Ann Magnuson

Ann Magnuson (January 4, 1956) is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer who first gained prominence in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Charleston, West Virginia and educated at George Washington High School there. After She graduating from Denison University in 1978, she moved to New York City, New York and managed Club 57 in Manhattan between 1979 and 1989 while pursuing a performance career. Among other efforts, she sang in a short-lived all-girl percussion group, Pulsallama, which produced a 1982 single, "The Devil Lives In My Husband's Body]", a housewife's lament of a spouse who appears to be possessed but in fact suffers from Tourette's Syndrome.

Magnuson made her movie debut in the 1982 film Vortex, and garnered some attention playing a sexy victim of David Bowie's vampire in The Hunger, in which her character and co-star Susan Sarandon shared what became a cult-classic female lovemaking scene.

Prominence

A fixture of the Manhattan downtown club scene of the 1980s, Magnuson gained attention with her role as a snarky [cigarette girl]] in director Susan Seidelman's low-budget independent film hit Desperately Seeking Susan, set in that milieu and which also helped launch the career of singer Madonna. Magnuson went on to star in Seidelman's Making Mr. Right (1987), a poorly received science-fiction romance about an android played by John Malkovich, leading to a film career as a character actor, often playing the funky, spunky, cute but smart and smart-mouthed friend or career woman.

Concurrently, Magnuson developed an underground following as lead vocalist of the band Bongwater, a collaboration with producer-musician Mark Kramer. She wrote most of the lyrics for the band's 1991 record album The Power of Pussy, while Kramer composed the music.

Later career

Magnuson played the editor-of-chief of a Manhattan magazine in the television sitcom Anything But Love, opposite Jamie Lee Curtis and comedian Richard Lewis, from 19??-19??, and was a regular on Wanda at Large in 19??. She played a recurring role on the cult-hit, surrealistic comedy-drama The Adventures of Pete and Pete on the children's cable television network Nickelodeon.

Magnuson played snarly real estate agent with Jodie Foster in Panic Room, David Bowie's sexy victim in The Hunger, a madam in Tank Girl, Mel Gibson's "money junkie" ex-wife in Tequila Sunrise and Tom Berenger's estranged but horny ex-girlfriend in Love at Large. She also played a secretary in Clear and Present Danger and appeared in Cabin Boy.

Solo albums

• 2006 Pretty Songs & Ugly Stories
• 1995 The Luv Show

Filmography

• Open House (2004)
• Ghostlight (2003)
• The United States of Leland (2003)
• Night at the Golden Eagle (2002)
• Panic Room (2002)
• Glitter (2001)
• The Caveman's Valentine (2001)
• Housebound (2000)
• Love & Sex (2000)
• Friends & Lovers (1999)
• I Woke Up Early the Day I Died(1998)
• Small Soldiers (1998)
• Hugo Pool (1997)
• Still Breathing (1997)
• Levitation (1997)
• Before and After (1996)
• Tank Girl (1995)
• Clear and Present Danger (1994)
• Cabin Boy (1994)
• Love at Large (1990)
• Checking Out (1989)
• Tequila Sunrise (1988)
• Mondo New York (1988)
• A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon]] (1988)
• Macaroni & Me (1988)
• Making Mr. Right (1987)
• The Critical Years (1987)
• Sleepwalk (1986)
• Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
• Perfect Strangers (1984)
• The Hunger (1983)
• Vortex (1982)

References

• Ann Magnuson official site
• TheGazz.com: "My J.T. LeRoy Story: Part 1" and "Part2", by Ann Magnuson. Reprinted, abridged, in Utne Reader (Feb. 2007), pp. 96-98.
• Ann Magnuson at IMDb