Dylan Farrow

Maria de Lourdes Villiers Farrow (born February 9, 1945) is an American actress.

She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera Peyton Place and gained further recognition for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra.

Maria de Lourdes Villiers Farrow was born February 9, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, the third child and eldest daughter of Australian film director John Farrow and his second wife, the Irish actress Maureen O'Sullivan.

She is one of seven children, with older brothers Michael Damien, Patrick, younger brother John Charles, and younger sisters Prudence, Stephanie, and Tisa.

Her godparents were director George Cukor and columnist Louella Parsons.

Farrow was raised in Beverly Hills, California, in a strict Catholic household.

She was described by her family as an eccentric and imaginative child, and would occasionally put on performances with "toy daggers and fake blood" for passing celebrity tour buses.

Aged two, she made her film debut in a short documentary, Unusual Occupations: Film Tot Holiday (1947).

Farrow attended Catholic parochial schools in Los Angeles for her primary education.

At nine years old, she contracted polio during an outbreak in Los Angeles County reportedly affecting 500 people.

She was placed in an isolation ward for three weeks and later said the experience "marked the end of [her] childhood."

In 1958, the Farrow family temporarily relocated to Spain, where her father was filming John Paul Jones (1959).

Farrow, then age 13, made a brief uncredited appearance in the film.

In September 1958, Farrow and her sister Prudence were sent to attend a convent-operated boarding school in Surrey, England while her father completed post-production on John Paul Jones in London.

On October 28, 1958, Farrow's eldest brother Michael died in a plane crash near Pacoima, California while a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

After his burial, Farrow returned to boarding school in Surrey.

Her family temporarily lived in the London Park Lane Hotel before renting a home in Chelsea.

Farrow's father began drinking heavily, which strained the marriage.

In her memoir, Farrow recalls witnessing violent arguments between her parents while visiting their Chelsea residence.

When Farrow was 16, she returned with her family to the United States and continued her education at an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles, Marymount High School.

(She was among its most famous alumnae.) During this time, her parents were struggling financially, and her mother relocated to New York City to act in Broadway productions.

Farrow's father remained in California, where he died the following year of a heart attack, when she was 17 years old.

Farrow studied at Bard College.

The family was left with little money after her father's death, prompting Farrow to begin working to help support herself and her siblings.

She initially found work as a fashion model.

She began in theatre as a replacement in a New York stage production of The Importance of Being Earnest.

An early film role, as Rosemary in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968), saw her nominated for a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.

She went on to appear in several films throughout the 1970s, such as Follow Me! (1972), The Great Gatsby (1974), and Death on the Nile (1978).

Her younger sister is Prudence Farrow.

Farrow was in a relationship with actor-director Woody Allen from 1980 to 1992 and appeared in thirteen of his fourteen films over that period, beginning with A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982).

She received numerous critical accolades for her performances in several Allen films, including Golden Globe Award nominations for Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), and Alice (1990).

She also acted in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), and Husbands and Wives (1992).

In 1992, Farrow publicly accused Allen of sexually abusing their adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow.

Allen was never charged with a crime and has vigorously denied the allegation.

Since the 2000s, Farrow has made occasional appearances on television, including a recurring role on Third Watch (2001–2003).

She has also had supporting parts in such films as The Omen (2006), Be Kind Rewind (2008), and Dark Horse (2011) as well as the Netflix series The Watcher (2022).

Farrow is also known for her extensive work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

She is involved in humanitarian activities in Darfur, Chad, and the Central African Republic.

In 2008, Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world.

These claims received significant renewed public attention in 2013 after Dylan recounted the alleged assault in an interview that year.