Nancy Allen

Acting

Nancy Allen

Born 1950-06-24 · New York City, New York, USA

Nancy Anne Allen (born June 24, 1950) is an American actress. She came to prominence for her performances in several films directed by Brian De Palma in the 1970s and early 1980s. Her accolades include a Golden Globe Award nomination and three Saturn Award nominations. The daughter of a New York City police lieutenant, Allen was raised in the Bronx, and attended the High School of Performing Arts, aspiring to have a career as a dancer. In her early twenties, she shifted her focus to acting and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career there. Her first major role was as Chris Hargensen in Brian De Palma's film adaptation of Carrie (1976). Allen was subsequently cast as the lead in the Robert Zemeckis-directed comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), followed by a supporting part in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979). Allen married De Palma in 1979, and her subsequent portrayal of a prostitute who witnesses a murder in his feature Dressed to Kill (1980) earned her a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. She then appeared in De Palma's neo-noir film Blow Out (1981), playing a woman implicated in an assassination. Allen and DePalma divorced in 1984. She appeared in the science fiction films Strange Invaders (1983) and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), and Abel Ferrara's television film The Gladiator (1986). Allen garnered mainstream fame playing Anne Lewis in Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987), a role she reprised for the two sequels that followed. Other credits include Poltergeist III (1988), Limit Up (1990), and Les patriotes (1994). Allen stepped back from acting in 2008, and became involved in cancer support after her friend, Wendie Jo Sperber, died of breast cancer. In 2010, she was named executive director of the weSPARK Cancer Support Center in Los Angeles, which was founded by Sperber.

Acting credits

RoboCop poster
7.4

In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company's nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.

RoboCop

1987

Carrie poster
7.3

Withdrawn and sensitive teenager Carrie White faces bullying from her classmates and abuse from her fanatically pious mother. When she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers, things take a dark and violent turn.

Carrie

1976

RoboCop 2 poster
6.0

After a successful deployment of the RoboCop Law Enforcement unit, OCP sees its goal of urban pacification come closer and closer, but as this develops, a new narcotic known as "Nuke" invades the streets led by God-delirious leader Cane. As this menace grows, it may prove to be too much for Murphy to handle. OCP tries to replicate the success of the first unit, but ends up with failed prototypes with suicidal issues... until Dr. Faxx, a scientist straying away from OCP's path, uses Cane as the new subject for the RoboCop 2 project, a living God.

RoboCop 2

1990

Blow Out poster
7.4

While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead — a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

Blow Out

1981

RoboCop 3 poster
4.9

The mega corporation Omni Consumer Products is still bent on creating their pet project, Delta City, to replace the rotting city of Detroit. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the area have no intention of abandoning their homes simply for desires of the company. To this end, OCP have decided to force them to leave by employing a ruthless mercenary army to attack and harass them. An underground resistance begins and in this fight, RoboCop must decide where his loyalties lie.

RoboCop 3

1993

Dressed to Kill poster
6.9

After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.

Dressed to Kill

1980

Out of Sight poster
6.7

Meet Jack Foley, a smooth criminal who bends the law and is determined to make one last heist. Karen Sisco is a federal marshal who chooses all the right moves … and all the wrong guys. Now they're willing to risk it all to find out if there's more between them than just the law.

Out of Sight

1998

1941 poster
5.8

In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.

1941

1979

The Last Detail poster
7.0

Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.

The Last Detail

1973

Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return poster
4.6

A girl called Hannah goes back to her hometown (Gatlin) to find her mother but on the way she picks up a strange man who fore-shadows her life with a passage from the bible. When she gets there she wakes up Isaac from a coma he has been in for 19 years. Isaac is awake and wants to fulfil the final prophecy.

Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return

1999

The Philadelphia Experiment poster
6.1

Based on an "actual event" that took place in 1943. About a US Navy Destroyer Escort that disappeared from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and sent two men 40 years into the future to 1984.

The Philadelphia Experiment

1984

Poltergeist III poster
5.2

Carol Anne has been sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle in an effort to hide her from the clutches of the ghostly Reverend Kane, but he tracks her down and terrorises her in her relatives' appartment in a tall glass building. Will he finally achieve his target and capture Carol Anne again, or will Tangina be able, yet again, to thwart him?

Poltergeist III

1988

I Wanna Hold Your Hand poster
6.3

If they miss The Beatles' first appearance in the U.S.A., they will hate themselves for the rest of their lives - so four young girls from New Jersey set off even though they don't have tickets for the show! The journey is full of surprises and misfortunes but the young ladies are determined to reach their idols.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

1978

Strange Invaders poster
4.9

Alien beings, who settle in a small midwestern town, are disturbed by a young professor determined to rescue his daughter from their clutches.

Strange Invaders

1983

In Search of Tomorrow poster
6.7

A nostalgic journey through ’80s Sci-Fi-films, exploring their impact and relevance today, told by the artists who made them and by those who were inspired to turn their visions into reality.

In Search of Tomorrow

2022

In Search of Darkness: Part II poster
7.7

The ultimate ‘80s Horror retrospective just got BIGGER. In Search of Darkness: Part II is a four-hour-plus sequel to the Rondo Hatton-nominated In Search of Darkness, adding 15 new interviewees and 40+ returning favorites for the biggest and most comprehensive ‘80s Horror documentary cast ever assembled.

In Search of Darkness: Part II

2020

The Buddy System poster
4.9

A school truant officer uncovers a young boy's attempt to fake his residential address and subsequently befriends the kid and his mother.

The Buddy System

1984

Home Movies poster
5.4

A cult guru urges a shy disciple to make life a movie and be its star.

Home Movies

1980

Terror in the Aisles poster
6.2

A non-stop roller coaster ride through the scariest moments of the greatest terror films of all time.

Terror in the Aisles

1984

Memories of Murder poster
6.7

A woman who had been suffering from amnesia suddenly gets her memory back. However, she finds that she's now married to a man who she doesn't think she really loves, and she keeps having visions of a young woman who she believes is out to kill her--but she can't get anyone to listen.

Memories of Murder

1990

My Apocalypse poster
5.5

In an apocalyptic future, a serial killer holds his family and another family hostage in an attempt to change his life.

My Apocalypse

2008

Valerie 23 poster
NR

A disabled man is offered a prototype android companion in the form of the beautiful Valerie. But when he begins a romance with his physical therapist, his robot develops feelings of jealousy.

Valerie 23

1995

The Patriots poster
6.7

Ariel, a young French Jew, decides to leave his family to go to Israel and secretly become an agent of Mossad, the Israeli secret service. After years of training, his first mission is in Paris to steal secrets from Remy Prieur, a French atomic scientist.

The Patriots

1994

Sweet Revenge poster
3.7

Nancy Allen plays an investigative news reporter Jillian Gray, who, along with her daughter is kidnapped by white slave king Cicero, after getting too close with her investigation. Now that she has escaped, she seeks revenge on Ciero

Sweet Revenge

1987