Detailed Biography

Phoebe Cates is an American film actress and entrepreneur known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.

Biography

Cates was born in New York City, New York, to a family of TV and Broadway production insiders. Her father Joseph Cates was a major Broadway producer and a pioneering figure in television, who helped create The $64,000 Question. Her uncle Gilbert Cates produced numerous TV specials, often in partnership with Cates' father, and several annual Academy Awards shows.

Her maternal grandfather was of Chinese/Filipino descent, and her father as well as her maternal grandmother were of Russian Jewish origin. Cates attended the Professional Children's School and the Juilliard School.

Career

Phoebe Cates' movie debut was in Paradise . At the age of 17 she played a starring role and did several fully nude scenes in the movie, which had a plot very similar to The Blue Lagoon. In 1982 Cates starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High which features "the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history."

Her later film roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences, such as the two Gremlins films, and the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred. Her face made the covers of teen magazines such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and others. In 1985, Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations written by David Henry Hwang at the Second Stage Theatre. In 1994, she starred in the romantic comedy Princess Caraboo.

Personal life

In 1989, Cates married actor Kevin Kline 16 years her senior, whom she had originally met while auditioning for the part that Meg Tilly ultimately won in The Big Chill. Kline and Cates make their home in New York City and have two children, Owen Joseph Kline, born in 1991 , and Greta Simone Kline, born in 1994. Owen and Greta appeared in Cates' most recent film, The Anniversary Party .

In 2005, Cates opened her own boutique called Blue Tree on New York's Madison Avenue.