The second youngest of six children, Lili Taylor has achieved success and praise for her wide range of film, stage and television work, and is known in the industry as the Queen Of Independant Film. Although her face is familiar and most people are aware they have seen her work, her name, on the other hand, is another matter. Perhaps it's because she is the type of thespian that can crawl so deeply under the skins of the characters she plays, that it's easy to forget we are actually watching an actress at work. Whatever the case, Lili Taylor's work is not the kind of work that can easily be ignored.
      The five-foot five Lili, attended New Trier High School were she acted in several stage productions, including "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man- in-the-Moon Marigolds". After leaving the Goodman Theatre School at DePaul University, Lili went on to become a member of the Naked Angels before forming her own theater company, Machine Full, which allowed her to try out her directing abilities with such plays as "Halcyon Days" performed at the Work House Theater. For a while it seemed Lili would devote her talents to the theatre community, but soon enough she made the move into film and television. Her film debut came in 1988 in the sleeper hit "Mystic Pizza" opposite Julia Roberts, and the following year, gave a scene-stealing performance in "Say Anything". She then appeared in "Born on the Fourth of July" opposite Tom Cruise, and starred with Sam Shepard in "Bright Angel".
      Taylor's performance in the thriller, "Ransom", directed by Ron Howard, garnered her a Blockbuster Award for Best Supporting Actress. Not surprisingly, she is also the recipient of the Sundance Film Festival's first Special Grand Jury Prize for Acting for her body of work in "Girls Town", "Cold Fever", and the critically acclaimed "I Shot Andy Warhol".
      On her free time, Lili devotes herself to the 52nd Street Project, which helps inner city children experience the theater arts.
Photo © Jesse Frohman/Corbis Outline

Written by: K. Kamarauskas © 2001 - [Please let us know of any errors]