- Born
- Height5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
- Karen Lynn Gorney is the romantic star of Saturday Night Fever (1977): the dance partner and fantasy girlfriend who said "no" to John Travolta, and won his heart in this mega-hit film, released to raves. Miss Gorney is also the legendary "Tara Martin" ( Erica's mortal enemy) on ABC's award-winning All My Children (1970). A classically trained Actress, and winner of the People's Choice and European Bravo Awards, Karen holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon and MFA from Brandeis University in Acting and Speech. She has received raves in New York City and throughout the United States performing everything from William Shakespeare to Neil Simon. Karen's many independent films include A Crime (2006), with Harvey Keitel, and Searching for Bobby D (2005) [DeNiro], with Sandra Bernhard.
Karen was born in Beverly Hills, California, to Sondra Gorney, a writer-dancer-actress, and Jay Gorney, a producer-composer whose hits include the songs "Brother Can you Spare a Dime,"and "You're My Thrill". Karen's CD of her dad's hits, called "Hot Moonlight!" is available on Amazon, and karenlynngorney. It has received international acclaim.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Karen Lynn Gorney
- SpousesMark Toback(July 1995 - present)Ken Golden (divorced)
- Parents
- RelativesRoderic Gorney(Half Sibling)Daniel Gorney(Sibling)
- Gender / Gender identityFemale
- Originally auditioned for the role of Erica Kane on All My Children (1970).
- Daughter of American composer Jay Gorney (1896-1990) whose songs include, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", "Moonlight and Pretzels", etc. Her mother is actress/writer Sondra Gorney.
- Recorded a self-penned album "Used to Love You Madly" in 1979. The record contains songs that detailed the inner life of Gorney's character Stephanie Mangano, from Saturday Night Fever (1977). She wrote the entire album in her dressing room while filming "Fever," and finished recording the album in 1979. It was recorded in Abbey Road, London, and live in Philadelphia and New York, with a promotional single "Love the Way You Love," backed with the album's title song, which told the story of Stephanie's affair with the record producer from the film. The single quickly disappeared, and the rest of the tracks were vaulted. It wasn't until Original Cast Records agreed to release the album back in 1998, unfortunately it did not include "Love the Way You Love." It was reissued in 2002, but now is out of print.
- Is also a dancer, singer, a composer having recorded in London for EMI and a painter for Cicle Fine Arts and working in art galleries.
- Due to her success on Saturday Night Fever (1977), Gorney worked as an acting and dancing teacher at the now defunct Jo Jo's Dance Factory on Broadway at Fifty-fifth from 1980 to 1982.
- [on the lack of film work, post her breakthrough Saturday Night Fever] They didn't know what to do with me. I was ahead of my time, and they didn't know what to put me in.
- [on being typecast as Stephanie Mangano as casting meetings went nowhere] People didn't know what to do with Stephanie Mangano. I think that what happened is that I was so vulnerable and scared, whatever people projected on me, I became. People thought I was that person in the movie, and I became that--instead of someone who was stable and whole and had some sense of herself.
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