Phoebe Cates
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Phoebe Belle Cates was born on July 16, 1963 in New York City, New
York, and raised there. She is the daughter of Lily and Joseph Cates,
who was a Broadway producer and television pioneer. Her uncle was
director/producer Gilbert Cates. Phoebe is of Russian Jewish, and one quarter Chinese, descent. She studied at Miss Hewitt's school and at the Professional
Children's School in New York City. She took classes at Juilliard when
she was ten-years-old for three and a half years until a knee injury
forced her to stop. Phoebe had been a busy New York model starting at
the age of fourteen. She's since been featured on the covers of four
Seventeens, two Elle covers, a British Vogue, and Andy Warhol's
Interview, as well as in numerous layouts in other magazines. She
actively pursued her modeling career, until she met her film agent at a
party at New York's Studio 54. She trains with Robert Ravan, founder of
The Actors' Circle in New York. Previously she studied with Alice
Spivack of the H.B. Studios. Cates made her motion picture debut as
Sarah in Paradise (1982) in the same year she starred as
Jennifer Jason Leigh's
"experienced" confidante in
Amy Heckerling's acclaimed
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
Cates then landed the role of "Christine Ramsey" in
Private School (1983), then
co-starred in the innovative
Gremlins (1984) for
Steven Spielberg's Amblin
Entertainment, directed by Joe Dante.
Cates has remained active in theatre, as well. After making her New
York debut in Joseph Papp's Off-Broadway
production of "The Nest of the Wood Grouse" in 1984, she followed with
David Henry Hwang's "Rich Relations"
at The Second Stage and a one-act festival at the Manhattan Punchline.
On the West Coast, Cates played "Nina" in the La Jolla Playhouse
production of Anton Chekhov's "The Sea
Gull" and has since appeared in "Much Ado About Nothing" at New York's
Public Theatre, and as "Juliet" in Chicago's Goodman Theatre production
of "Romeo and Juliet".
Since 1989, Cates has been married to actor Kevin Kline, with whom she has two children.
Since 1989, Cates has been married to actor Kevin Kline, with whom she has two children.
Leading Ladies of the 1980s
Leading Ladies of the 1980s
From Sigourney Weaver to Michelle Pfeiffer, check out some of our favorite leading ladies from the glorious 1980s.