Joanna Cassidy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joanna Cassidy
Cassidy in 2007
Born	Joanna Virginia Caskey (1945-08-02) August 2, 1945 (age 80) Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
Alma mater	Syracuse University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1968–present
Spouse(s)	Kennard C. Kobrin ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1974)​
Partner(s)	Alan Hamel (2025–present)
Children	2

Joanna Cassidy (born Joanna Virginia Caskey on August 2, 1945) is an American actress. She started her career as a model in the 1960s. Her first acting roles were in 1973 in the thriller films The Laughing Policeman and The Outfit.

She later appeared in films like Bank Shot (1974) and The Late Show (1977). She also starred in TV shows such as The Roller Girls (1978) and 240-Robert (1979). A big role for her was playing Zhora Salome in the science fiction movie Blade Runner in 1982.

Cassidy starred in the political thriller Under Fire (1983). For this role, she won an award called the Sant Jordi Award for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film. From 1983 to 1984, she was in the NBC comedy series Buffalo Bill. She won a Golden Globe Award for her work on this show.

She continued to appear in many films, including The Fourth Protocol (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991). She also acted in TV movies and miniseries like Hollywood Wives (1983) and The Tommyknockers (1993). From 2001 to 2005, she played Margaret Chenowith in the HBO series Six Feet Under. She received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for this role. Later, she starred in the ABC series Body of Proof (2011–2013) and the HBO Canada comedy Call Me Fitz (2010–2013), winning two Canadian Screen Awards for the latter.

About Joanna Cassidy

Joanna Virginia Caskey was born in Camden, New Jersey. This city is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. She grew up in Haddonfield. She has said that she was a "rowdy kid" when she was in high school. People often recognize her for her loud, joyful laugh. You can hear it in the movie The Laughing Policeman and when she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Joanna studied art at Syracuse University. While she was there, she married Kennard C. Kobrin in 1963. He was a doctor. Joanna also started working as a fashion model. They moved to San Francisco, where her husband started his medical practice. Joanna continued modeling. They had a son and a daughter. In 1968, she had a small part in the thriller movie Bullitt.

In June 2025, it was reported that she is in a relationship with Alan Hamel.

Joanna's Acting Journey

Joanna Cassidy in 1974

Joanna Cassidy's first big movie role was in the 1973 thriller The Outfit. She also appeared in a public service announcement for Smokey Bear in 1973. She had guest roles on popular TV shows like Mission: Impossible, Starsky & Hutch, and Taxi. She had a supporting role in the 1976 drama film Stay Hungry, which featured a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Joanna was considered for the role of Wonder Woman for a TV series, but Lynda Carter got the part instead. She co-starred in the film Our Winning Season (1978). Her first regular TV role was as sheriff's pilot Morgan Wainwright in the action-adventure series 240-Robert (1979). This show only lasted for two short seasons.

After that, Cassidy continued to appear in guest roles on shows like Dallas and Falcon Crest. She also had a regular role on the comedy show Buffalo Bill (1983), which earned her a Golden Globe Award. She played a main character, CIA agent Liz "Foxfire" Towne, in the NBC action TV series Code Name: Foxfire (1985).

In 1982, Joanna had a very important film role as Zhora Salome in Ridley Scott's science fiction movie Blade Runner. The next year, she co-starred in Under Fire with Gene Hackman and Nick Nolte. She kept working in both movies and TV. She was in the TV miniseries Hollywood Wives (1985) and films like The Fourth Protocol (1987) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

In 1993, she co-starred with Dudley Moore on the sitcom Dudley, but it only had six episodes. She played the ex-wife of James Garner's character in the TV movie The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A. (1994).

Other roles from this time include Barbarians at the Gate (1993) and the miniseries based on Stephen King's The Tommyknockers (1993). Cassidy also provided the voice of Inspector Maggie Sawyer on Superman: The Animated Series. She had recurring guest roles on TV shows like L.A. Law, Melrose Place, and Diagnosis: Murder.

Since 2000, Cassidy has appeared in the film Ghosts of Mars (2001), directed by John Carpenter. She also had a recurring role as Margaret Chenowith on the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. For this, she was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2004, she guest-starred in three episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise as T'Les, the Vulcan mother of T'Pol. She also had a recurring role on Boston Legal in 2006. She voiced the villain Hecubah in the computer game Nox (2000) and voiced Maggie Sawyer again in the 2002 video game Superman: Shadow of Apokolips.

In 2007, Joanna Cassidy put on Zhora's costume again, 25 years after Blade Runner came out. She recreated a scene from the film for the "Final Cut" release. In the original movie, a stunt performer played Zhora's death scene. For the "Final Cut," Joanna's head was digitally placed onto the stunt performer's footage to make the scene look more consistent. Joanna herself suggested this idea during an interview about Blade Runner.

Joanna Cassidy in 1976

In the second season of the NBC series Heroes, she appeared in a photo as one of the senior members of the show's mysterious company. She later appeared as Victoria Pratt in an episode where her character was killed.

From 2008 to 2009, Cassidy appeared in episodes of Ghost Whisperer, Desperate Housewives, and Law & Order: UK. She also had a recurring guest role as Amanda Hawthorne, the mother-in-law of Jada Pinkett Smith's character on the medical drama Hawthorne.

In 2011, Cassidy began a recurring role on the ABC series Body of Proof. She played Judge Joan Hunt, the mother of Megan Hunt, played by Dana Delany. The series ended in May 2013. In 2015, Cassidy was cast as a main character in the Bravo series Odd Mom Out. She played Candace Von Weber, a snobby socialite and mother-in-law to the main character. The series was canceled in 2017. In 2019, she co-starred in the Amazon Prime miniseries Too Old to Die Young. She later had a recurring role on NCIS: New Orleans.

In 2015, Joanna Cassidy received an honorary award at the Oldenburg International Film Festival.

Cassidy in 2017

Film and Television Roles

Joanna Cassidy has had many roles in both movies and TV shows throughout her career. Here are some of her notable appearances:

Movies

Television Shows

See also

In Spanish: Joanna Cassidy para niños