- Born
- Birth nameJill Marie Schoelen
- A more unconventional husky-voiced "scream queen" heroine of the 1980s was Jill Schoelen, daughter of well-known fashion designer Dorothy Schoelen. Born and raised in Burbank, she studied at the Acting for Life Theatre in Burbank and started off on TV as a teen in the Fame-influenced TV pilot called The Best of Times (1981), starring the up-and-coming Nicolas Cage and Crispin Glover. She gained in experience with a number of innocuous films geared mostly toward the young, including D.C. Cab (1983), Thunder Alley (1985) and Hot Moves (1984). The dark-eyed, black-haired pretty girl, with the trademark bangs, wouldn't find her horror niche until starring in Wes Craven's TV movie, Chiller (1985). From there, she scored big with the cult shocker, The Stepfather (1987), wherein she played the resourceful stepdaughter terrorized by the lecherous, meek-appearing Terry O'Quinn as the title monster.
The sleeper hit put Jill on the map with a seemingly solid future, continuing on with The Phantom of the Opera (1989), this time keeping company opposite "Freddy Krueger" inhabiter, Robert Englund, as her deranged pursuer. But a few bumps in the road, with such low-grade fodder as Curse II: The Bite (1989), Cutting Class (1989) and Popcorn (1991), put a permanent damper on her career, despite coming back with a bit of grit in the thriller TV movie, When a Stranger Calls Back (1993). Her object-of-a-stalker days behind her, after filming Not Again! (1996), she settled comfortably back and raised two children with her husband, musician/composer Anthony Marinelli.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- SpouseAnthony Marinelli(October 17, 1993 - December 15, 2002) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsDorothy Schoelen
- Dated Keanu Reeves, after working with him in Babes in Toyland (1986).
- She was engaged to actor Brad Pitt for three months, before she broke off the engagement in Budapest.
- Her father is of German descent. Her mother is of half Swedish and half Mexican ancestry.
- Dated Brad Pitt briefly after starring with him in Cutting Class (1989).
- Living in the Los Angeles area with her kids and dog, Hercules.
- I happen to love certain kinds of horror. I just don't like cheap horror, made for the sake of slashing people up.
- I had some problems when I was a child. They were temporary but, for a child, even a few months can be a very long time. I learned to enjoy being alone and lose myself in make-believe--acting. It was healing for me as a seven-year-old. It still is.
- Men have their ideas of what sexy is. They want tight clothes and big pouffy hair. They don't necessarily see sexy as just getting out of the shower and throwing on a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and tennies, while I do.
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