Jill Schoelen

Career

Schoelen’s theatrical debut was in the 1981 TV pilot The Best of Times, which starred Crispin Glover and Nicolas Cage. Schoelen went on to star in such movies as D.C. Cab (1983), Chiller (1985), That Was Then... This Is Now (1985), Babes in Toyland (1986), The Stepfather (1987), Billionaire Boys Club (TV miniseries 1987), Cutting Class (1989), The Phantom of the Opera: The Motion Picture (1989), Popcorn (1991), When a Stranger Calls Back (1993), and There Goes My Baby (1994).

She guest starred on episodes of T. J. Hooker, Little House on the Prairie, Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis: Murder, Sara, Hell Town, and Aaron Spelling’s The Heights (1992). In 1988, Sean Penn cast her in a dramatic play he wrote and directed, The Kindness of Women. Schoelen and Penn worked together again on stage, starring opposite each other in David Rabe’s Hurlyburly (1988/1989), in a production that David Rabe also directed.

In 2009, she released her debut album, Kelly’s Smile, a jazz album that is composed of songs related to her childhood friend, Kelly Troup, who grew up across the street from Schoelen.

Personal life

Schoelen dated Keanu Reeves during the time they starred in Babes in Toyland (1986). She was engaged to Brad Pitt for three months in 1989. In 1993, Schoelen married film composer Anthony Marinelli, and soon after retired from her acting career to be a full-time mom. Schoelen and Marinelli have two sons. In 2002 they separated and then divorced.

Radio and Podcast Appearances