Lea Thompson

Lea Thompson - actress

Lea Thompson was born on May 31, 1961, and spent the first year of her life living in the Starlight Motel in Rochester, Minnesota, with her parents and five brothers and sisters. Poverty was part of Thompson's childhood until age 12 when, four years after her parents divorced, Thompson's mother remarried.

Lea began studing dance at the age of 9, and her career began at the age of 14 when she went on to win scholarships to the American Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet. Thompson graduated from Marshall-University High School in Minneapolis at 16 to dance professionally. She performed in more than 45 ballets with The Minnesota Dance Theatre, The Pennsylvania Ballet Company and The Ballet Repertory (her first part was a mouse in the "Nutcracker"). But her dreams of being a ballerina ended after an audition for the American Ballet Theater in New York City, when ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov told the five-foot-four, 94-pound Thompson that her legs were too short and she was too stocky to make it as a dancer.

Lea Thompson news

Thompson, star of "Caroline in the City" from 1995 through 1999, is starring on the Nikos Stage at Williamstown Theatre Festival in a show titled, oddly enough, "Caroline in Jersey," which opens Wednesday, Aug. 5, at 8 p.m.

"I was actually making a movie with three of my friends from the show ('Caroline in the City') when I got this play," replied Thompson, explaining that it was the first time the four had been reunited since the sitcom. In another serendipitous twist, she said, "Wendie Malick (who is starring in 'What is the Cause of Thunder' at WTF, which closes Sunday, Aug. 2) was in the movie, and she said, 'It's great! Do it!'"

"I'm always open to these signs from the universe," she said with an easy grin.

But in addition, and probably more importantly, there was the piece itself, a play by Melinda Lopez.

"It's incredibly beautiful," she said. "I wept and laughed when I read it. . It's really an honor honestly to be asked to do a piece that's this beautiful, to put something this beautiful into the world, and it's rare."

This Caroline is a very different character from the previous Caroline whom Thompson portrayed. Rather than a successful cartoonist living in Manhattan, this Caroline is down and out in New Jersey, an actress having a nervous breakdown whose career is failing.

"She's having a crisis. Her life is falling apart. She has to deal with grief and move on," Thompson said. With such a different character, it would seem this would not be the part for Thompson, but in fact it is, for multiple reasons - more on http://www.advocateweekly.com/ci_12938649

Short movie "The Check" starring Lea Thompson is available on the YouTube and here's the link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1nKBUs02iQ

Set of new photos is available in the gallery, some of them are from Lea's appearance on Collectormania 13 in Milton Keynes (United Kingdom) on May 3rd 2008.

I've dug out the stills from Lea Thompson's appearances in 80's commercials and "Murder Anyone?" video game - quality is rather poor, but still they are fun to watch ;)

For long time I didn't have time for updates, but today I've added the ultimate Caroline in the City quiz with really vicious questions, I've added more CITC characters to the list and voting, also a small update of movies list.

I'm still planning to improve some of the options (like news system, improved gallery, best quates system) but due to permanent lack of time I can't give any specific time of those changes. If you have any suggestions about those new features leave your ideas on the message board.