Amy Irving Biography
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.