"We actors do not need to die to be reincarnated, we for that is what we do each and every day. But what freedom! We all have thousands of characters within us. Only actors and madmen (whom we are often taken for) can give them expression and body, and defend them. With complete impunity."

Gena Rowlands


BIOGRAPHY

Gena Rowlands, passionate about the theatre, attends the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she meets John Cassavetes, then equally a young actor. They get married in 1954. Gena Rowlands makes her Broadway debut in The Seven Year Itch, and gets her first movie part in 1958. She soon shoots for John Cassavetes, very early on considered one of the forerunners of independent cinema. Cassavetes will offer his muse magnificent women's characters, off-beat and generous, so many occasions for Gena to develop all the nuances of expressionist acting. A Woman Under the Influence, in 1974, marks her revelation to audiences and critics alike. Under the direction of her husband, Gena Rowlands successively shoots Shadows, Opening Night, then Gloria, a major box-office hit. Love Streams will be the last film this mythical couple makes, as John Cassavetes passes away in 1989. We find Gena Rowlands in Another Woman by Woody Allen and Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch. In 1996, she co-stars alongside of Gérard Depardieu in Unhook the Stars by director Nick Cassavetes, her son. Gena Rowlands is a role model for an entire generation of young actresses. She appears this year in the collective work Paris, Je t'aime, under the direction of Olivier Assayas.

SELECTIVE FILMOGRAPHY

Broken English (2006) by Zoe R. Cassavetes
Paris, Je t'aime (2005) by Olivier Assayas
The Notebook (2002) by Nick Cassavetes
She's So Lovely (1997) by Nick Cassavetes
The Neon Bible (1995) by Terence Davies (Cannes, in Competition)
Night on Earth (1990) by Jim Jarmusch
Another Woman (1988) by Woody Allen
Love Streams (1983) by John Cassavetes
Gloria (1980) by John Cassavetes
Opening Night (1978) by John Cassavetes
A Woman Under the Influence (1975) by John Cassavetes
Faces (1968) by John Cassavetes