KATHY BAKER,
American supporting actress
kathy baker is known for her exceptional talent and versatility. Born in midland, texas, baker was raised as a quaker by her french mother and her american father, a prominent academic who has taught at princeton and the sorbonne. She has been acting since she was ten, but did not formally study until she entered the theater department of the california institute of the arts. She later transferred to the university of california, berkley where she earned a bachelor's degree in french. By this time, she'd abandoned acting in favor of marriage. Following her divorce, baker trained to be a cordon bleu chef in paris. Back in the states, she worked as a pastry chef and a chocolate vendor. Eventually baker returned to acting and in 1983 won an obie award for her work in sam shephard's play fool for love. That same year she made her big screen debut in the astronaut epic the right stuff. Though not all of the films in which baker has appeared have been critical and box office successes, her ability to bring her diverse characters to life has won her consistently favorable notice. In 1987, baker was named best supporting actress by

the national society of film critics for her work in street smart. Though she still occasionally works in film, she has most recently appeared as a main character on the popular cbs television series picket fences. -- all movie