Karen Jane Allen (born October 5, 1951) is an American actress, best known for her role as
Marion Ravenwood in
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
[Karen Allen Picture, Profile, Gossip, and News at CelebrityWonder.com] Allen has also had roles in the films
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978),
Split Image (1982),
Starman (1984),
Scrooged (1988),
The Sandlot (1993) and
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), where she reprised her role as
Marion Ravenwood.
Biography
Early life
Allen was born in
Carrollton, rural western
Illinois, the daughter of Patricia A. (
née Howell), a teacher, and Carroll Thompson Allen, an
FBI agent.
[Karen Allen Biography (1951-)] Allen spent her first 10 years traveling around the country with her parents and two sisters. After graduating from DuVal Senior High School, in
Lanham, Maryland at 17, she moved to New York City to study art and design at
Fashion Institute of Technology. She later attended the
University of Maryland, College Park and spent time traveling through South and Central America. In 1974, Allen joined a theater group and three years later moved back to New York City and studied at the
Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.
