Biography for
Catherine Keener More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

23 March 1959, Miami, Florida, USA

Birth Name

Catherine Ann Keener

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Spouse

Dermot Mulroney

(17 November 1990 - 17 December 2007) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Attended a Catholic high school, Monsignor Edward Pace High School, Miami, Florida.

Graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts in 1983.

Graduated from Immaculate Conception in Hialeah, Florida

Grew up in Hialeah, Florida.

Son Clyde is born. [1999]

Ex-sister-in-law of Kieran Mulroney.

Has been close friends with Brad Pitt since they both starred in 1991's Johnny Suede (1991) together, and they often attend each other's movie premieres.

Older sister of Elizabeth Keener.

Was member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997.

Of Irish and Lebanese descent.

Has worked with director/producer Spike Jonze four times.

Had two movies pushed back from late 2008 to a release in 2009. Both The Soloist (2009) and Where the Wild Things Are (2009).

Catherine was devastated when famed author Harper Lee, whom she played in Capote (2005), refused to speak with her before filming. The author, who had been celebrated author Truman Capote's best friend since childhood, refused to cooperate with the making of the film. Lee did contact Keener after filming, to tell her that she enjoyed the film.

Good friends with actress Jennifer Aniston.

Catherine shielded a surprised Jennifer Aniston from a reporter on "Today" (1952). The pair appeared to talk about a movie that they were filming, Friends with Money (2006), when the questions started to turn personal on Aniston. The reporter was warned before taping, that all personal topics were "off limits", yet when the interview started, the reporter asked about Jennifer's wedding plans with actor Vince Vaughn. Catherine stepped in, and told the reporter to "back off" and stick to the topic at hand.

Personal Quotes

[On her harshest rejection]: "One director said I just wasn't sexy. It was hard, really hard. I left town for two months with my tail between my legs. But you have to kind of go, okay, maybe I'm not their idea of [sexy], but hell, I can have sex!"

"Well, for one thing, I like being a supporting actress. I like to come and go in the film. The interesting characters are very few if you want to be the lead, and they depend on you being beautiful. Since I'm not interested in those parts, the pressure's off, in a way. I'm not cast for my physicality. I find that playing so many characters in so many films is a way to be in the moment."

"Luck favors the prepared."

"Well, the day I got nominated, I had jury duty, a D.U.I. case. The morning the nominations were announced, I reported to jury duty as scheduled. That was good; it gave me perspective. If you start feeling too important, it's always good to go sit in a jury for a D.U.I. charge."

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