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The pert, attractive, young Mathis is a third-generation performer (granddaughter of Austrian actress Gusti Huber, daughter of actress Bibi Besch). The New York and L.A.-raised teen got her first role–as an Amish girl–in the short-lived TV series “Aaron’s Way” (NBC, 1988). She continued to work in TV sporadically, her contributions consisting of the crime series “Knightwatch” (ABC, 1988-89) and supporting roles in the TV-movies “American Nuclear” (as James Farentino’s daughter, CBS, 1989), “Cold Sassy Tree” (TNT, 1989), and three 1990 movies, “Extreme Close-Up” (NBC), “82 Hours ‘Til Dawn” (CBS) and “To My Daughter” (NBC).

But the big screen was Mathis’ goal, and in 1989 she made her film debut in the low-budget thriller “Forbidden Sun”. The following year, she garnered positive notices for her portrayal of an angst-ridden teen poet in “Pump Up the Volume” (1990), co-starring Christian Slater. Coasting on good notices, she won the part of the awkward teenage daughter of Julie Kavner in Nora Ephron’s “This is My Life” (1992). After contributing a voice-over in the animated “FernGully: The Last Rainforest” (1992), Mathis graduated to adult roles (though in a juvenile film) as the love interest of John Leguizamo in the film version of the hit video game “Super Mario Bros.” (1993). A small role in the thriller “The Music of Chance” (1993) followed, but Mathis finally starred–with the ill-fated River Phoenix–in the drama about aspiring country and western singers, “The Thing Called Love” (1993). That last was important in Mathis’ life: she began dating Phoenix and was with him the night he died, and female co-star Sandra Bullock became her best friend.

The parts came fast and furious by the mid-1990s: she was cute, spoiled, adult Amy in “Little Women” (1994) and had three good roles in 1995: a waitress-turned-nanny in the romantic British comedy “Jack & Sarah” (released in the US in 1996), portraying a youthful version of Lois Smith’s Sophia in Jocelyn Moorhouse’s “How to Make an American Quilt”, and Chief Executive Michael Douglas’ assistant in “The American President”. She was reunited with former co-star (and former boyfriend) Christian Slater for John Woo’s action thriller “Broken Arrow” (1996), as a park ranger trying to rein in psycho John Travolta.

• Born:
  on 05/12/1970 in New York, New York
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Significant Others

• Companion: Christian Slater. dated c. 1990
• Companion: River Phoenix. began dating while co-starring in “The Thing Called Love”; together until his death on October 31, 1993

Milestones

• 1973 Parents divorced
• 1977 Moved to L.A. with her mother at age six
• 1988 TV-series debut, “Aaron’s Way”
• 1989 Feature acting debut, “Forbidden Sun”
• 1989 TV-movie debut, “Cold Sassy Tree”
• 1992 Lent her voice to the animated film, “FernGully: The Last Rainforest”
• 1993 First film in a lead role, “The Thing Called Love”
• 1999 Co-starred in the short-lived Fox drama “Harsh Realm”
• 1999 Made L.A. area stage debut opposite Linda Lavin in “Collected Stories”; production filmed and telecast over PBS in 2002
• 2000 Acted in “Attraction”; screened at Toronto Film Festival
• 2000 Had featured role in “American Psycho”
• 2001 Had regular role in the NBC drama series “First Years”
• 2001 Portrayed Gwenhwyfer (Guenevere) in the feminist retelling of the Arthurian legend “The Mists of Avalon” (TNT)
• 2004 Cast as the wife of Thomas Jane in “The Punisher”