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Background:
Model-turn-actress Carey Lowell achieved stardom for her portrayal of Pam
Bouvier, the tough, insulting CIA agent in the Bond movie Licence to Kill
(1989), starring with Timothy Dalton, which brought her to win a 1989 Sho West
Award. Her film credits include the silly horror film The Guardian (1990), the
blockbuster hit Sleepless in Seattle (1993, starring Tom Hanks), the big-budget
Love Affair (1994, opposite Annette Bening and Warren Beatty) and Mike Figgis'
acclaimed film Leaving Las Vegas (1995, starring opposite Nicolas Cage). On
television, Lowell gained popularity and received recognition as ADA Jamie Ross
on the acclaimed drama "Law & Order" (1996-1998), in which she received Screen
Actors Guild nominations.
Lowell, whose measurements are 34C-25-35, is also famous for her off screen role
of the wife of actor Richard Gere, whom she married two years after their son
Homer James Jigme Gere was born. The couple held the marriage privately on
November 2002, at their New York home with no family, friends or celebrities
present. Their children (Lowell has one more child, daughter Hannah Dunne (born
in 1990), from her previous marriage with actor Griffin Dunne) were the only
people present during the wedding ceremony.
Roving Life
Childhood and Family:
In Huntington, New York, USA, Carey Lowell was born on February 11, 1961. As the
daughter of the prominent petroleum exploration geologist, James Lowell, Carey
had a very fascinating upbringing, growing up in three different continents,
Africa (Libya), Europe (Holland) and North America (Texas). Additionally, young
Carey was once raised in Virginia. Back to the U.S, Carey took a modeling career
following high school graduation.
A New York native, Carey began her first lessons at the New York's Neighborhood
Playhouse, where she got some theater experience. She attended University of
Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, and spent one year to learn about Literature. In
1996, Carey briefly enrolled at New York University summer school to study
documentary filmmaking, but she left college on the first day of classes to join
the acclaimed TV series Law and Order.
While in the production of Me and Him (1988), Carey met and fell for actor
Griffin Dunne (born in 1955) and they decided to tie the knot a year later, on
December 9, 1989. She gave birth to her first child, daughter Hannah Dunne, in
1990. Carey divorced her husband of six year Dunne five years later. Carey next
began a new family with her long-time companion actor Richard Gere, with whom
she shares a son named Homer James Jigme Gere (born on February 6, 2000).
Law & Order
Career:
Instead of acting, Carey Lowell started her career as a model upon high school
graduation. Signed up with The Ford Modeling agency, Lowell soon appeared on the
ads for such renowned companies as Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Johnny Walker.
Her pretty face also graced on the covers of numerous popular fashion magazines.
After some practice at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, Lowell decided to quit
modeling and began an acting career. In 1986, she appeared as a fashion model in
Club Paradise and played Julie in the action/thriller Dangerously Close,
starring John Stockwell and J. Eddie Peck. The followings year saw the actress
continue to take on an unnoticed role in the small film Down Twisted (1987) and
appeared with then husband Griffin Dunne in the sex comedy Me and Him (1988).
Lowell's big break arrived in 1989 when she was hired to play Pam Bouvier, the
sixteenth Bond Girl, in Licence to Kill (1989). Her impressive turn as the
hard-hitting, provoking CIA agent, opposite Timothy Dalton's James Bond, won
Lowell many attentions that opened more doors to the cinematic industry. The
same year, she was awarded a Sho West for Female Star of Tomorrow.
She followed it up with starring roles in William Friedkin's impractical horror
film The Guardian (1990) and the forgettable romantic comedy Road to Ruin
(1991). In 1993, Lowell got her first box office exposure with Nora Ephron's
Sleepless in Seattle, in which she was cast in the small role of Tom Hanks'
deceased wife Maggie Abbott Baldwin. The same year, she starred as Dottie Hinson
in the short-lived comedy series A League of Their Own, opposite Sam McMurray
and Christine Elise. She then made her way back to her modeling roots and posed
for Revlon cosmetics. 1994 and 1995 saw small roles in the big-budget Love
Affair (1994, starring Annette Bening and Warren Beatty) and Mike Figgis'
acclaimed low-budget Leaving Las Vegas (1995), wherein Lowell appeared as a bank
taller who conflicts with a hung-over Nicolas Cage.
Lowell's next breakthrough arrived on the small screen when she joined the cast
of the award-winning series "Law & Order" in 1996, playing assistant district
attorney Jamie Ross. Along with the other cast members, she received nominations
at Screen Actor Guild for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama
Series in 1997 and 1998. On the end of its eighth season, Lowell departed the
crime series to more concentrate on her family. During her two years tenure on
Law & Order, Lowell also appeared on the big-screen movie Fierce Creatures
(1997), the follow-up to the hit comedy A Fish Called Wanda. The comedy film
starred John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline, and co-directed by Fred
Schepisi and Robert Young.
After the hiatus, Lowell totally left the big-screen movie and only appeared
sporadically on the small screen. After a guest starring role in the short-lived
series "Big Apple" (2001), Lowell resurfaced as Joan Brock in the TV film More
Than Meets the Eye: The Joan Brock Story two years later. In 2005, under the
wing of director Fred Schepisi, Lowell played the small role of 40-year-old
Francine in the TV film Empire Falls, which starred Ed Harris, in addition to
the two-episode guest starring role in "Law &Order."
Awards:
- Sho West: Female Star of Tomorrow, 1989
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