Rosanna Arquette

Arquette was born in New York City, on August 10, 1959, the daughter of Brenda Olivia "Mardi" (née Nowak), an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist, and Lewis Arquette, a film actor and producer. Her paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette. Her mother was Jewish, from a family that emigrated from Poland and Russia. Her father, whose original family surname was "Arcouet", was of part French-Canadian descent. Her father was a convert from Catholicism to Islam. Her four siblings, Richmond, Patricia, Alexis, and David, also became actors.Arquette has appeared in both television and feature films since 1977. One of her first noticeable roles was in S.O.B. (1981), directed by Blake Edwards. She earned an Emmy Award nomination for the TV film The Executioner's Song (1982). However, she was unhappy with the film's nude scene, remarking in an interview that the idea of the general public seeing her naked made her feel uncomfortable and exploited, and that most of the offers she had received since demanded that she similarly expose herself. Her first starring role was in John Sayles's film, Baby It's You (1983), highly regarded by Rotten Tomatoes reviewers but not widely distributed. She co-starred in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) alongside pop superstar Madonna, for which Arquette won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role despite appearing in the leading role. In an interview at the time, Arquette said "The two questions I hate the most are 'What was it like working with Madonna?' and 'Are you the Rosanna in the song "Rosanna"?'" Following the commercial and critical success of Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado (also 1985), the limited success of the Martin Scorsese film After Hours (also 1985) and the commercial flop 8 Million Ways to Die (1986), also a critical failure, she quit Hollywood to work in Europe, acting in Luc Besson's The Big Blue (1988). Director Scorsese then offered her a part in his segment of New York Stories (1989). Arquette's other movies of note are Pulp Fiction and the David Cronenberg film Crash and the Australian film Wendy Cracked a Walnut (1990, also known as ...Almost). In 1990, she appeared on the cover and in a nude pictorial in Playboy's September issue, although she said it was without her prior knowledge or consent. Arquette starred in Sondra Locke's Trading Favors, played Angelina Jolie's mother in Hell's Kitchen and later appeared as the girlfriend of Jolie's real-life father Jon Voight on Ray Donovan. In 2017, Arquette alleged (along with almost a hundred other women from the entertainment industry), that the then film producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her, threatened her because of her refusal to enter his hotel room, and subsequently saw to it that she was paid less for Pulp Fiction, then no longer cast her in A-list lead roles because of her rejection of his quid pro quo sexual harassment proposition; Weinstein was convicted of sex offences in 2020. When news broke about Weinstein's sexual offending in October 2017, Arquette was one of the first actresses to speak openly about his misconduct, with Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker and The New York Times's Jodi Kantor. In the documentary Untouchable (2019) about Weinstein focusing on those who accused him of sexual abuse, Arquette, Paz de la Huerta, and Erika Rosenbaum were among those interviewed. Arquette has expanded into directing, including the documentaries Searching for Debra Winger (2002) and All We Are Saying (2005); she also produced both projects. Arquette appeared in What About Brian as Nicole Varsi and in Showtime's The L Word as Cherie Jaffe. She also guest-starred in Malcolm in the Middle as a healer named Anita. In 2009, she joined Fit Parent Magazine, founded by Craig Knight, as Editor at Large. Arquette starred in the 2011 French thriller The Divide, directed by Xavier Gens. She had a featured role in the 2012 comedy Peace, Love & Misunderstanding with Jane Fonda. In an August 8, 2019 interview with TheWrap, Arquette said the FBI advised her to make her Twitter account private after online critics complained about her tweeting that she had shame for being "white and privileged".