- Lea Thompson is a famous actress
- She has been in the entertainment industry for many years
- Learn more about her life and career below
Lea Katherine Thompson was born on May 31, 1961, in Rochester, Minnesota. As one of five children, she studied ballet as a girl and danced professionally by age 14. She won numerous scholarships to prestigious ballet schools, however was told by Mikhail Baryshnikov that she didn't have the right body to be a prima ballerina, so she decided to switch her focus to acting.
Lea Thompson's Early Years
Thompson moved to New York at 20 years old and made her movie debut in 1983 in Jaws 3-D. Following that, came roles in the films All the Right Moves (1983), Red Dawn (1984) and The Wild Life (1984).
Lea Thompson as "Lorraine Baines" In Back to the Future
Lea's breakthrough role would come in 1985 when she was cast as "Lorraine Baines" in the Back to the Future trilogy as Micheal J. Fox's ("Marty McFly") mother. She starred in all three films and to this day, "Lorraine" is the role she is most known for.
In terms of television, Lea got the starring role of "Caroline Duffy" in the series Caroline in the City which ran from 1995 to 1999. She has made numerous other appearances in shows like Law & Order: SVU, Ed, Family Guy and Scorpion as well as starred in countless TV movies.
Lea Thompson Today
Lea starred in Switched at Birth from 2011-2017, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (2014-2017), Little Women (2018), and The Year of Spectacular Men (2018). In terms of recent projects, you can catch Lea in the film Dinner in America (2020) and Mark, Mary & Some Other People and Tricks.
Also Interesting:
Lea Thompson's Personal Life
The 63-year-old actress has been married to film director Howard Deutch since 1989. Together, they have two gorgeous daughters who are also paving their way in the entertainment industry: Zoey Deutch (who recently starred in Netflix' The Politician) and Madelyn Deutch who is an up-and-coming filmmaker!