The beautiful, raven-haired, smoky-voiced Linda Fiorentino made an impressive debut as an adolescent's object of desire in "Vision Quest" (1985), reportedly landing the part at her first professional audition. That same year she starred in the Cold War thriller "Gotcha!" as a nude secret agent and made a memorable appearance in Martin Scorsese's nightmarish comedy "After Hours" as kinky SoHo sculptor (and dominatrix) Kiki Bridges. Deciding that mainstream Hollywood was not for her, she took herself out of the running for the "Top Gun" (1986) role eventually played by Kelly McGillis, opting for the world of little-seen independents instead. Although her next project, Zalman King's "Wildfire" (1987) was forgettable twaddle, Alan Rudolph's "The Moderns" (1988) allowed her a chance to show greater range. As Rachel, the battered partner of John Lone, Fiorentino displayed a vulnerability previously unexplored in her other screen outings. For the next few years, she disappeared into ensemble pieces like "Queens Logic" and Shout" (both 1991) and "Chain of Desire" (1993), all flying well beneath the radar screen.

In 1994, Fiorentino commanded attention playing ruthless femme fatale Bridget Gregory in John Dahl's neo-noir "The Last Seduction" (1994). Men fell for her take-no-prisoners sexuality and women embraced the film as a high-comic daydream of empowerment that saw the unredeemed villainess go unpunished for her evilness. With Fiorentino picking up most of the accolades, the cable-debuted film garnered such raves that it received a theatrical release and generated controversy when the Academy deemed that its small screen beginnings disqualified the very worthy actress from Oscar contention. All the press proved a mixed blessing as most of the offers generated by her sizzling success called for her to essentially reprise her heartless sex kitten. She finally caved in for William Friedkin's disastrous "Jade" (1995), playing a psychologist-hooker suspected of murder, and then jumped at a chance to reteam with Dahl in "Unforgettable" (1996), taking the change-of-pace role of a nerdy scientist who has discovered a way to transmit memory via injection. Unfortunately, that film failed to live up to its title and was quickly relegated to video shelves.

Fiorentino gave her career a much-needed boost as the underutilized female lead in Barry Sonnenfeld's summer blockbuster "Men in Black" (1997). Her role as a NYC coroner did not require her to take off her clothes but did little to diminish her man-eater image, and once again, unable to capitalize on quality exposure, she settled for lackluster projects like "Kicked in the Head" (1997) and The Movie Channel's despicable "Body Count" (1998). "The Last Seduction" remains the standard to which all her work will be compared, and she has an up-hill battle to overcome the resultant typecasting. Still, it's not a bad thing to be remembered for making Barbara Stanwyck's character in "Double Indemnity" look like Snow White. While her role as the "last scion" of the Jesus line in Kevin Smith's scattershot "Dogma" (1999) didn't look to make anyone forget Bridget Gregory, "Where the Money Is" (2000) paired her with screen legend Paul Newman as partners in crime. There are worse things for a woman's career than finding herself opposite those baby blues, and that picture coupled with her role in Mike Nichols' "Which Planet Are You From?" (also 2000), starring Garry Shandling, gave every indication she was finally starting to come into her own.


Filmography

> Liberty Stands Still (2002) .... Liberty Wallace
... aka Liberty stands still - Im Visier des Mörders (Germany: DVD title)
> Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) (uncredited) .... Bethany
> Where the Money Is (2000) .... Carol MacKay
... aka Heißer Coup, Ein (Germany)
... aka Where the Money is - Ein heißer Coup (Germany: DVD box title)
> What Planet Are You From? (2000) .... Helen Gordon
> Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000) .... Christine Lynch
... aka Ganz gewöhnlicher Dieb, Ein (Germany)
> Dogma (1999) .... Bethany Sloane
> Body Count (1998) .... Natalie
> Men in Black (1997) .... Dr. Laurel Weaver/Agent L (Elle)
... aka MIB (USA: promotional abbreviation)
> Kicked in the Head (1997) .... Megan
> Larger Than Life (1996) .... Terry Bonura
> Unforgettable (1996) .... Dr. Martha Briggs
> Bodily Harm (1995) .... Rita Cates
> Jade (1995) .... Trina Gavin
> The Desperate Trail (1995) (V) .... Sarah O'Rourke
> The Last Seduction (1994) .... Bridget Gregory/Wendy Kroy
> Charlie's Ghost Story (1994) .... Marta
... aka Charlie's Ghost: The Story of Coronado
> Acting On Impulse (1993) (TV) .... Susan Gittes
... aka Eyes of a Stranger (USA)
... aka Roses Are Dead
... aka Secret Lies
... aka Secret Lives (USA)
> Chain of Desire (1992) .... Alma D'Angeli
> Beyond the Law (1992) .... Renee Jason
... aka Fixing the Shadow
> Shout (1991) .... Molly
> Queens Logic (1991) .... Carla
> Strangers (1991) .... Helen
> The Neon Empire (1989) (TV) .... Lucy
> The Moderns (1988) .... Rachel Stone
> Wildfire (1988) .... Kay
> "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"
- The Night Caller (1985) TV Episode .... Betsy Van Kennon
> After Hours (1985) .... Kiki Bridges
> Gotcha! (1985) .... Sasha
> Vision Quest (1985) .... Carla
... aka Crazy for You

Click on a link on the left to go to each gallery.

links
E! Online: Linda Fiorentino
Homepage of Linda Fiorentino

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