Biografía

She designs clothes for her own clothing label, Image.

Overcame temporary blindness caused by keratoconjunctivitis in 1978. She later won major theater awards for playing a blind woman in "Monday Before the Miracle" and "The Miracle Worker.".

Voted one of the most beautiful women in the world by the readers of Harper's Bazaar magazine in 1983.

An accomplished hand-knitting fanatic, Allen runs her own knitwear design studio, Karen Allen Fiber Arts.

Considered for the role of Princess Leia Organa in La guerra de las galaxias (1977), later cast in the George Lucas-produced Los cazadores del arca perdida (1981).

I don't know if I've ever played a character who's close to me. There have been some elements of myself in different roles. Sometimes, I show one side of myself and then completely conceal the other.

It's a very instinctual relationship, a reaction to something in the script. I read a script and ask myself, "Is this a story I want to tell?" An actor is really a storyteller and sometimes the story being told is as important as the character in the story. Sometimes, I look at a character and say, "I don't know the first thing about this person, who she is and where she's coming from." That fascinates me. I know in order to get there I have to do my work, to think through in psychological terms who this person is and examine her whole thinking process. Sometimes you recognize certain elements of yourself that you didn't know were there. I also write biographies of my characters ever since Colegio de animales (1978). I even do some research into the background if it's important. I create the character's history, who's her family and other things. It really does help.

As far as acting in films, there is not much out there that is very interesting to do. The ones that are interesting to me are independent films and they have trouble raising money. With people putting their money into blockbusters, there is not much left for the independents.

[on the difference between Los cazadores del arca perdida (1981) and Indiana Jones y el reino de la calavera de cristal (2008)] Crystal Skull was more low tech than you might think, although we did do some green screen on it, but not that much. I guess that is the difference, there wasn't that type of special effects in Los cazadores del arca perdida (1981). CGI [Computer Generated Imagery] didn't exist.

I've always done things the hard way. I was born like a piece of tangled yarn. The job is trying to untangle it, and I'll probably go on doing it for the rest of my life.