Phoebe Cates

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Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Phoebe Cates (born July 16, 1963) is an American film actress who, by her description, has retired from acting to be a full-time mother.

She is the daughter of Jewish director Joseph Cates and his Filipina wife of mixed Chinese and Russian Jewish descent, accounting for her exotic appearance. She is also the niece of Gilbert Cates, also a director. She is a native of New York City, where she attended the Children's Professional Acting School. She is the goddaughter of actress Joan Crawford.

Cates's birth name was Phoebe Belle Katz. She followed in the steps of her father and uncle in changing her surname for professional reasons.

She became known in the early 1980's for her role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, in which she stripped off the top of her bikini in a slow-motion fantasy scene that was playing in the mind of Judge Reinhold's character. [1]

That same year, in the movie Paradise, and in contrast to the coyness of Brooke Shields in the similarly themed and more popular The Blue Lagoon, Cates appeared nude in several scenes, although she was said to have used a body double in some of the close-ups. In a People magazine article, Cates said she had expressed reservations about this situation to her father, who advised her to play it in whatever way she felt was artistically honest. [2]

Her later roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences. Her face made the covers of teen magazines such as Tiger Beat, 16, Teen Beat and others.

In 1989 she married actor Kevin Kline, whom she had originally met while auditioning for the part that Meg Tilly ultimately won in The Big Chill. In 1991 she was slated to be in Father of the Bride, but became pregnant and couldn't take the role.

Kline and Cates make their home in New York City and have two children, Owen and Greta. They all appeared in Cates' most recent film, The Anniversary Party.

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