Early Life, Beauty and Acting Careers
She was born on April 3, 1961 in Ozark, Arkansas, and raised in Booneville, Arkansas, the daughter of Jimmy Young Ward and Patricia "Pat" (Murphy) Ward. She later moved to Russellville, Arkansas with her family, where she graduated from Russellville High School in 1979. She won the titles of Miss Arkansas in 1981 and Miss America in 1982. She used her Miss America scholarship money to study acting at HB Studios in New York City before moving to Hollywood to pursue a film and television career. During this time, Gracen says she had a one-night stand with future President Bill Clinton. She posed nude for Playboy magazine's May 1992 issue.
She built an acting career, and in 1989, while filming Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, she met actor Brendan Hughes and they married soon after. The couple divorced in 1994. Before that she was married to Jon Birmingham. She has since remarried and has a daughter.
She made her professional feature film debut in Three For The Road with Charlie Sheen. Her film credits also include a featured role in Marked For Death opposite Steven Seagal, Pass The Ammo with Tim Curry, and the CBS feature 83 Hours Till Dawn with Peter Strauss and Robert Urich. Gracen starred in Lower Level and Discretion Assured with Michael York.
On television, Gracen has appeared in Shelley Duvall's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sidney Sheldon's The Sands of Time and Death of the Incredible Hulk. She also appeared with a starring role in the series Extreme for NBC and the syndicated series Renegade and Queen of Swords.
Elizabeth Gracen's best-known acting role has been as the character of the Immortal Amanda in the series Highlander: The Series, and its spin-off from that character, Highlander: The Raven. However, nowadays she is focused on writing and directing. Gracen made her directorial debut with a documentary short feature called The Damn Deal. The film is an intimate portrait of three young drag queens from her home state who compete in female impersonator beauty pageants.
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Famous quotes containing the words early, beauty, acting and/or careers:
“For with this desire of physical beauty mingled itself early the fear of death—the fear of death intensified by the desire of beauty.”
—Walter Pater 1839–1894, British writer, educator. originally published in Macmillan’s Magazine (Aug. 1878)
“The chariest maid is prodigal enough
If she unmask her beauty to the moon.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Often, when there is a conflict between parent and child, at its very hub is an expectation that the child should be acting differently. Sometimes these expectations run counter what is known about children’s growth. They stem from remembering oneself, but usually at a slightly older age.”
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“So much of the trouble is because I am a woman. To me it seems a very terrible thing to be a woman. There is one crown which perhaps is worth it all—a great love, a quiet home, and children. We all know that is all that is worthwhile, and yet we must peg away, showing off our wares on the market if we have money, or manufacturing careers for ourselves if we haven’t.”
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