Jill Schoelen
Biography
Jill Marie Schoelen (born March 21, 1963) is an American actress. A more unconventional husky-voiced "scream queen" heroine of the 1980s was Jill Schoelen, daughter of well-known fashion designer Dorothy Schoelen. Born and raised in Burbank, she studied at the Acting for Life Theatre in Burbank and started off on TV as a teen in the Fame-influenced TV pilot called Best of Times (1981) (TV) starring the up-and-coming Nicolas Cage and Crispin Glover. She gained in experience with a number of innocuous films geared mostly toward the young, including D.C. Cab (1983), Thunder Alley (1985) and Hot Moves (1984). The dark-eyed, black-haired pretty with the trademark bangs wouldn't find her horror niche until hooking up with Wes Craven and his TV movie Chiller (1985) (TV). From there she scored big with the cult shocker The Stepfather (1987) wherein she played the resourceful stepdaughter terrorized by the lecherous, meek-appearing Terry O'Quinn as the title monster.
The sleeper hit put Jill on the map with a seemingly solid future, continuing on with The Phantom of the Opera (1989), this time keeping company opposite Freddy Krueger inhabiter Robert Englund as her deranged pursuer. But a few bumps in the road with such lowgrade fodder as Curse II: The Bite (1989), Cutting Class (1989) and Popcorn (1991) put a permanent damper on her career, despite coming back with a bit of grit in the thriller TV movie When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) (TV). Her object-of-a-stalker days behind her after filming Not Again! (1996), she settled comfortably back and raised two children with husband/musician/composer Anthony Marinelli.
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Full filmography
- Murder, She Wrote (1984) as Flora Gerakaris
- Diagnosis: Murder (1993) as Becky Garfield
- Little House on the Prairie (1974) as Jane Canfield
- T. J. Hooker (1982) as Kelly Hobbs
- Trauma Center (1983) as Leslie
- Hell Town (1985) as Shelley
- The Stepfather (1987) as Stephanie Maine
- The Heights (1992) as Betty B
- Sara (1985) as Emily
- Cutting Class (1989) as Paula Carson
- Popcorn (1991) as Maggie
- Hot Moves (1984) as Julie Ann
- Billionaire Boys Club (1987) as Amy Whitehall
- Babes in Toyland (1986) as Mary Piper / Mary Contrary
- D.C. Cab (1983) as Claudette
- There Goes My Baby (1994) as Babette
- When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) as Julia Jenz
- Shattered Spirits (1986) as Allison
- The Phantom of the Opera (1989) as Christine Day
- That Was Then... This Is Now (1985) as Angela Shepard
- Thunder Alley (1985) as Beth
- Curse II: The Bite (1989) as Lisa Snipes
- Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story (2022) as Self
- A Taboo Identity (2017) as Herself