Meg Tilly

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Birthday:

14 February 1960, Long Beach, California, USA

Birth Name:

Margaret Elizabeth Chan

Height:

168 cm

Meg Tilly was set on being a dancer, and at 17 connected to the Connecticut Ballet Company and later Throne Dance Theatre. It was in this capacity that she had her screen debut in Alan Parker's Fame (1980). Unfortunately, an injury to her back cut short her plans for a dance career, and a small appearance in the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981) turned her towards acting (her dancing skills were not all forgotten, as was evident in The Big Chill (1983) and Psycho II (1983)). She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Agnes of God (1985), and nobody doubted that she was on her way to stardom. One step on the road to that status was her being cast in Milos Forman's Amadeus (1984) as Constanza, but again her body interfered, and seven weeks into the production with her foot in a cast were more than the producers could accept, and she was replaced. Her "consolation", was a role in Forman's next project Valmont (1989), didn't do her career much good. Since then she has averaged a movie a year, and with the exception of Leaving Normal (1992), none have tapped the enormous reservoir of talent she has. Show less «

[on her retirement from acting] Do I regret quitting? Absolutely not. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I had the privilege of w...Show more »

[on her retirement from acting] Do I regret quitting? Absolutely not. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I had the privilege of watching my children grow up. I was there for the joys and the sorrows, the challenging heartbreaking times as well as the giddy, exuberant triumphs. I would not have traded those years for anything in the world. Show less «

I really enjoy acting. At home I can't even finish a sentence, and here am I reading these wonderful lines. I think it must be every housewi...Show more »

I really enjoy acting. At home I can't even finish a sentence, and here am I reading these wonderful lines. I think it must be every housewife's dream, to be an actress part-time. Show less «

I still have a problem with nuns. I follow them around like a kitten with a ball of yarn.

I'm not that fashion-conscious. A lot of time, when women are appearing to be so perfect, it's because they're a mess underneath.

If you meet people who have been successful in Hollywood, or look at their photographs, you see a haunted look in their eyes. You sense a tr...Show more »

If you meet people who have been successful in Hollywood, or look at their photographs, you see a haunted look in their eyes. You sense a trapped feeling. Show less «

[on her role in Bomb Girls (2012)] It wasn't just another job, stacking cans of tomatoes in a supermarket. I was building the bombs and the ...Show more »

[on her role in Bomb Girls (2012)] It wasn't just another job, stacking cans of tomatoes in a supermarket. I was building the bombs and the ammunition that my sons were using. If I built a faulty one, it might mean that they might die. There was a real sense that we needed to do the best job that we possibly can. At least for my character, it was vitally important. It was almost obsessive: that if she does her best she will keep her kids safe. Show less «

[re 30th anniversary reunion of The Big Chill (1983) cast in 2013] It's wonderful, I'm so happy they had the idea to bring us all together t...Show more »

[re 30th anniversary reunion of The Big Chill (1983) cast in 2013] It's wonderful, I'm so happy they had the idea to bring us all together to do this. It's such a gift, I get to see everybody again and I haven't seen everybody in so long. To see their happy smiling faces, that was such a blessing, I'm really grateful. Show less «

[on her Chinese heritage] Unfortunately, we were not raised to respect our Chinese history and tradition. My mother and father divorced in 1...Show more »

[on her Chinese heritage] Unfortunately, we were not raised to respect our Chinese history and tradition. My mother and father divorced in 1963, when I was three. My mother was quite bitter. She spoke very angrily about him and everything Chinese. If ever you did anything bad or selfish, it was "the Chinese coming out in you." We were told that we must never tell anyone that we were half Chinese, because if people knew they wouldn't let their children play with us... The difficult part was growing up, feeling like I had to reject and deny and turn my back on half of what I was. The wonderful part is, that is behind me now. Things are different... You didn't know I was Asian, because for many years, I had my mother's warnings echoing in my ears. I didn't tell anyone. I was grown, but still, I was scared. Thought it would limit me, the roles I would be offered. It wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I started to tell the people closest to me. When they didn't run in horror, I got braver and spoke of it more. What a relief it was to finally acknowledge all of me. Show less «