Biography

Naturally brunette/blue-eyed beauty Amy Davis Irving was born in Palo Alto, California. She is the youngest of three children, and the daughter of influential theatrical/television director and producer Jules Irving, and actress Priscilla Pointer. Her father was of Russian Jewish descent, and her mother's ancestry includes English, Scots-Irish, Welsh, Jewish, and German.

Amy was brought up in the world of theater. She was put on stage from the time she was nine-months-old, her father was the director and her mother was the actress, they didn't want baby sitters for their children, so if she wasn't performing, she would stay in the wardrobe department or her mother used to put her in the second row center where she could watch her. And, before she was 10-years-old, she had already worked in several plays. At a young age, Amy Irving was trained at the American Conservatory Theater and Britain's London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (L.A.M.A.D.A.). She made her off-Broadway debut at the age of 17 and, from that moment to date, she received critical acclaim, appearing in such plays as: "Heartbreak House" (1983), "The Road to Mecca" (1988), "Broken Glass" (1994), "The Three Sisters" (1997), "The Guys" (2002), "Ghosts" (2002) and "Celadine" (2004), among others.

In 1976, Amy made her film debut, playing "Sue Snell", one of her most unforgettable characters in Stephen King's Carrie au bal du diable (1976), a classic in the horror genre, taken to the big screen by director Brian De Palma. For the next few years, Irving continued working in important films, Furie (1978), also directed by De Palma, Voices (1979) and Le concours (1980). Later, in 1983, she gave a fine performance as "Hadass", in Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983); earning an Oscar nomination. Two of her best opportunities arrived in the late 80s, when she played "Anna Anderson" in Anastasia (1986) and "Isabelle Grossman" in the romantic comedy, Izzy et Sam (1988); she received a Golden Globe nomination for each movie.

Amy was married to director Steven Spielberg from 1985 to 1989 and she has a son with him, Max Spielberg. And, in 1990, after her divorce, she met Brazilian director Bruno Barreto while they were working on État de force (1990). They wed a few years later and they have a son (Gabriel). In 1997, Irving made a guest appearance on Woody Allen's Harry dans tous ses états (1997) and, in 1999, she came back in the sequel of Carrie au bal du diable (1976), Carrie 2 : La Haine (1999).

Unfortunately, her film opportunities narrowed in the 90s. However, in the year 2000, she surprised the whole world again when she performed as "Mary Ann Simpson", a very funny and sensual, at the same time, English teacher in the film, Bossa Nova et vice versa (2000). She managed to capture this peculiar character very well. After this romantic comedy, Amy had a great opportunity, playing "Barbara Wakefield", Michael Douglas' wife in Traffic (2000), the film was a huge success and she won an Actor Award, shared with the rest of the cast. Then, this beautiful and talented actress continued working in remarkable films such as Confidences intimes (2001), with her Carrie au bal du diable (1976) co-star, Sissy Spacek, in the Walt Disney production, Tuck Everlasting (2002) and in the horror film, Trouble jeu (2005), along with Robert De Niro. Recently, she had an important part as "Emily Sloane" in the very-known show, Alias (2001).

In addition to her talents as an actress, she is a great dancer and also showed off her vocal talents, singing in films such as Qui veut la peau de Roger Rabbit (1988), Show Bus (1980), Saute menu (1987) and Fievel au Far West (1991).

Nowadays, Amy Irving continues working on stage in Broadway productions and spends most of her time with her friends and family, especially with her two children.

- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous and Bob Gale-Harvest