Cathy Moriarty Biography
Born: November 29, 1960
At 18, Bronx-born blonde Cathy Moriarty had precisely no acting experience, which suited director Martin_Scorsese just fine. Scorsese wanted a thoroughly natural, spontaneous actress to portray the bethumped Vickie La Motta, wife of volatile boxing champ Jake La Motta (Robert DeNiro), in the 1980 biopic Raging_Bull. Moriarty won an Academy Award nomination for her fascinating portrayal of Vickie; alas, her next project was the much-maligned Neighbors (1981), which effectively killed her starring career before it had even begun. Her professional problems were exacerbated by a 1982 automobile accident. After back surgery and extensive emotional healing, Moriarty made a tentative film comeback in 1987. The film assignments began improving after 1990; she was terrific as a daytime-drama diva in Soapdish (1991), and even better as monotoned horror film star Ruth Corday in Matinee (1992). There have been a few setbacks during Moriarty's career renaissance (she was cut from the final print of Sean Penn's maiden directorial effect The_Indian_Runner), but there have been many more highs than lows, notably her winning the Cable ACE award for her work on a 1995 episode of Tales From the Crypt. Even if Cathy Moriarty never makes the uppermost ranks in stardom, she can always rely upon her trendy New York pizza parlor for a steady income. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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