Kate Capshaw
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Kate Capshaw
| image = Kate Capshaw, actress.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Capshaw in January 1984
| birth_name = Kathleen Sue Nail
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|11|3}}
| birth_place = Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
| alma_mater = University of Missouri
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Actress
- producer
- painter
|}}
| years_active = 1981–2001
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Robert Capshaw|1976|1980|reason=divorced}}|{{marriage|Steven Spielberg|1991}}}}
| children = 6, including Jessica, Destry, and Sasha
| relatives = Arnold Spielberg (father-in-law)
}}
Kathleen Sue Spielberg (née Nail; born November 3, 1953),{{cite book |last1=Pohlen |first1=Jerome |title=Oddball Texas |date=February 2006 |publisher=Chicago Review Press |page=89 |isbn=9781569764725 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPJ_0i9zNS8C}} known professionally as Kate Capshaw, is an American former actress and painter. She is best known for her portrayal of Willie Scott, an American nightclub singer and performer in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), directed by her eventual husband Steven Spielberg. Since then, she starred in Dreamscape (1984), Power (1986), SpaceCamp (1986), Black Rain (1989), Love Affair (1994), Just Cause (1995), The Locusts (1997), and The Love Letter (1999). Her portraiture work has been shown in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the Pérez Art Museum Miami.{{cite web| url = https://portraitcompetition.si.edu/exhibition/2019-outwin-boochever-portrait-competition/unaccompanied?lang=eng| title = UNACCOMPANIED, Kate Capshaw {{!}} 2019 {{!}} The Outwin: American Portraiture Today {{!}} Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery| work = The Outwin: American Portraiture Today {{pipe}} Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery}}{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/portraits-that-bend-the-rules-of-portraiture-in-the-outwin-2019/2019/12/11/db924a86-1619-11ea-9110-3b34ce1d92b1_story.html| title = Art review: At the National Portrait Gallery, the finalists in the 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition redefine the idea of portraiture. - The Washington Post| newspaper = The Washington Post}}{{Cite web |title=Kate Capshaw: Exclusive Tonsorial Services • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/exhibition/kate-capshaw-exclusive-tonsorial-services/ |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}
Early life
Capshaw was born Kathleen Sue Nail, the daughter of Edwin L. Nail, an airline employee.{{cite news |last1=Dickson |first1=Gordon |title=Edwin Nail, Kate Capshaw's dad, dies at 65 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram-edwin-nail/127694653/ |access-date=July 5, 2023 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=December 30, 1998 |page=Section B, Page 4|via = Newspapers.com }}
She married marketing manager Robert Capshaw in January 1976 and they had one child, Jessica Capshaw, before divorcing in 1980.{{Cite web |date=1995-02-27 |title=Pushing Limits Actress Kate Capshaw Finely Balances Work And Home Goals, Both Set High |url=https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/feb/27/pushing-limits-actress-kate-capshaw-finely/ |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=Spokesman.com |language=en}} She kept the surname Capshaw, which she used for her professional name upon becoming an actress.
Career
Capshaw moved to New York City to pursue her dream of acting, landing her first role on the soap opera The Edge of Night. After auditioning for a small role in A Little Sex, she was offered the role of the leading lady, which is when she asked for a dismissal from The Edge of Night. She starred in Dreamscape in 1984, and afterwards was directed by her then-boyfriend Armyan Bernstein in Windy City.[https://books.google.com/books?id=TFpvAH09IT8C&pg=PA142 Spielberg: The Man, the Movies, the Mythology]
She met film director and future husband Steven Spielberg upon winning the female lead as Willie Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), a prequel to Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Capshaw starred opposite Harrison Ford, who played Indiana Jones. In addition, she appeared as Andie Bergstrom, an appealing and stern yet frustrated camp instructor in the 1986 film SpaceCamp, opposite Richard Gere and Gene Hackman in Power (1986), and starred as Susanna McKaskel in The Quick and The Dead (1987) with Sam Elliott. Capshaw also starred in the spy film/romance Her Secret Life.[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/code_name_dancer/ Code Name Dancer (1987)] at Rotten Tomatoes
Capshaw had roles in several films throughout the late 1980s into the 1990s. She starred alongside Michael Douglas and Andy García in Black Rain (1989), Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne in Just Cause (1995), and Warren Beatty and Annette Bening in Love Affair (1994). She was also featured in the 1997 film The Alarmist with David Arquette and Stanley Tucci. In 1999, she starred in and produced The Love Letter.
In 2001, she starred in the made-for-cable film A Girl Thing,[https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Thing-Kate-Capshaw/dp/B00005NRNS/ "The DVD of A Girl Thing"] reviewed at Amazon with Stockard Channing, Rebecca De Mornay and Elle Macpherson.[http://www.cinema.com/news/item/318/elles-sexy-lesbian-romp.phtml "Elle's Sexy Lesbian Romp."] at Cinema.com It is her last acting role to date.
Painting practice
In 2009, Capshaw began her art studies—drawing, painting, and portraiture. She turned her interest to portraits of young people experiencing homelessness. In March 2019, three of these portraits were selected as finalists in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's prestigious juried triennial: the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Following their selection, the portraits debuted in the exhibition The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today.{{cite web |title=Unaccompanied: The Outwin |url=https://portraitcompetition.si.edu/exhibition/2019-outwin-boochever-portrait-competition/unaccompanied/ |website=Smithsonian |access-date=6 November 2023}}{{cite web |last1=Cassaday |first1=Daniel |title=Kate Capshaw's Portraits Bring Homeless Youth Out of Dark and Into View |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/kate-capshaw-homeless-youth-portraits-paintings-1234667547/ |website=ArtNews |access-date=6 November 2023 |date=12 May 2023}}
Her solo presentation Kate Capshaw: Exclusive Tonsorial Services at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, in 2024, derives from conversations with Miami Dade community leader Sergei (Sirj) Grant, a barber and entrepreneur, working towards financial education and justice for the local youth.{{Cite web |title=Kate Capshaw: Exclusive Tonsorial Services • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/exhibition/kate-capshaw-exclusive-tonsorial-services/ |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}
Personal life
During the production of the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Capshaw became close to director Steven Spielberg, whom she later married. Originally an Episcopalian, she converted to Judaism before marrying Spielberg on October 12, 1991.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/24/us/from-schindler-s-list-a-jewish-mission.html |title=From 'Schindler's List,' a Jewish Mission |first=Karen W. |last=Arenson |author-link=Karen W. Arenson |newspaper=New York Times |date=September 24, 1995 |access-date=17 December 2018 |page=1001030 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/reviews/spielberg-holocaust.html |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Film: Steven Spielberg Faces the Holocaust |first=Bernard |last=Weinraub |author-link=Bernard Weinraub |date=12 December 1993 |access-date=17 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010218130349/http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/reviews/spielberg-holocaust.html |archive-date=18 February 2001 |url-status=live }} They were married in both a civil ceremony and an Orthodox ceremony.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1RsIAQAAMAAJ |title=Spielberg: The Man, the Movies, the Mythology |first=Frank |last=Sanello |author-link=Frank Sanello |publisher=Taylor Publishing Co. |year=1996 |pages=274 |isbn=9780878339112}}
There are seven children in the Spielberg–Capshaw family.
- Jessica Capshaw – daughter from Capshaw's previous marriage to Robert Capshaw
- Max Samuel Spielberg – son from Spielberg's previous marriage to actress Amy Irving
- Theo Spielberg – son adopted by Capshaw before her marriage to Spielberg, who later also adopted him{{cite web |url=http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Celebrities/Spielberg-Steven-14300.html |title=Spielberg, Steven – Fun Facts, Answers, Factoids, Info, Information |work=Funtrivia.com |access-date=March 2, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309223135/http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Celebrities/Spielberg-Steven-14300.html |archive-date=9 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}
- Sasha Rebecca Spielberg
- Sawyer Spielberg
- Mikaela George Spielberg – adopted with Steven Spielberg{{cite news |last=Greissinger |first=Lisa Kay |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20103281,00.html |title=Passages |date=15 April 1996 |magazine=People.com |access-date=26 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071940/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20103281,00.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |publisher=Time Inc.}}
- Destry Spielberg{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/us/steven-spielberg-fast-facts |title=Steven Spielberg Fast Facts |date=11 April 2013 |work=Cable News Network |access-date=26 April 2013 |publisher=Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.}}
On April 28, 2023, Capshaw along with Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance on stage during Bruce Springsteen's show in Barcelona where they provided backing vocals and tambourine on the song "Glory Days".{{Cite web |last=Blanchett |first=Ben |date=2023-04-29 |title=Michelle Obama Joins Bruce Springsteen Onstage During Barcelona Concert |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/michelle-obama-joins-bruce-springsteen-onstage-during-barcelona-concert/ar-AA1avzvt |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=MSN.com |language=en-US}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Note |
|---|
| 1982
| Katherine Harrison | |
| 1984
| Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | |
| 1984
| Laura Cooper | |
| 1984
| Jane DeVries | |
| 1984
| Emily Reubens | |
| 1986
| Power | Sydney Betterman | |
| 1986
| Andie Bergstrom | |
| 1987
| Susanna McKaskel | |
| 1988
| Brunetta | |
| 1989
| Joyce | |
| 1990
| Mrs. Ellen McGraw | |
| 1991
| My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys | Jolie Meadows | |
| 1994
| Lynn Weaver | |
| 1995
| Laurie Prentiss Armstrong | |
| 1995
| How to Make an American Quilt | Sally Dodd | |
| 1997
| Delilah Ashford Potts | |
| 1997
| Gale Ancona | |
| 1999
| Helen MacFarquhar | Also producer |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1981
| Jinx Avery Mallory #1 | TV series |
| 1982
| Missing Children: A Mother's Story | Elaine Rogers | TV film |
| 1987
| Susanna McKaskel | TV film |
| 1987
| Her Secret Life | Annie | TV film |
| 1988
| Internal Affairs | Joanna Gates | TV film |
| 1993
| Margo Cody | TV series; 13 episodes |
| 1994
| Karen Coler | TV film |
| 1996
| Rebecka | Short film |
| 2001
| Casey Montgomery | TV film |
| 2001
| Due East | Becky Purdue | TV film |
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|0001009}}
{{Steven Spielberg|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capshaw, Kate}}
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Fort Worth, Texas
Category:Actresses from St. Louis
Category:American film actresses
Category:American soap opera actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American women painters
Category:Converts to Judaism from Protestantism
Category:Jewish American actresses