A svelte, raspy-voiced, wide-eyed brunette, Karen Allen is one of those actresses that Hollywood doesn’t seem to know how to cast, despite her appearances in two blockbusters.
Born in Illinois, this daughter of an FBI employee and schoolteacher was raised in Tennessee and Pennsylvania before the family settled in the Washington, DC, area. After graduating from high school, Allen drifted to NYC where she enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology before dropping out to travel throughout Central and South America. Returning to Washington, DC, she attended George Washington University before deciding to pursue an acting career. Allen joined the Washington Theatre Lab in 1974 and toured with the troupe for several months. While working there, she also made her first film appearance in “The Widget Maker” (c. 1975)
In 1977, Allen moved back to NYC, worked at various jobs (from house painter to sandwich maker), studied with Lee Strasberg, and appeared in student films (i.e., “The Aftermath”). John Landis then cast her as the formidable girlfriend of Boon (Peter Riegert) in “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978), which also marked the beginning of a four-year romance with singer-songwriter Stephan Bishop who had a small role in the film.
