Karen Young
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
A delicate, blonde player who has often been cast as tough-talking types, Karen Young is perhaps best remembered for her roles as wives in Joseph Sargent's "Jaws: The Revenge" (1987) and Paul Bogart's "Torch Song Trilogy" (1988).
The New Jersey native began her career appearing in off-off- and off-Broadway productions, including "Three Acts of Recognition" (1982) at the New York Shakespeare Festival and Sam Shepard's searing family drama "A Lie of the Mind" (1985). Young segued to the small screen with an appearance on the CBS drama series "The Equalizer" before landing her first high profile TV-movie role as Robin Benedict, a real life prostitute who had been murdered by a university professor (played by Richard Crenna) in "The High Price of Passion" (NBC, 1986). Other memorable TV appearances include portraying a homeless woman whose family moves into an abandoned TV studio in "To the Moon, Alice" (Showtime, 1990) and as a drug-addicted mother of a murder suspect in an episode of "Law & Order" (NBC, 1996).
On the big screen, Young made her film debut in "Handgun/Deep in the Heart" (1983), as a naive woman who turns to violence after a trauma. She went on to mostly undistinguished supporting roles in features like Alan Parker's "Birdy" (1984) and Adrian Lyne's "9 1/2 Weeks" (1986) before gaining some attention as the sculptor-wife of Lance Guest in "Jaws: The Revenge." Young also won praise as the wife of a bisexual (Brian Kerwin) in the film version of Harvey Fierstein's Tony-winning "Torch Song Trilogy." In 1996, Young recreated her stage role as a stripper in "The Wife," written and directed by her husband Tom Noonan, and had a supporting part in the Sylvester Stallone vehicle "Daylight."
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1982
First notable stage appearance, "Three Acts of Recognition", New York Shakespeare Festival
1983
Feature film debut in "Handgun/Deep in the Heart"
1985
Played featured role in off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's stage play "A Lie of the Mind"; directed by Shepard
1985
Early TV credits include guest appearance in episode of the CBS drama series "The Equalizer"
1986
TV-movie debut in NBC's fact-based "The High Price of Passion"; Young played a prostitute murdered by a university professor
1987
Played featured role of Carly Brody in "Jaws: The Revenge"
1988
Co-starred as Laurel in the feature adapation of Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy"
1990
Played leading role of a homeless woman whose family moves into the abandoned set of a TV sitcom in the Showtime special "To the Moon, Alice"
1991
Directed and acted in the short film "A Blink of Paradise"
1994
Originated role of Arlie in her husband Tom Noonan's award-winning play "Wifey"
1996
Recreated role of Arlie in "The Wife", adapted from Noonan's play "Wifey"
2001
Acted on stage in the Off-Broadway production of "The Wax"
2004
Joined the cast of the HBO drama, "The Sopranos" playing Agent Robyn Sanseverino
2006
Co-starred with Matt Dillon in "Factotum" a film based on the novel by cult author Charles Bukowski
Family
Companions
