Amy Irving Biography

AMY IRVING

Date of Birth: September 10, 1953

Born in Palo Alto, California, Amy Irving was the daughter of influential theatrical producer/director Jules Irving and actress Priscilla Pointer. "I'm a theater brat," she has admitted. "I lived in San Francisco on top of Ninth Avenue, in a two-story house with eucalyptus trees in the backyard." She would later train at the American Conservatory Theater and Britain's LAMDA, before she made her off-Broadway debut in 1970.

She remained loyal to the theater even after establishing herself in films, receiving a 1988 Obie Award for Road to Mecca; other notable stage credits are Heartbreak House and The Heidi Chronicles.

She made her film debut at 22 in Brian DePalma's horror classic Carrie, and went on to play a romantic interest to Richard Dreyfuss in The Competition, Willie Nelson in Honeysuckle Rose, and Barbra Streisand in Yentl. She has worked opposite many talented professionals, but she singles out the late Walter Matthau—with whom she appeared in I'm Not Rappaport—for special praise. "I was bowled over by him."

Her TV resumé includes the lavish miniseries The Far Pavillions (1985) and the title character in Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986). One of her most captivating performance was unseen and unbilled: in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, she provided the silken singing voice of curvaceous "toon" Jessica Rabbit.

In 1987, she launched a children's film series with Rumpelstiltskin (1987), directed by her brother David Irving.

More recently, she played Emily Sloane in the TV series Alias from 2002 to 2005 and Melanie Lynch in the ABC TV series Zero Hour in 2013 with Anthony Edwards. In the big screen release Unsane (2018), she plays the mother of Claire Foy's lead character.

Irving was married to director Steven Spielberg in 1985. Her prenuptial agreement with the filmmaker netted her an estimated cool $100m when the couple split in 1989. Irving married Brazilian filmmaker Bruno Barreto in 1996. Irving shares one son with each husband.

In addition to acting and mothering, Irving can also really cut a rug. "I was just dancing at a salsa bar the other night. I dance really well. Actually, I can follow very well—if I have a good partner, I can look really good out there. But if I have a bad partner, I can't help him."

Filmography:

Unsane (2018)
Adam (2009)
Hide and Seek (2005)
Tuck Everlasting (2002)
Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (2002)
Traffic (2000)
Blue Ridge Fall (1999)
Bossa Nova (1999)
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
The Confession (1999)
One Tough Cop (1998)
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
I'm Not Rappaport (1996)
Carried Away (1996)
Kleptomania (1995)
Benefit of the Doubt (1993)
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) (voice)
A Show of Force (1990)
Crossing Delancey (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) (voice)
Rumpelstiltskin (1987)
Micki + Maude (1984)
Yentl (1983)
The Competition (1980)
Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
Voices (1979)
The Fury (1978)
I'm a Fool (1976)
Carrie (1976)