🎬 Movies Mates PEOPLE
Jill Schoelen
Acting
Biography
Jill Marie Schoelen (born March 21, 1963) is an American actress. A more unconventional husky-voiced "scream queen" heroine of the 1980s was Jill Schoelen, daughter of well-known fashion designer Dorothy Schoelen. Born and raised in Burbank, she studied at the Acting for Life Theatre in Burbank and started off on TV as a teen in the Fame-influenced TV pilot called Best of Times (1981) (TV) starring the up-and-coming Nicolas Cage and Crispin Glover. She gained in experience with a number of innocuous films geared mostly toward the young, including D.C. Cab (1983), Thunder Alley (1985) and Hot Moves (1984). The dark-eyed, black-haired pretty with the trademark bangs wouldn't find her horror ni…
Read full biography
Jill Marie Schoelen (born March 21, 1963) is an American actress. A more unconventional husky-voiced "scream queen" heroine of the 1980s was Jill Schoelen, daughter of well-known fashion designer Dorothy Schoelen. Born and raised in Burbank, she studied at the Acting for Life Theatre in Burbank and started off on TV as a teen in the Fame-influenced TV pilot called Best of Times (1981) (TV) starring the up-and-coming Nicolas Cage and Crispin Glover. She gained in experience with a number of innocuous films geared mostly toward the young, including D.C. Cab (1983), Thunder Alley (1985) and Hot Moves (1984). The dark-eyed, black-haired pretty with the trademark bangs wouldn't find her horror niche until hooking up with Wes Craven and his TV movie Chiller (1985) (TV). From there she scored big with the cult shocker The Stepfather (1987) wherein she played the resourceful stepdaughter terrorized by the lecherous, meek-appearing Terry O'Quinn as the title monster. The sleeper hit put Jill on the map with a seemingly solid future, continuing on with The Phantom of the Opera (1989), this time keeping company opposite Freddy Krueger inhabiter Robert Englund as her deranged pursuer. But a few bumps in the road with such lowgrade fodder as Curse II: The Bite (1989), Cutting Class (1989) and Popcorn (1991) put a permanent damper on her career, despite coming back with a bit of grit in the thriller TV movie When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) (TV). Her object-of-a-stalker days behind her after filming Not Again! (1996), she settled comfortably back and raised two children with husband/musician/composer Anthony Marinelli.
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Jill Schoelen's Filmography
Select any movie to open its full Movies Mates details page.
Ralph's Perfekt Christmas
as Heather
In Search of Darkness: 1990-1994
as Self
Stereo-Vision
as Katherine Barrows
Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story
as Self
A Taboo Identity
as Herself
Midnight Madness: The Making of "Popcorn"
as Self
Behind the Mask: The Making of The Phantom of the Opera
as Self
Not Again!
as Jenny
There Goes My Baby
as Babette
Triumph Over Disaster: The Hurricane Andrew Story
as Ruth Henderson
When a Stranger Calls Back
as Julia Jenz
Adventures in Spying
as Julie Converse
State Of Mind
as Wishman
Rich Girl
as Courtney
Popcorn
as Maggie
The Phantom of the Opera
as Christine Day
Curse II: The Bite
as Lisa Snipes
Cutting Class
as Paula Carson
The Stepfather
as Stephanie Maine
Babes in Toyland
as Mary Piper / Mary Contrary
Shattered Spirits
as Allison
That Was Then... This Is Now
as Angela Shepard
Thunder Alley
as Beth
Chiller
as Stacey
Hot Moves
as Julie Ann
Happy Endings
as Anne Marie Bartlett
D.C. Cab
as Claudette
Great Day
as Carla Simpson
The Best of Times
as Jill
A Dying Art
as Mitzy Rudzinski