Born on June 24^th of 1950, Nancy was the daughter of a Sergeant from Yonkers, New York.    At a young age Nancy Allen trained for a dancing career at the High School of Performing Arts, and then attended Jose Quintano's School for Young Professionals. In dozens of TV commercials from the age of 15, Nancy made her first film appearance in 1962, at the age of 12 in a movie named A Hand in my Pocket.  Later she appeared in 1973 in the movie The  Last Detail with Jack Nicholson.  Three years later, she set the standard for all future "bitch-goddess teenagers" as Chris Hargensen in Stephen King´s Carrie, taken to the big screen by Director Brian De Palma. Nancy Allen then married De Palma.  She next appeared in Steven Spielberg’s I Want to Hold Your Hand (1976); for the next few years she appeared only in De Palma's films: Home Movies (1979), Dressed to Kill (1980), and she starred with John Travolta in Blow-Out  (1981).

  After her divorce from De Palma in 1984, Nancy's film opportunities were supposedly narrowed, but then she surprised the whole world in 1987 when she performed as Officer Anne Lewis in the Sci-Fi cult film RoboCop, along with Peter Weller.  Here she set another standard as a tough but at the same time feminine policewoman, whose sex wouldn’t interfere with her actions. After the success of RoboCop, she performed as Patricia Gardner in the second sequel in the saga of Poltergeist. She came back in RoboCop2 1990 and in order to get more involved with the character Nancy Allen learned martial arts and police training for real. She returned again in RoboCop3 in 1993, though her co-Star Peter Weller didn’t this time. In 1993, Nancy Allen joined several other veteran stars in Acting on Impulse, Also, she married Actor Craig Shoemaker, in the same year (he has a small role in that movie). A few years later she divorced Craig and some time after she married again with Randy Bailey (builder and contractor, not related to the showbusiness)  Lately she has appeared in some diverse films: Dusting Cliff 7 (1997) Secret of the Andes (1998), Circuit (2001), and she had a guest appearance in Steven Soderbergh´s Out of Sight in 1998.   Her last performance was for the TV show Law & Order Special Victims Unit, in the Episode "Escape" aired on December 2nd, 2003.  Nancy Allen has recently appeared in several documentaries about her most famous films:

Acting Carrie (2001)  DVD

BackStory: RoboCop(2001)   TV

Dressed to Kill (2000) DVD

E.T. True Hollywood Stories: The Curse of Poltergeist (2002) TV

    We, her Fans want to see her more often, she is a remarkable Actress that should be on the big screen these days.  Aswell as her talent, she loves to have friends over, to cook, she loves dogs! She is a very nice person with her co-stars, she always speaks good things about them  "Because of how good he is at this job, that made it really easy for me" Talking about Peter Weller in 1988, in the documentary Shooting RoboCop.   Robert Burke (RoboCop3) in the interview “Cop on a hot steel suit” published by Starlog in 1991, says Nancy was a helpful partner for him to play the role of RoboCop, as always Nancy talks so well of her co-star there: “Robert is a delight to work with; I like him a lot, He has a nice personality and a nice way about him, and a great sense of humor” 

Nancy Allen, interested in projecting the image of a strong woman, managed to get away from the victim roles she was always offered, she also was able to get away from the stereotype of the beautiful but dumb woman in most action films..and she did it by herself, So, if theres anyone that still thinks her career has to thank her ex-husband Director Brian De Palma, no way!  As a fun fact, the  role of Anne Lewis in the movie RoboCop was going to be performed by actress Stephanie Zimbalist, who left the production, two weeks before they started to shoot.  When Nancy Allen came to the set, Director Paul Verhoeven says everyone moaned.."is she going to play Anne Lewis?"   Mr. Verhoeven always trusted Nancy could play the role, but he asked her to cut her beautiful curly hair, she had it cut eight times, before the Director was satisfied, "I was close to a mental breakdown!" said Nancy laughing when she remembers the first haircuts didnt even have a style at all.  Nancy had to learn how to run, walk and talk as a strong policewoman..in the sequel to RoboCop, RoboCop2, she even learned martial arts and visited police precints, to get more involved with her character...She is an excellent actress that can keep up with the job..Recently she talked about her role in Poltergeist III and she said she was afraid to go to the set every time she was called she used to think:"Here comes my execution!" ..because Director Gary Sherman was putting too much pressure on her and her co-star Tom Skerrit in very difficult scenes..but she gave a great performance despite the fact of the dangerous scenes and the fact that the movie had to be finished without the main star, Heather O´Rourke, who sadly died at the age of 12, and the movie not being well accepted by the fans of the saga. RoboCop fans, on the other hand thought she looked amazing as Pat, still wearing the look of Anne Lewis.

  Through her performances as Chris Hargensen in Carrie, in 1976, as Liz Blake in Dressed To Kill in 1980 and as Anne Lewis in RoboCop in 1987, Nancy Allen has never been nominated for an Academy Award, and  she was only nominated for a Golden Globe in 1981, for her performance in Dressed to Kill, but she didnt win. Considering some of the recent female performances that have won academy awards,  it seems unfair to note that Miss Allen has never been awarded.

   Nancy Allen is an environmentalist that traded her Volvo car for an Hybrid car in order to set the example, too, she is an activist against breast Cancer along with her friend Actress Wendie Jo Sperber (I wanna hold your hand 1979, Back to the Future 1987) Mrs. Sperber created the fundation WeSpark and Nancy Allen is an active member.  She has been seen in many charity events in company of Emily, her stepdaughter they are very close.  Her last appearance on TV was on the Inside E! story of her Co-Star John Travolta and the A&E Biography of Travolta too both appearances in 2004.  Right now she is interested in getting beyond the role of actor.  Nowadays Nancy Allen lives a quiet life along with her family and friends somewhere in the USA.

Written by Eva Rojano and reviewed by Derek Hazell.

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