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A dark-haired beauty with striking eyes and an intelligent air, Amy Irving seemingly came by her talent genetically: Her father Jules was an accomplished stage director and her mother Priscilla Pointer is a fine character actress. (Pointer has often been teamed onscreen with her offspring, playing either the mother or a motherly figure to characters essayed by Irving.) Although she actually began her career as a guest performer in episodic television and on stage, Irving shot to attention as Sue Snell, the sole teen survivor of Brian De Palma’s splashy “Carrie” (1976). Irving lent her astringent good looks and spunk to De Palma’s “The Fury” (1978), playing a woman with psychokinetic powers, and to her portrayal of an Indian princess in love with a British cavalryman (Ben Cross) in the HBO miniseries “The Far Pavilions” (1984). She also triumphed on Broadway, first as Constanza Weber, the wife of Mozart, in “Amadeus” (1980) and again as Ellie to Rex Harrison’s Shotover in a 1983 revival of Shaw’s “Heartbreak House”. Despite having some misgivings over the role, Irving accepted the part of Hadass, the bride of “Yentl” (1983), a woman masquerading as a man, in Barbra Streisand’s directorial debut. Despite the inherent pitfalls, she imbued the role with a delicacy and intelligence that was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

Despite her strong performances, for much of the late 1970s and into the 80s, Irving was better known for her on-again, off-again relationship with rising director Steven Spielberg. Their 1985 marriage overshadowed her career. With the perspective of hindsight, the actress told THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (April 17, 1994): “During my marriage to Steven, I felt like a politician’s wife. There were certain things expected of me that definitely weren’t me. One of my problems is that I’m very honest and direct. You pay a price for that. But then I behaved myself and I paid a price too.” Despite putting these pressures on herself, she continued with her career, turning in well-rounded portrayals of a woman who may or may not be the Czar’s daughter in “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (NBC, 1986) and a sophisticated New Yorker who is romanced by a pickle seller in “Crossing Delancey” (1988). Irving also displayed her sultry vocal abilities providing the singing voice of the animated Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (also 1988; Kathleen Turner provided the speaking voice). During the filming of “A Show of Force” (1990), the actress, cast as Puerto Rican TV journalist, fell in love with the film’s Brazilian director Bruno Barreto.

After an amicable split from Spielberg in 1989, she and Barreto moved in together and gave birth to their son in 1990. After playing a brassy blonde cocktail waitress in “Benefit of the Doubt” (1993), her husband gave her a fine role as a middle-aged schoolteacher finding romance in “Carried Away” (1996). Irving continued to return to the stage as well, headlining the West Coast production of Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles” (1990), playing a Brooklyn woman who suffers paralysis from her over-identification with German Jews in Arthur Miller’s Broadway play “Broken Glass” (1995), and teaming with Lili Taylor and Jeanne Tripplehorn as Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” (1997). Irving again teamed with Barreto to play an acerbic, overly-ambitious FBI agent in “One Tough Cop” (1998), based on the life of NYC policeman Bo Dietl, and as an American teacher in Brazil who finds unexpected romance in “Bossa Nova” (2000). The actress also revisited the role of Sue Snell in the sequel “The Rage: Carrie II” (1999).

Irving appeared as part of director Steven Soderberg’s high-powered acting ensemble in 2000’s traffic, playing the wife of Michael Douglas’ drug czar and mother to their troubled drug addict daughter, and the critically acclaimed indie “13 Conversations about One Thing.” In 2002 she reunited with Spacek in another feature film, this time a family-oriented flip side to their “Carrie” collaboration, Disney’s adaptation of author Natalie Babbitt’s children’s classic “Tuck Everlasting.” She also was featured in a recurring role on the ABC spy series “Alias.”

• Also Credited As:
  Amy Davis Irving
• Born:
  on 09/10/1953 in Palo Alto, California
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Producer

Family

• Brother: David K Irving. born in September 1949
• Father: Jules Irving. died on July 28, 1979
• Mother: Priscilla Pointer. appeared with Irving in several films including “Carrie”
• Sister: Katie Irving. born in January 1951
• Son: Gabriel Barreto. born on May 4, 1990
• Son: Max Samuel Spielberg. born in June 1985
• Step-daughter: Helena Barreto. born c. 1977

Significant Others

• Husband: Bruno Barreto. Brazilian; together since 1989; met when cast in Barreto’s “A Show of Force”; has daughter from prior relationship
• Husband: Steven Spielberg. had on-again, off-again relationship from c. 1975; introduced by Brian De Palma; separated in 1979; reunited in 1984 when he escorted her to the Academy Awards; married on November 27, 1985 in Santa Fe, New Mexico; separated in 1988 over reports Spielberg was having an affair; divorced in 1989
• Companion: William Katt. dated before filming of “Carrie”

Education

• American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, California, 1971-72
• London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, London, England, 1972-75
• High School of Music and Art, New York, New York
• P S 44, New York, New York

Milestones

• 1954 Stage debut, “Rumpelstiltskin” at the Actor’s Workshop, San Francisco
• 1975 Made guest appearances on episodes of “The Rookies” and “Police Woman”
• 1976 Had featured role in the NBC miniseries “The Last Convertible”
• 1976 Film debut as Sue Snell in “Carrie”, directed by Brian De Palma
• 1976 TV-movie debut in “Panache”, a busted ABC pilot based on “The Three Musketeers”
• 1978 Reteamed with De Palma for “The Fury”
• 1980 Broadway debut succeding Jane Seymour as Constanze in “Amadeus”
• 1983 Received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as the bride-to-be Hadass in Barbra Streisand’s directorial debut “Yentl”
• 1983 Returned to Broadway in support of Rex Harrison in an acclaimed revival of Shaw’s “Heartbreak House”
• 1984 Co-starred as Dudley Moore’s pregnant girlfriend in the Blake Edwards’ comedy “Micki & Maude”
• 1984 Starred as an Indian princess romanced by a British calvary officer in the HBO miniseries “The Far Pavillions”
• 1985 Married director Steven Spielberg after decade-long on-again, off-again relationship (November)
• 1986 Portrayed Anna Anderson, a woman who claimed to be the daughter of Russian Czar Nicholas II in the NBC miniseries “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna”
• 1986 Reprised her stage role opposite Harrison in the Showtime production of “Heartbreak House”
• 1988 Appeared off-Broadway in Athol Fugard’s “The Road to Mecca”
• 1988 Provided the singing voice of Jessica Rabbit in the combination live action-animated feature “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”
• 1988 Starred as a upscale New Yorker who is matched with a pickle saleman in “Crossing Delancey”
• 1989 Divorced Spielberg
• 1990 Cast in “A Show of Force”, directed by Bruno Barreto; became romantically involved with Baretto
• 1990 Headlined the L.A. production of Wendy Wasserstein’s award-winning play “The Heidi Chronicles”
• 1996 Second film with Baretto, “Carried Away”; played a middle-aged schoolteacher embarking on a romance
• 1997 Appeared in Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry”
• 1997 Returned to Broadway alongside Lili Taylor and Jeanne Tripplehorn in Chekhov’s “Three Sisters”
• 1998 Co-starred as a tough-talking FBI agent in “One Tough Cop”, directed by Barreto
• 1999 Reprised role of Sue Snell in “The Rage: Carrie II”
• 2000 Appeared as the wife of a drug czar in “Traffic”
• 2000 Reteamed with Barreto for “Bossa Nova”
• 2001 Acted in “The Vagina Monologues” in London
• 2001 Had featured role in “13 Conversations About One Thing”; screened at Toronto; shown at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival
• 2002 Cast in the family feature drama “Tuck Everlasting”
• 2002 Cast in the recurring role of Emily Sloane in the ABC spy series “Alias”
• 2005 Starred opposite Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning in the thriller “Hide and Seek”
• Starred in Arthur Miller’s stage play “Broken Glass”; played role on Broadway