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.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Gracen
Famous quotes containing the words early, beauty, acting and/or careers:
“[In early adolescence] she becomes acutely aware of herself as a being perceived by others, judged by others, though she herself is the harshest judge, quick to list her physical flaws, quick to undervalue and under-rate herself not only in terms of physical appearance but across a wide range of talents, capacities and even social status, whereas boys of the same age will cite their abilities, their talents and their social status pretty accurately.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“When the delicious beauty of lineaments loses its power, it is because a more delicious beauty has appeared; that an interior and durable form has been disclosed.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I could live without acting.... Acting is a gift I’ve received. And I’m grateful for it and I enjoy it. But it’s not the main point of my life. It never was.”
—Jeanne Moreau (b. 1928)
“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.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)