Catherine Keener facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Catherine Keener
Keener in 2014
Born	Catherine Ann Keener (1959-03-26) March 26, 1959 (age 65) Miami, Florida, U.S.
Alma mater	Wheaton College (BA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1986–present
Spouse(s)	Dermot Mulroney ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 2007)​
Children	1

Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Being John Malkovich (1999) and for her portrayal of author Harper Lee in Capote (2005).

Keener also starred in live-action roles in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Into the Wild (2007), Synecdoche, New York (2008), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), Little Pink House (2017), Get Out (2017), as well as starring voice roles in The Croods (2013), its sequel The Croods: A New Age (2020), and Incredibles 2 (2018). Keener is the muse of director Nicole Holofcener, having appeared in each of Holofcener's first five films. She also appeared in each of director Tom DiCillo's first four films, and three films directed by Spike Jonze. From 2018 to 2020, she starred in the Showtime dramedy series Kidding.

Early life and education

Keener is of Irish descent on her father's side, and of Lebanese descent on her mother's. Keener was raised in Hialeah as a Catholic and attended Catholic schools. She attended Monsignor Edward Pace High School.

Keener's sister, Elizabeth Keener, is also an actress and a real estate agent working for Sotheby's in Los Angeles.

Keener attended Wheaton College, in Norton, Massachusetts. She majored in American Studies, also enrolling in a theater course. Her first theatrical production was the Wendy Wasserstein play Uncommon Women and Others, during her junior year at Wheaton. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College in 1983.

Career

Keener had a supporting role as Lt. Cricket Sideris in the television series Ohara. The series ran from January 1987 to May 1988.

Her first film appearance was one line in About Last Night... (1986). Although she struggled professionally over the next few years, one project had an unexpected dividend: Keener met her future husband, actor Dermot Mulroney, in 1987 while working on Survival Quest (1989), after Mulroney became stuck while attempting to scale a cliff.

She also guest starred as an artist on an episode of Seinfeld called "The Letter". She played Jerry's girlfriend, an artist who painted a famous portrait of Kramer. Keener then earned her first starring role, in Johnny Suede, with the then-unknown Brad Pitt. Her performance gained critical acclaim and earned her first Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. She went on to work with director Tom Dicillo again, in Living in Oblivion (1995). Two years later, she was once again nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Walking and Talking, an independent cult-comedy film directed by Nicole Holofcener.

In 2000, Keener earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze. In 2001, she worked with director Nicole Holofcener in Lovely and Amazing, garnering her a third Independent Spirit Award nomination. In 2002, she co-starred with Edward Norton in the off-Broadway revival of Burn This and the film Death to Smoochy. She also took part in the film Full Frontal, and Simone alongside Al Pacino.

In 2005, she starred in the political thriller The Interpreter (as a Secret Service agent partnered with Sean Penn's character) and The Ballad of Jack and Rose with Daniel Day-Lewis and played the love interest of Steve Carell in Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Keener's performance as writer Harper Lee in Capote (also 2005) earned her several awards and nominations, including her second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2006, she starred in the film Friends with Money, directed by Nicole Holofcener.

In 2007, Keener played Jan Burres in Sean Penn's critically acclaimed film Into the Wild, based on Jon Krakauer's best-selling book of the same name. In 2008, her film An American Crime, the true story of Gertrude Baniszewski, a middle-aged mother who tortured and murdered Sylvia Likens in her Indiana home, was aired on Showtime. Keener played Baniszewski and her portrayal earned her an Emmy nomination in the Best Actress in a TV Mini-Series or Movie category. In 2008, Keener portrayed Philip Seymour Hoffman's wife Adele in Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York. She and Hoffman again played husband and wife in the 2012 film A Late Quartet. Keener played the title character's mother in the 2010 film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on the series of books by Rick Riordan.

Keener starred in the six-episode HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero, based on the 1999 nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin. It aired in August 2015. In 2016, Keener starred in the independent film Unless.

In 2017, Keener starred as Missy Armitage in the racially themed horror film Get Out, which was a critical and commercial success.

Keener starred in the 2021 Netflix horror drama miniseries Brand New Cherry Flavor.

In September 2022, it was announced that Keener had been cast in Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the 2019 film Joker, slated for an October 4, 2024, release date.

Personal life

Keener married actor Dermot Mulroney in 1990. They have a son, Clyde, born in 1999, who is a singer. Mulroney filed for divorce in June 2007, citing irreconcilable differences and the divorce became final on December 19, 2007.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	About Last Night...	Cocktail Waitress
1989	Survival Quest	Cheryl
1990	Catchfire	Trucker's girl
1991	Switch	Steve's Secretary
	Johnny Suede	Yvonne
	Thelma & Louise	Hal's wife	Scenes cut
1992	The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag	Suzanne
1993	The Cemetery Club	Ester's Daughter
1995	Living in Oblivion	Nicole Springer
1996	Walking and Talking	Amelia
	The Destiny of Marty Fine	Lena
	Boys	Jilly
	Box of Moonlight	Floatie Dupre
1997	The Real Blonde	Mary
1998	Out of Sight	Adele Delisi
	Your Friends & Neighbors	Terri
1999	8mm	Amy Welles
	Simpatico	Cecilia
	Being John Malkovich	Maxine Lund
2001	Lovely & Amazing	Michelle Marks
2002	Adaptation	Herself	Cameo
	Full Frontal	Lee
	Death to Smoochy	Nora Wells
	Simone	Elaine Christian
2005	The Ballad of Jack and Rose	Kathleen
	The Interpreter	Dot
	The 40-Year-Old Virgin	Trish Piedmont
	Capote	Nelle Harper Lee
2006	Friends with Money	Christine
2007	An American Crime	Gertrude Baniszewski
	Into the Wild	Jan Burres
2008	Hamlet 2	Brie Marschz
	What Just Happened	Lou Tarnow
	Synecdoche, New York	Adele Lack
	Genova	Barbara
2009	The Soloist	Mary Weston
	Where the Wild Things Are	Connie	Also associate producer
2010	Please Give	Kate
	Cyrus	Jamie
	Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief	Sally Jackson
	Trust	Lynn Cameron
2011	The Oranges	Paige Walling
	Peace, Love & Misunderstanding	Diane
	Maladies	Catherine
2012	A Late Quartet	Juliette Gelbart
2013	The Croods	Ugga Crood	Voice
	Enough Said	Marianne
	Captain Phillips	Andrea Phillips
	Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa	Ellie Zisman
2014	Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa.5	Ellie Zisman	Direct to video
	War Story	Lee	Also producer
	Begin Again	Miriam
	Elephant Song	Susan Peterson
2015	Accidental Love	Rep. Pam Hendrickson
2016	Unless	Reta
2017	Get Out	Missy Armitage
	Little Pink House	Susette Kelo
	We Don't Belong Here	Nancy Green
	November Criminals	Fiona
2018	Nostalgia	Donna Beam
	Incredibles 2	Evelyn Deavor / Screenslaver	Voice
	Sicario: Day of the Soldado	Cynthia Foards
2020	The Croods: A New Age	Ugga Crood	Voice
2021	No Future	Claire
2022	The Adam Project	Maya Sorian
	Polar Bear	Narrator	Voice
2024	Joker: Folie à Deux		Post-production

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Video games

Podcast

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Catherine Keener para niños

• List of people from Miami