Biography
With short blonde hair and a lean frame, Mary Stuart Masterson has played many tomboys throughout her acting career. Born to director
Peter Masterson and actress
Carlin Glynn, she made her film debut in
The Stepford Wives at the age of nine. As a teenager, she appeared on Broadway in Alice in Wonderland and played tough girl Dani in
Heaven Help Us. She studied anthropology at N.Y.U. and returned to acting in 1987 to star in
Some Kind of Wonderful as quintessential '80s tomboy Watt, her most recognizable role. After appearing with her folks in
Francis Ford Coppola's
Gardens of Stone and opposite Robert Downey Jr. in
Chances Are, she played a pregnant woman who gives up her baby to
Glenn Close and
James Woods in
Immediate Family. The '90s saw good roles in successful movies like the ensemble comedy
Married to It, the tearjerker
Fried Green Tomatoes, and the offbeat romance Benny & Joon. However, she also appeared in some unsuccessful films like the revisionist Western
Bad Girls and the sentimental romance
Bed of Roses. She then turned to television for a lead in the TV period drama
Lily Dale (directed by her father) and her own short-lived series, Kate Brasher. In 2000, she married television director Damon Santostefano and went on to win a Tony for her work in the Broadway musical revival Nine. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide