Veronica Cartwright
Veronica Cartwright
Alien, The Witches of Eastwick, The Birds
Veronica was born in Bristol, England and emigrated to the United States as a young girl with her parents and sister Angela. She began her career modeling and doing print ads. She became the Kellogg's Girl doing commercials for Kellogg's Corn Flakes, Sugar Smacks and Rice Krispies.
At the age of nine Veronica appeared in In Love and War, playing Robert Wagner's sister, following that as a semi-regular on the CBS series, Leave it to Beaver, as Violet Rutherford, famed for giving Beaver his first kiss. Other shows followed such as The Eleventh Hour, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the classic episode of The Twilight Zone called I Sing the Body Electric as young Anne. There were many guest appearances on various shows and then the NBC series Daniel Boone where she played Jemima Boone from 1964 to 1966.
At age 15 she won a Emmy for Best Actress in a television movie called Tell Me Not in Mournful Numbers, an actual case-history of a young girl who was admitted to the Children's Psychiatric Unit of Los Angeles County General Hospital, who thought, drew and spoke only in numbers. It was the only case of "numbers syndrome" in psychiatric records.
Her film career began with classics such as The Children's Hour, with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley McLaine and directed by William Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, starring Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy and Rod Taylor, and Spencer's Mountain, with Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara.
She made her transition into adult roles in such films as Inserts with Richard Dreyfuss and Goin' South, the first of three films in which she starred opposite Jack Nicholson. Veronica appeared in two science fiction classics in the 1970's, Philip Kaufman's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy, and Ridley Scott's masterpiece thriller, Alien.
In the 1980's Veronica starred as Betty Grissom in the epic dramatization of NASA's space program based on Tom Wolfe's novel, The Right Stuff, also directed by Kaufman. She made an indelible impression on movie-goers in 1987 with her standout performance in The Witches of Eastwick, alongside Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and Nicholson. Among Veronica's other film credits are Man Trouble, again with Nicholson, and Candyman II, based on a Clive Barker story.
Veronica has appeared in numerous television movies and series, including The Rat Pack, The Lottery, My Brother's Keeper opposite John Lithgow, Dead in the Water and RFK: His Life and Times in which she played Ethel Kennedy opposite Brad Davis. She also had a memorable recurring television role as the zealous prosecutor, Margaret Flanagan on L.A. Law.
Veronica has been nominated three other times for an Emmy Award. In 1997 for her guest starring role of Mrs. Huston in two widely acclaimed episodes of ER called Whose Appy Now? and Faith. In 1998 the Television Academy nominated her twice for her pivotal role of Cassandra Spender on Fox's The X-Files, for the episodes Patient X and The Red and the Black. In 1999 she returned in two more episodes as the memorable Cassandra Spender.
Her many theater credits from New York to Los Angeles include Electra, Tally's Folly and The Master Builder. She received brilliant reviews for all of them. Her performances in The Hands of Its Enemy, The Triplet Collection and Homesteaders brought her DramaLogue Awards for Best Actress.
In the past 10 years, Veronica has appeared in numerous television shows such as in CSI, Cold Case, Eastwick, Call of the Wild, October Road, Six Feet Under, Law & Order: SVU, Boston Legal, The Closer, Nip/Tuck, Invasion, The Nine, 7th Heaven, and Will & Grace. In movie theaters she appeared in Just Married, Scary Movie 2, Kinsey and The Invasion among others. Click on her filmography for a complete listing of her credits.
Veronica resides in Los Angeles. When she is not acting, she does voice-overs and works in her Interior Design business.
Veronica-Cartwright.com - Official Website