PHOEBE CATES
Name: Phoebe Cates
Birth name: Phoebe Belle Katz
Born: 16 July 1963 New York City, U.S.A.
Phoebe Cates (born on July 16, 1963) is an American film actress known for her
roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and
Gremlins.
Cates was born Phoebe Belle Katz in New York City, New York to Lily and director
and producer Joseph Cates (born "Joseph Katz"). Her uncle is producer/director
Gilbert Cates and her stepfather was Marshall Naify, a horse breeder. Cates'
maternal grandfather was of Chinese Filipino descent, and her father as well as
her maternal grandmother were of Russian Jewish origin. Cates attended the
Professional Children's School and the Juilliard School.
Cates achieved icon status in 1982 for her popular girl role in Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, particularly the topless scene in which she sheds her bikini top
in a slow-motion fantasy sequence. As Fast Times became a defining early-'80s
cult classic, this image of her became inextricably imprinted on a generation of
teenage boys.
That same year, in the romance film Paradise, and in contrast to the coyness of
Brooke Shields in the similarly themed The Blue Lagoon, Cates displayed copious
nudity, although a body double may have been used in some of the close-ups. In a
People magazine article, Cates said she had expressed reservations about this
situation to her father, who advised her to play it in whatever way she felt was
artistically and financially honest. She is quoted as saying "I was only 17 when
I did my nude scenes in Paradise. They were serious and more difficult because
they were not easily justified. But the topless scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont
High was funny, which made it easy."
Her later film roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger
audiences, who remember her best as the female lead in the two Gremlins films,
and the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred. Her face made the covers of teen magazines
such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and others. In 1991, she was slated to
be in Father of the Bride, but dropped out due to pregnancy. In 1994, she
starred along with her husband Kevin Kline in Princess Caraboo. In 1996, she
narrated the award-winning documentary short, The Flame, a film about the
nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International.
In 1985, Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations by David Henry Hwang at
Second Stage Theatre.
Name: Phoebe Cates
Birth name: Phoebe Belle Katz
Born: 16 July 1963 New York City, U.S.A.
Phoebe Cates (born on July 16, 1963) is an American film actress known for her
roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and
Gremlins.
Cates was born Phoebe Belle Katz in New York City, New York to Lily and director
and producer Joseph Cates (born "Joseph Katz"). Her uncle is producer/director
Gilbert Cates and her stepfather was Marshall Naify, a horse breeder. Cates'
maternal grandfather was of Chinese Filipino descent, and her father as well as
her maternal grandmother were of Russian Jewish origin. Cates attended the
Professional Children's School and the Juilliard School.
Cates achieved icon status in 1982 for her popular girl role in Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, particularly the topless scene in which she sheds her bikini top
in a slow-motion fantasy sequence. As Fast Times became a defining early-'80s
cult classic, this image of her became inextricably imprinted on a generation of
teenage boys.
That same year, in the romance film Paradise, and in contrast to the coyness of
Brooke Shields in the similarly themed The Blue Lagoon, Cates displayed copious
nudity, although a body double may have been used in some of the close-ups. In a
People magazine article, Cates said she had expressed reservations about this
situation to her father, who advised her to play it in whatever way she felt was
artistically and financially honest. She is quoted as saying "I was only 17 when
I did my nude scenes in Paradise. They were serious and more difficult because
they were not easily justified. But the topless scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont
High was funny, which made it easy."
Her later film roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger
audiences, who remember her best as the female lead in the two Gremlins films,
and the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred. Her face made the covers of teen magazines
such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and others. In 1991, she was slated to
be in Father of the Bride, but dropped out due to pregnancy. In 1994, she
starred along with her husband Kevin Kline in Princess Caraboo. In 1996, she
narrated the award-winning documentary short, The Flame, a film about the
nonprofit world hunger organization Heifer International.
In 1985, Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations by David Henry Hwang at
Second Stage Theatre.