GENA ROWLANDS (Violet) is recognized as an actress of rare accomplishment and talent. She is also one of the entertainment industry’s stars who is constantly in-demand in theater, film and television.
She recently starred in the highly successful film The Notebook, a New Line Cinema production directed by Nick Cassavetes. She was an Emmy Award winner (2003) for Best Supporting Actress in a Mini-Series for HBO’s Hysterical Blindness. A recent Emmy nominee for Showtime’s Wild Iris, she has also starred in The Incredible Mrs. Richie for New Line and Charms for the Easy Life for Showtime.
Prior to this, Gena received an Emmy nomination for her starring role in CBS’ The Color of Love: Jacey’s Story, and starred in The Weekend, a film for Strand Releasing, as well as Hallmark’s Hall of Fame’s Grace & Glorie and The Mighty, Playing by Heart, Hope Floats and Paulie.
The recipient of a doctorate in performing arts from the American Film Institute and tributes from American Cinematheque and Sundance Film Festival’s Piper-Heidseick Award, she has received several other film festival awards, the most recent being one from the Montreal International Festival, October 2002.
Past film credits include a number of films directed by and/or co-starring her late husband, John Cassavetes: A Child Is Waiting, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence (Golden Globe® Award for Best Actress, Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress, National Board of Review Award, San Sebastian Film Festival Award), Gloria (Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress, Golden Globe nomination, co-winner of the Golden Lion—the Venice Film Festival Best Actress Award), Opening Night (Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Award for Best Actress) and Love Streams (Taormina Film Festival Gold Award for Best Actress). Among her many other films are Lonely Are the Brave (now a minor classic), Woody Allen’s Another Woman and The Tempest. Gena’s notable television credits include Thursday’s Child, A Question of Love, Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (with Bette Davis), An Early Frost (Golden Globe® and Emmy nominations for Best Actress), The Betty Ford Story (Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Mini-Series and Golden Globe for Best Actress), Face of a Stranger (Emmy Award for Best Actress) and Crazy in Love (Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress).
Her stage debut was on Broadway in The Middle of the Night, opposite Edward G. Robinson. After some years, she returned to the stage in Cassavetes’ Love Streams, The Third Day Comes and Woman of Mystery. She appeared with Ben Gazzara in A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters in three sold-out month-long engagements. Later she starred in The Substance of Fire at the Mark Taper Forum.
Gena was born in Cambria, Wisconsin, on June 19. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and was seen by Cassavetes, then at the beginning of his notable career. They were married shortly after. He died in February 1989. They had three children: Nicholas, actor/writer/director; Alexandra; and Zoe. For Nicholas-who is pursuing a successful career as writer/director-she starred in Unhook the Stars and made a cameo appearance in She’s So Lovely.
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