
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