Illeana Douglas (born July 25, 1965) is an American actress.

Life and career

Douglas was born in Quincy, Massachusetts. She is the granddaughter of the actor Melvyn Douglas, and has said that his performance in Being There, in particular, was influential on her own career. She is known for her part in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991)–one of four Scorsese films in which she has appeared–plus her starring role as singer-songwriter Denise Waverly in Allison Anders' Grace of My Heart (1996) and supporting roles in To Die For (1995) and Ghost World (2001).

On television, Douglas appeared briefly as Garry Shandling's love interest on The Larry Sanders Show, starred in the series Action (1999) with Jay Mohr, guest starred on both Seinfeld and Frasier and has played a public defender on several episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002 and 2003. She appeared in two episodes of the critically acclaimed HBO TV-series Six Feet Under, both of which earned Emmy nominations for Guest Actress in a Drama.

In 2006 she starred in the Lifetime TV movie Not Like Everyone Else and played herself in Pittsburgh opposite Jeff Goldblum. In 2007, Douglas was added to the cast of Ugly Betty, playing Sheila, an editor for MODE magazine.

At the Walt Disney World Resort in the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park, Douglas plays Aerosmith's manager in the preshow video for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster attraction. She later appeared in an Aerosmith music video as Liv Tyler's mother.

Douglas has tried her hand at writing and directing, with a comedy short The Perfect Woman (1993), the documentary Everybody Just Stay Calm—Stories in Independent Filmmaking (1994), and the satire Boy Crazy, Girl Crazier (1995); and she has been the producer for several projects including Illeanarama, a collection of her short films for the Sundance Channel.

Filmography

• Hello Again (1987)

• The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

• New York Stories (1989)

• Goodfellas (1990)

• Guilty by Suspicion (1991)

• Cape Fear (1991)

• Alive: The Miracle of the Andes (1993)

• Household Saints (1993)

• Grief (1993)

• Quiz Show (1994)

• Search and Destroy (1995)

• Judgement (1995)

• To Die For (1995)

• Wedding Bell Blues (1996)

• Grace of My Heart (1996)

• Flypaper (1997)

• Picture Perfect (1997)

• Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997)

• Rough Riders (1997)

• Hacks (1997)

• Stir of Echoes (1999)

• Happy, Texas (1999)

• Message in a Bottle (1999)

• Lansky (1999)

• Rock 'n' Rollercoaster Preshow (1999)

• The Next Best Thing (2000)

• Ghost World (2001)

• Dummy (2002)

• The New Guy (2002)

• Point of Origin (2002)

• The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002)

• The Kiss (2003)

• Missing Brendan (2003)

• Alchemy (2005)

• Stories of Lost Souls (2005)

• The Californians (2005)

• Not Like Everyone Else (2006)

• Factory Girl (2006)

• The Bondage (2006)

• Walk the Talk (2007)

• Order Up (film) (2007)

• Osso Bucco (2007)

• Expired (2007)

• The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)

• Otis (2008)

• April Showers (2009)

• Life Is Hot in Cracktown (2009)

Television

• Seinfeld (TV series) (1998)

• Action (TV series) (1999)

• Six Feet Under (2001, 2005)

• Shark (2006)

• Ugly Betty (2007)

Web Television

• Easy to Assemble (2008, 2009)