part of HLTF

Isn't she adorable :)

Lea Katherine Thompson was born on May, 31 st, 1961 in Rochester, Minnesota. She was the youngest of five children of Barbara and Cliff Thompson. All her siblings was much older than her and Lea says it was like she had another parents. The family lived in Starlight motel and all children shared one room. They were really poor at this time. Things looked up when Lea's father got the job in Minneapolis and the whole family moved there.

When Lea was 6 years old her parents divorced. Her mother had to maintain the family, but she was alcohol addicted at this time. But she found the strenght to quit drinking and she played the piano and sang in the bars to support her children. When Lea was 7, Barbara married musician, Rob Hanson. Lea from her early childhood wanted to be a ballerina, so she used to dance all the time, about 3 or 4 hours daily.

Her first role was the mouse in The Nutcracker. Then since Lea was 14 she performed in more than 45 ballets on stages like The Minnesota Dance Theatre, The Pennsylvania Ballet Company, The Ballet Repertory. She won scholarships with both the American Ballet Theatre and the San Francisco Ballet. But as 19 years old Lea attended the audition to Mikhail Barysnikov crew in New York. He said : You're beautiful dancer, but your legs are too short. Lea realized that all her dreams are gone and she was really devastated, which wasn't hard to comprehend.

After this Lea worked as a waitress and made 22 commercials for Burger King and some for Twix, because she looked pefect for this - pretty, young, naive, smiling girl next door from midwest. Everyone who knows her says it was a joke, she was and still is completely different and she always tried to be independent and "fought against the system". In 1982, Lea made a "mystery disc" (?) called Murder, Anyone ?, which was some kind of computer game or interactive movie.

And than Lea got the part in Jaws 3D, the water ski bunny, although she couldn't and still can't swim and ski ! There she met Dennis Quaid and he became her fiance and acting teacher. Her next movie was All The Right Moves, where she played Tom Cruise's girlfriend. Director Michael Chapman was so unsatisfied with her performance that he almost fired her. During years 1983 and 1984 Lea appeared in another "teen" movies Red Dawn, The Wild Life and Going Undercover aka Yellow Pages (but this one was released in 1988). Lea says about these movies that she had the luck at those times they were making so many movies that they could use everyone who was able to walk and talk.

Back To The Future - the biggest hit in 1985 was Lea's big break. She really quickly became one of the most popular and most wanted actresses and she could pick every role she wanted. She did - and made the worst choice of her life. The Space Camp (1986) wasn't this wrong choice, but Howard The Duck (1986) was. Although it was George Lucas production movie, it happened that all the movie critics and another bugs picked this film and Lea for abusing. God knows why. Before and after HTD were much worse movies made. Lea says :"It was really painful and it's still painful."

Director Howard Deutch offered her the part in his movie - Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987), and she refused. But he urged her to do it and she reconsidered. And she won the Young Artist Award for the best young actress.During rolling they fell in love and Lea broke up with Dennis (he had a drug problems at these times). After this she made Wizard Of Loneliness, her first movie where she didn't play a young, pretty sweet teenager, but adult person.

1989 was really busy year for Lea, because she starred in Back to The Future II, Nightbreker (a TV movie, she was nominated for Cable Ace Award as best supporting actress), and The Tales From The Crypt (episode Only Sin Deep). But the most important thing what happened that year was her marriage with Howard Deutch. (He didn't want to marry her, can you believe that ;-) After Back To The Future III (1990), Montana (1990) and Article 99 (1991) she took a break and had her first baby, Madelyn.

Her first work after this was Dennis The Menace (1993), where she says just played herself. Then Lea made The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), Stolen Babies (Mary Tyler Moore won Emmy for Best Supporting Actress, 1993), The Little Rascals, probably the worst movie she ever starred in (1994) and The Substitute Wife, probably the best movie she ever starred in (1994). In the year 1994 Lea also had a second child, Zoey.

Her next movie was The Unspoken Truth, made by almost the same people as Substitute Wife. The year 1995 meant a big change in her life. Warren Littlefield, NBC president, offered her a lot of scripts of NBC's upcoming project. Lea took his advice and chose the sitcom - Caroline In the City, probably her best decision she ever made. Caroline became a big hit on NBC and Lea received People Choice Award for the best actress in a new sitcom, and then she was nominated for Golden Satellite Award (Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy). But insects and infestants were criticizing CITC all the time, NBC was moving the show to worse and worse time slot and result was a bad rating and the show was cancelled after 4 seasons. Bad ideas of creators (Julia etc.) didn't help, too.

During hiatuses Lea starred in The Right To Remain Silent (1996), The Unknown Cyclist (1998) and in the miniserie A Will Of Their Own (1998). She also appeared as guest star in episodes of Friends (Baby In The Bus), Larry Sanders Show (As My Career Lay Dying) and as a host in some shows.

She also did some work on theatre stages, but I don't know any details.

In Y2K she sang and danced as Sally Bowles in Cabaret on tour and then on Broadway. You can find more info about it in Interview 3 and Interview 6

During February 2001 Lea did another stage performance, called The Vagina Monologues, in Canon Theater, L.A. Later that year she got a small part in Haunted Lighthouse, child horror-70mm-3D movie for specialized theaters (Busch Gardens)

May 2002 - February 2003 - Lea was Chief Deputy District Attorney in LifetimeTV serie, called For The People. The show probably didn't get expected ratings and was cancelled after the first season.
(IMHO: I guess it wasn't stupid enough to be "Television for Women" material)

During February 2003 she made another TV movie, Stealing Christmas. It was her only movie project in this year, as far as I know.

Lea was a guest star in 3 episodes of NBC show Ed in January 2004.

In 2005, Lea did an independent movie Come Away Home, but more important is her new TV show, called Jane Doe. This show was quite succesful and will continue on Hallmark channel. Lea plays CAS agent, very entertaining :-)

During the year 2006 Lea seems to be very busy, starring in more episodes of Jane Doe, directing some of them and making more movies. She also was one of the stars in Fox's Celebrity Duets "competition".

2007, 2008 - Lea did some more TV movies, followed by two musicals during the end of 2K8.

So it's all here for now

This is a frame from Hoprdox's Lea Thompson Fanpage