Gena Rowlands

Born to Edwyn Myrwyn Rowlands, a banker and a state legislator (Assembly, 1927-1935; Senate, 1935-1939), and his wife Mary Allen Neal, a painter, she was raised in Cambria, Wisconsin, until her father was appointed to a position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1939. After the Washington years, the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1942.

Attended the University of Wisconsin from 1947 to 1950, when she left for New York City to study drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Alumna of the AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Class of 1952.

Has suppressed the first version of her husband's (John Cassavetes) film Shadows (1958) and will neither allow it to be shown, nor acknowledge its existence.

She and John Cassavetes made 10 movies together: A Child Is Waiting (1963), Faces (1968), Gloria (1980), Love Streams (1984), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), Opening Night (1977), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Machine Gun McCain (1969), Two-Minute Warning (1976) and Tempest (1982).

She and her real life mother Lady Rowlands played daughter and mother in two films together, Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974). They also appeared together in Opening Night (1977), although did not portray daughter and mother in that film.

Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands is an American film, stage, and television actress, whose career in the entertainment industry has spanned over six decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations with her late actor-director husband John Cassavetes in 10 films, including A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Opening Night (1977).

She played the sister of her real life husband John Cassavetes in Love Streams (1984).

She was in Paulie (1998) and also in Monk: Mr. Monk and the Lady Next Door (2009) where her character had a son named Paulie. Both also starred Tony Shalhoub.

Pedro Almodóvar dedicated his movie All About My Mother (1999) to her, Bette Davis and Romy Schneider.

As of 2013, she is one of six women who has received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for a performance directed by her spouse. She is the only one who has received two such nominations, for A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980) (both directed by John Cassavetes). The other five are Elisabeth Bergner for Escape Me Never (1935) (directed by Paul Czinner), Jean Simmons for The Happy Ending (1969) (directed by Richard Brooks), Frances McDormand for Fargo (1996) (directed by Joel Coen), Julie Andrews for Victor Victoria (1982) (directed by Blake Edwards), and Joanne Woodward for Rachel, Rachel (1968) (directed by Paul Newman). Jules Dassin also directed his future wife Melina Mercouri in a Best Actress Oscar nominated performance (Never on Sunday (1960)), but they weren't married yet at the time of the nomination.