Born in rural southern Illinois, Karen spent her first 10 years
traveling around the country with her mother, her FBI agent father,
and two sisters. At 17, after graduating from high school, Karen
moved to New York to study art and design. She later attended the
University of Maryland and spent time traveling through South and
Central America. In 1974 Karen joined a theater group and 3 years
later moved back to New York and studied with the Lee Strasberg
Institute. In 1978, she made her major film debut in 'National
Lampoon's Animal House ' and Hollywood took notice. Her next big
break came in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)' where she created
the role of Marion Ravenwood. Karen also debuted on Broadway in
1982 in 'The Monday After the Miracle'. After a few small films and
other stage appearances, she made the successful science fiction
movie 'Starman (1984)'. After that her movie career waned as she
preferred to work on the stage. She married Kale Browne in 1988 and
had Nicholas, her first child in 1990. Since the birth of Nicholas,
Karen has done smaller film roles and TV movies to concentrate on
raising Nicholas.
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– Moved back to the BIG APPLE in 1977, working variously as a waitress, house painter, bookstore clerk, and chief sandwich maker in a wine-and-cheese shop.
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– Lived with musician Stephen Bishop.
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– Overcame temporary blindness caused by Kerato Conjunctivitis in 1978.
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– Voted one of the most beautiful women in the world by the readers of Harpers Bazaar Magazine in 1983.
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– Considered for the role of Princess Lea in STAR WARS (1977), later cast in the Lucas-produced RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981).
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– Has completed a screenplay based on Walker Percy's novel The Second Coming, which she anticipates (4-96) will be made into a movie.
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– In the mid-1970's, when she lived in Washington, D.C., one of Karen's boyfriends was writer Terence Winch. He wrote about their relationship in a story called The Age of Transition in his book Contenders.
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– At the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York City, a row of actor's booths are set up with video screens and earphones, enabling visitors to hear, among others, Karen Allen talking about her work in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
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– Founded Berkshire Mountain Yoga in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in June of 1995.
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– Has her own clothing label Imagine for which she designs and knits sweaters, hats, and scarves. She teaches advanced knitting, sweater design and multi-color knitting at schools in upstate New York and western Massachusetts.
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