Patricia Arquette - Biography

Patricia T. Arquette (born April 8, 1968) is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Early life and family

Arquette was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Lewis Arquette, an actor, and Brenda "Mardi" Olivia (née Nowak), an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher and therapist. Arquette's mother was Jewish, the daughter of a Holocaust refugee from Poland, and Arquette's father was a convert to Islam and related to explorer Meriwether Lewis. Her paternal grandfather was comedian Cliff Arquette, and her siblings are actors Rosanna, Alexis, Richmond and David Arquette.

Arquette was raised in Virginia and California.

Career

In 1987, Arquette's first starring roles were as pregnant teenager Stacy in television film Daddy, boarding school student Zero in Pretty Smart, and the attention-getting Kristen Parter in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. In 1991, she won a CableACE Award for her portrayal of a deaf epileptic in Wildflower. In 1993, she starred in Tony Scott's True Romance. She has since appeared in such critically acclaimed movies as Ed Wood as the "worst ever" film director's eventual wife, Beyond Rangoon, Ethan Frome, Lost Highway, Little Nicky, Stigmata, Bringing Out the Dead, Human Nature, Disney's Holes, and Flirting with Disaster.

In January 2005, she began starring in her first television series, NBC's Medium. Her role as (a fictionalized version of) psychic medium Allison DuBois won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 2005, as well as nominations for a Golden Globe in 2005, 2006 and 2007, a SAG Award in 2006 and 2010, and an Emmy Award in 2007. In 2009 NBC cancelled Medium, then CBS picked the show up and it lasted another two seasons. By 2011 she was earning $225,000 per episode for the series. Arquette played the role of Allison DuBois until 2011 when CBS cancelled the series. While starring on Medium, Arquette has not starred in a film. The final episode aired on January 21, 2011.

Personal life

In April 1995, Arquette married Nicolas Cage (with whom she would later co-star in Bringing Out the Dead in 1999). They separated after nine months, but acted as a couple in public until Cage filed for divorce in February 2000. The divorce petition was withdrawn, but Arquette filed again in November 2000.

Arquette has a son, Enzo (born January 3, 1989), with musician Paul Rossi.

Arquette and actor Thomas Jane became engaged in 2002. Their daughter Harlow Olivia Calliope was born on February 20, 2003. Arquette and Jane subsequently married on June 25, 2006 at the Palazzo Contarini in Venice, Italy. In January 2009, Arquette filed for divorce from Jane on the grounds of irreconcilable differences, but the couple soon reconciled and Arquette requested to abandon the divorce petition on July 9, 2009. However, on August 13, 2010, Jane's representative announced that Arquette and Jane had decided to proceed with a divorce due to “irreconcilable differences”. The divorce was finalized on July 1, 2011. The pair were granted joint custody of their child.

Charity work

After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Arquette and childhood friend Rosetta Millington-Getty formed GiveLove, a non-profit organization supporting ecological sanitation and composting, community development projects and housing construction in Haiti. She has also worked with Eracism Foundation, Libby Ross Foundation, The Art of Elysium, and The Heart Truth. Most recently, she is doing a commercial for ABC on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for homeless dogs and cats.

In 1997, after her mother died of breast cancer, Arquette worked to raise awareness about the disease. She has run in the annual Race for the Cure, and in 1999 was the spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day, which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research and education. In April 2010, she teamed-up with welding students of the Robert Morgan Educational Center, in Miami, Florida, to build shelters in earthquake-ravaged Haiti from 20 used shipping containers.

Filmography

External links