Keener's sister, Elizabeth Keener, is also an actress and a real estate agent working for Sotheby's in Los Angeles.[citation needed]
Keener attended Wheaton College, in Norton, Massachusetts. She majored in American Studies, also enrolling in a theater course. Her first theatrical production was the Wendy Wasserstein play Uncommon Women and Others, during her junior year at Wheaton. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College in 1983.[9]
Career
Keener had a supporting role as Lt. Cricket Sideris in the television series Ohara. The series ran from January 1987 to May 1988.
Her first film appearance was one line in About Last Night... (1986). Although she struggled professionally over the next few years, one project had an unexpected dividend: Keener met her future husband, actor Dermot Mulroney, in 1987 while working on Survival Quest (1989), after Mulroney became stuck while attempting to scale a cliff.
She also guest starred as an artist on an episode of Seinfeld called "The Letter". She played Jerry's girlfriend, an artist who painted a famous portrait of Kramer. Keener then earned her first starring role, in Johnny Suede, with the then-unknown Brad Pitt. Her performance gained critical acclaim and earned her first Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. She went on to work with director Tom Dicillo again, in Living in Oblivion (1995). Two years later, she was once again nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Walking and Talking, an independent cult-comedy film directed by Nicole Holofcener.
Keener starred in the six-episode HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero, based on the 1999 nonfiction book of the same name by Lisa Belkin.[11][12] It aired in August 2015.[13] In 2016, Keener starred in the independent film Unless.[14][15]
In 2017, Keener starred as Missy Armitage in the racially themed horror film Get Out,[16] which was a critical and commercial success.[17][18]
Throughout her career, Keener has developed a reputation for succeeding in complex roles,[5] often portraying desolate, bittersweet women "who come across as empty or unfulfilled in their relationships or their creative endeavors", effortlessly earning sympathy from audiences in both protagonist and antagonist roles.[22] Director Rebecca Miller said that Keener is "very good at playing disgruntled", a designation about which Keener explained, "Anger is not a bad thing"; she finds comfort in playing roles of this nature because "It doesn't go hand in hand with the mode of behaviour that's ladylike or proper or dignified."[23] Nate Williams of ComingSoon.net deemed Keener "one of the most interesting performers in the game" as of 2019 due to her willingness "to embrace different roles", describing her as "A dramatic actor with no problem playing strange characters".[22]
Keener gravitates towards roles in independent films, and opts for smaller character roles on rare occasions when she agrees to appear in larger studio ventures, which Entertainment Weekly critic Missy Schwartz believes "she inhabits more comfortably than flashier ones."[4] Amanda McCorquodale, contributing to the Miami New Times, wrote that Keener regularly plays smart, neurotic women in independent films, likening her body of work to Woody Allen heroines.[24]Rotten Tomatoes crowned Keener "one of the queens of 1990s American independent cinema",[25] while The Independent called her "A darling of the independent film world".[23] Despite commending her diverse yet carefully cultivated roles, The Independent observed that most of Keener's studio roles have "barely registered" among critics and audiences.[23] Williams believes that Keener's skillset and versatility have allowed her to work with some of the industry's best filmmakers.[22] Schwartz wrote that directors such as Neil LaBute (Your Friends & Neighbors, 1998) and Steven Soderbergh (Full Frontal, 2002) have consistently "put her unusual beauty and trademark dry wit to good use."[4]
Keener seldom gives interviews, believing that overexposure "becomes a dirty business".[4] The actress is known for being notoriously press-shy, and refuses to refer to herself as "famous" despite her success in the film industry.[4] In 2010, Inside Jersey contributor Stephen Whitty observed that, throughout a decade of interviewing the actress, Keener had always been open to commenting about her collaborators, both directors and co-stars, but often refused to be interviewed about herself, considering her a shy person who values her privacy.[5] In 2014, the Montreal Gazette journalist T'Cha Dunlevy selected Keener as his most memorable interview of the year, during which he admitted to mostly remembering laughing.[26] Dunlevy described the actress as "a consummate pro who has brought charisma and soul to projects ranging from" goofball comedies to blockbuster films.[26] Keener has continued to enjoy a reputation "as a both charming and well respected actress".[25]
Personal life
Keener married actor Dermot Mulroney in 1990. They have a son, Clyde, born in 1999, who is a singer.[10] Mulroney filed for divorce in June 2007, citing irreconcilable differences[27] and the divorce became final on December 19, 2007.[28][29]
^"Divorce papers"(PDF). Los Angeles County Superior Court. Extra. October 30, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
^Anderson, Matt (February 13, 2011). "Thelma & Louise". Movie Habit. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
^ abc"Catherine Keener (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 9, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.