Martha Plimpton

Martha Plimpton

Date of Birth: November 16, 1970

The daughter of actors Shelley Plimpton and Keith Carradine, Martha Plimpton was raised by her mother in New York after her unmarried parents split before she was even born. But her parents had certainly passed on the acting gene as Martha hooked up with a film-acting workshop group when she was only eight and landed her first TV commercial at 11—a controversial Calvin Klein jeans ad.

One of her first appearances on the big screen was in the popular family adventure The Goonies (1985). The following year, she played roles in The Mosquito Coast (1986) starring Harrison Ford and River Phoenix, and the dramatic comedy Parenthood (1989) with Steve Martin.

Her filmography also includes the romantic comedy Beautiful Girls (1996) starring Matt Dillon and Uma Thurman, the dramatic comedy Pecker (1998) alongside Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci, and 200 Cigarettes (1999) which starred Casey and Ben Affleck.

Martha's credits include several television appearances. She received an Emmy nomination in 2002 thanks her guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, followed by another nomination in 2011 for her starring role on Raising Hope. In 2012 she won the coveted award for her guest appearance on the acclaimed production The Good Wife.

Martha has also won several awards for her work in theater. In addition to the Drama Desk Award, which she won for her brilliant work in The Coast of Utopia, she was nominated three consecutive years—from 2007 to 2009—for a Tony Awards thanks to her work in the latter, but also Top Girls and Pal Joey.

Never married, Martha dated late actor River Phoenix, who introduced her to vegetarianism, during her adolescence.