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Alison Doody

1966 (59) • Acting

Alison Doody (born November 11, 1966) is an Irish actress and model. She is the youngest of three children. She was educated in a convent, where she gained a passion for the arts. She later studied at the National College of Fine Arts in Dublin, but left because she lacked the motivation and thought she would take a year off to think it out. Meanwhile, while sitting in a café with friends, she was approached by a still photographer who asked her if she would be interested to model. Thinking she could use the pocket money, she said yes. Modeling proved to be both fun and lucrative, and very soon she did it professionally. Her modeling contracts led to commercial work, which would take her around the world. One day, a casting director saw her work and suggested she try acting instead. She was sent to London at age 19, where she quickly won an audition to appear in the new James Bond film, A View to a Kill (1985). She so loved acting that she pursued a career in that direction. After her first film, she shot a few TV dramas in London and in Dublin, but her big break came when she was cast as Austrian seductress Dr. Elsa Schneider in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Apparently she made a huge impression on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who loved her great sense of humor and her Grace Kelly looks. After Indiana Jones, which introduced her to Hollywood and to the United States, she was chosen to replace Cybill Shepherd as spokeswoman for L'Oréal. After that she shot a few B-movies in the United States, but at one point felt she missed Ireland too much, so she went back to Dublin. In 1994, she put her career on hold to spend more time with media heir Gavin O'Reilly, whom she had been dating for two years. In 1996 they married, and later had two children. In 2002, she was asked to cameo in the 'Michael Caine (I)_ comedy Les acteurs (2003), and there she regained a lust for the movie industry. The following summer, she shot Allan Quatermain et la pierre des ancêtres (2004) with co-starPatrick Swayze, and it's then that the whole ball started rolling again. In 2005, she and her husband divorced and she decided to re-launch her stalled career, but she quickly realized how difficult it was to break into this kind of business for a second time, especially after ten years away from the camera. Recently she appeared in the short film Benjamin's Struggle (2005), directed by newcomer James Breese, and played a role in the well-known British series Meurtres en sommeil (2000). In a recent interview, she said she was thrilled to be acting again, but added that she wasn't willing to accept anything for the sake of working. She is determined to find the right part, but she also wants to do different things: "I'm fed up playing the nasty Nazi. I'd like to do something quite extreme."

Known For

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

79%

Elsa

1989

RRR

77%

Cassandra Buxton

2022

The Storyteller

82%

Sapsorrow

1988

King Solomon's Mines

63%

Elizabeth Maitland

2004

The Rising Hawk

59%

Rada Berkut

2019

We Still Kill the Old Way

61%

Susan Taylor

2014

Taffin

56%

Charlotte

1988

Waking the Dead

72%

Katherine Keane

2001

RRR: Behind & Beyond

75%

Self

2024

The Unofficial Science of Indiana Jones

60%

Self

2024

RRR

77%

Cassandra Buxton

2022

Muse

Grace

2019

The Rising Hawk

59%

Rada Berkut

2019

Division 19

58%

Neilsen

2017

Brother

64%

Grace

2016

We Still Kill the Old Way

61%

Susan Taylor

2014

Beaver Falls

64%

Pam

2011

Billy & Chuck

60%

Mother

2011

The Rapture

40%

Professor Alison Hayes

2010

Benjamin's Struggle

70%
2005

King Solomon's Mines

63%

Elizabeth Maitland

2004

Indiana Jones: Making the Trilogy

79%

Self

2003

The Actors

56%

Alison Doody

2003

Waking the Dead

72%

Katherine Keane

2001

Temptation

44%

Lee Reddick

1994

Major League II

57%

Flannery

1994

Selling Hitler

80%

Gina Heidemann

1993

Ring of the Musketeers

40%

Ann-Marie Athos

1992

Duel of Hearts

70%

Lady Caroline Faye

1992

Selling Hitler

70%

Gina Heidemann

1991

Women in Tropical Places

100%

Celia Jones

1990

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

79%

Elsa

1989

The Storyteller: Sapsorrow

Sapsorrow

1988

The Storyteller

82%

Sapsorrow

1988

Taffin

56%

Charlotte

1988

The Secret Garden

77%

Lilias

1987

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