Karen Allen
With the phenomenal success that "Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is currently enjoying our
thoughts turn to local Massachusetts beauty Karen Allen,
who reprises her role as the spunky Marion Ravenwood.
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).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)


Allen was born in Carrollton, rural western Illinois, the daughter of Patricia A. (née Howell), a teacher, and Carroll Thompson Allen, an FBI agent. 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 attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City to study apparel design but her life took a different course after
encountering the experimental theatre of Jerzy Grotowski's Polish Theatre Laboratory. While living in Washington D.C. Karen studied and worked for three
years with the Washington Theatre Laboratory under the direction Anthony Abeson, a student of Grotowski.
In 1976 she moved back to New York City to pursue a career in theatre. However, her earliest opportunities as an actor came in the form of films when she
was cast as "Katy" in John Landis' National Lampoon's "Animal House." For the next twenty years Karen divided her time between theatre work in New York
City and work in films around the world. (See Karen's film And theatre work).
In the 1980's, after working at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA, the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, MA and Shakespeare
and Company in Lenox, MA, Karen decided to live in the Berkshires Mountains of Western Massachusetts. A long-time practitioner of Hatha and Ashtanga
yoga, Karen created and ran Berkshire Mountain Yoga from 1995 to 2000, which continues to be a thriving Yoga studio in Great Barrington, MA. During
this time she also taught workshops in Creative Knitting and Design, Intarsia Techniques and Sweater Design at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY and
at the Interlaken School of Art (IS183) in Interlaken, MA, and at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, MA. Along with workshops in knitting
Karen also currently teaches Film Acting at Simon's Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington, MA.
In 2002 Karen returned to the Fashion Institute of Technology to study machine knitting technology and shortly thereafter began Karen Allen - Fiber Arts
in Great Barrington, MA. Today, although she continues to work in theatre and films, her design work has become an equally fascinating aspect of her
creative life.


Filmography
Awards
























2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull .... Marion Ravenwood 2004 When Will I Be Loved .... Alexandra Barrie 2004 Poster Boy .... Eunice Kray 2003 Briar Patch .... Butcher Lee 2003 The Root 2003 Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update .... Katy Schoenstein 2001 Shaka Zulu: The Citadel (TV) .... Katherine Farewell 2001 World Traveler ... Delores 2001 My Horrible Year! (TV) .... Belinda Faulkner 2001 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV) .... Paula Varney (1 episode) 2001 In the Bedroom .... Marla Keyes 2000 The Perfect Storm .... Melissa Brown 1999 The Basket .... Bessie Emery 1998 Wind River .... Martha (Wilson) 1998 Falling Sky .... Resse Nicholson 1997 All the Winters That Have Been (TV) .... Hannah Raven 1997 'Til There Was You .... Betty Dawkan 1996 Law & Order - TV .... Judith Sandler (1 episode) 1996 Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story (TV) .... Margaret 1994 The Road Home TV series .... Allison Matson 1993 Ghost in the Machine .... Terry Monroe 1993 King of the Hill .... Miss Mathey, Aaron's Teacher 1993 Voyage (TV) .... Catherine 'Kit' Norvell 1993 The Sandlot .... Mom 1993 Rapture (TV) .... Georgianne Corcoran 1992 Malcolm X .... Miss Dunne 1992 The Turning .... Glory Lawson 1992 Nonesense and Lullabyes: Nursery Rhymes (V) 1992 Nonesense and Lullabyes: Poems (V) 1991 Sweet Talker .... Julie Maguire 1990 Secret Weapon (TV) .... Ruth 1990 Challenger (TV) .... Christa McAuliffe 1989 Animal Behavior .... Alex Bristow 1988 Scrooged .... Claire Phillips 1987 The Glass Menagerie .... Laura Wingfield 1987 Terminus .... Gus 1987 Backfire .... Mara McAndrew 1986 Alfred Hitchcock Presents - TV .... Jackie Foster (1 episode) 1984 Starman .... Jenny Hayden 1984 Until September .... Mo Alexander 1982 Split Image .... Rebecca/Amy 1982 Shoot the Moon .... Sandy 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark .... Marion Ravenwood 1981 East of Eden TV mini-series .... Abra 1980 A Small Circle of Friends .... Jessica Bloom 1980 Cruising .... Nancy 1979 Knots Landing - TV .... Annie Fairgate (1 episode) 1979 The Wanderers .... Nina 1979 Manhattan .... Television Actor #2 1978 Lovey: A Circle of Children, Part II (TV) .... Elizabeth 1978 Animal House .... Katy
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Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
1982 Saturn Award Best Actress for: Raiders of the Lost Ark