Nancy Allen

Nancy Anne Allen (born June 24, 1950) is an American actress. Allen began an acting and modelling career as a child, and from the mid-1970s appeared in small film roles. A pivotol supporting role in Carrie (1976) brought her recognition, and after marrying the director Brian De Palma, she appeared in several of his films, including Dressed to Kill (1980), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, and Blow Out (1981). Her subsequent films include The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), Poltergeist III (1988) and the RoboCop trilogy. She was born in New York City, the youngest of three children of Eugene and Florence Allen. Her father was a police lieutenant in Yonkers, where she was raised. Allen was very shy as a child, so her mother enrolled her in dance classes at age 4. She attended the High School of Performing Arts, where she trained for a dancing career, and then attended Jose Quintano's School for Young Professionals. Her film debut was at age 12, playing Melissa Dillon in Money in My Pocket (1962), a comedy-drama film starring country singer Bill Anderson. From the time she was 15, Allen appeared in a large number of television commercials.