Joan Allen

I first really noticed her in The Upside of Anger

"Mrs. Nixon is finished!"

Isn't she a wing-nut?

She used to be so beautiful -- swanlike and elegant - but has had the worst facelift in the history of humankind. When I saw her on Broadway in the Godawful IMPRESSIONISM, the audience gasped when she came on stage -- she looked so peculiar, almost equine.

I loved her in Close Encounters.

Joan dealt coke on the side during her Steppenwolf days, and her coke connections helped her out when she got to Hollywood.

Great under-rated actress who is Blanchett/Cotillard/Streep/Clo - se/Bassett talent-wise if not recognition. She also is superb at comedy and her best work in this was actually on SNL when she hosted in 1998. She played a humorless bindi-era Madge at the MTV awards and Martha Stewart's cold Beth Jarret-ish mother in another skit. You could tell that she was a great time doing the show.

Yeah her facelift ruined her unique beauty.

I think she's wonderful. I lived in Chicago when she was first on the scene, and would see her around, a lot. When I moved to NYC, she must have lived in my neighborhood -- UWS -- because i started to see her EVERYWHERE. At the movies. at the dry cleaners. at the diner. My ex and I sent her a fan note, via the box office of a theater where she was appearing , and she sent back the most charming, lovely, and sweet hand-written note back, along with the comment that we should say hello to her next time we saw her. That made me a fan for life.

Pale, Stale, and Female.

I worked with her in the theater years ago when she first came to NY. She was quite lovely, very low-key.

I heard that after The Heidi Chronicles she got tired of the grind of doing 8 shows a week and focused solely on film. Then she got older and the offers dried up as they do. Very sad as she's such a talented woman. Glad she found new happiness as the wife of director Tina Landau. And the theater will be richer now that's she come back and doing The Waverley Gallery on Broadway next season.

I love that story, R9!

Wait, R11 is Joan scissoring it up?

I saw Joan Allen out at a nightclub in NY. The DJ put this track on which he dedicated to her (which is from her movie) and she got out on the floor and busted a move. I have to say she was a pretty good dancer.

She has beautiful bone structure. I love her skull.

Vintage gossip: “Allen, Joan. Former coke dealer and user before hitting Hollywood and making it big. Has been clean for a number of years now and is well-respected and generally seen as being a very nice woman.“

Joan Allen.

It's a shame she ruined her face because she was aging well. She looks awful and her face is very distracting when you watch her act.

R5, sorry that’s Benedict Cumberbatch.

Where are all the photos of her new awful face? I can't find any.

Joan Allen chose Joan Van Ark's surgeon.

She had a period in the nineties where she had a monopoly on frigid, disappointed wives, and a period a couple years ago where she kept losing children to kidnapping. This means she is not to be trusted as a wife or a mother, and thus should be a DataLounge icon.

So careless. Whenever I lost a child, I fought long and hard to get it back.

Her work has relaxed a little bit. I saw her in something last year, blanking on what it was, some Stephen King adaptations n I thi k, she was good and the face was coming back some

Actually, R21, she looks like Kristen Chenowith in that pic

She should at least get rid of the lip-filler.

What the fuck has she done to her face? Did she have a stroke or did she ask her plastic surgeon to make her look like that?

Such a pity. Her Pat Nixon was amazing, and she wowed me in The Contender. It's shameful that trash like Jessica Alba and Kat Hudson can get leading roles in major films and Joan has to settle playing fifth fiddle to Jason Statham in a film directed by the guy who made "Mortal Combat".

Oh, OK - except for that ONE time involving that damned dingo . . .

No such thing as "very unique," OP. Something either is unique or it isn't. No comparatives.

Are Joan Allen and Tuna (sic) Landau actually married. Joan was robbed of a Tony nod this year - she's an astonishment.

There's no evidence that Joan and Tina are married.

Bump. Not for any nefarious reasons. I’m just watching some random movie on Amazon called “a good marriage” and Joan is in it. She looks good for an older gal. Lots of fillers. Still very slim.

Movie I just cited is from 2014.

She was great in the Bourne Ultimatum.

Wait, is that really Joan in R21's photo?

She played Nurse Ratched in college (I taught there about 5-7 years after that). I think that could have been brilliant--that beautiful, sculpted face (at age 20) in such a chilling role.

R22 she would have made a great Kay Adams.

I thought she should have received an Oscar nomination for Pleasantville. I bet she was in sixth or seventh place that year along with Lisa Kudrow (The Opposite of Sex).

Oh yeah I forgot about Pleasantville. She was one of the best things about it.

[quote]I think she's wonderful. I lived in Chicago when she was first on the scene, and would see her around, a lot. When I moved to NYC, she must have lived in my neighborhood -- UWS -- because i started to see her EVERYWHERE. At the movies. at the dry cleaners. at the diner. My ex and I sent her a fan note, via the box office of a theater where she was appearing , and she sent back the most charming, lovely, and sweet hand-written note back, along with the comment that we should say hello to her next time we saw her. That made me a fan for life.

Love this story. I also met her on the UWS years ago and she couldn't have been lovelier.

R35 it also looks like Cameron Diaz.

Joan Allen has the unique combiniation of looking like a kindly old grandmother and an incredibly sexy woman.

Joan Allen has the unique combiniation of looking like a kindly old grandmother and an incredibly sexy woman.

She was really good in the final, third season of "The Killing." It's a shame hardly anybody watched it.

Met her at the Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS Annual Flea Market. She was lovely. I have "The Contender" DVD for which she was nominated for Best Actress. and she signed "Pleasantville" for my friend.

Just watched Pleasantville again for the first time in 20 years and WOW! I was reminded how stunning Joan Allen's performance is. Her face is so expressive and nuanced. Hollywood doesn't make actors like her anymore :-(

She lacked the charm to become a major star. She’s gifted, but kind of needed more personality.

I dont think she ever cared much about stardom and self-promotion. I once read an interview with her in which she described the academy awards ceremony as a night of business. She seemed to not enjoy the process very much.

Her career was over once she made that film with Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates. Lange would have put her onto botox, fillers and hideous plastic surgery and poor Joan Allen couldn't get any work after that.

R14 That must've been quite something to behold. I love that song.