Lisa Eichhorn

Lisa Eichhorn is an American actress, writer, and producer born on February 4, 1952, in Glens Falls, New York, to Frank and Dorothy Eichhorn. Her father worked in public relations for Western Electric, and she grew up alongside two brothers and two sisters. The family relocated to Westbury, Long Island, before settling in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1958, where Eichhorn attended Mt. Penn High School. She began her higher education at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, concentrating on drama and English, then spent a year at St. Peter's College, Oxford, on a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship. She subsequently trained at RADA, graduating in 1977.

Upon completing her training, Eichhorn moved directly into professional theatre, playing Ophelia in Hamlet at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch. Regional stage work followed, including Stop the World - I Want to Get Off at the Queen's Theatre, Rosalind in As You Like It at the Bolton Octagon, and The Fatal Weakness opposite Elaine Stritch at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. She also appeared in The Wings of the Dove for the BBC during this period.

Her screen career began in December 1977 when she auditioned for director John Schlesinger, persuading him she was British to secure the role of Lancashire shop-girl Jean Moreton in the wartime romance Yanks, released in 1979. After winning the part, she disclosed her American nationality, though Schlesinger retained her regardless. The performance earned Eichhorn two Golden Globe nominations, for Best Actress and Best New Star. The day filming on Yanks concluded, she traveled to Boston to portray Gertrude Wentworth in Merchant-Ivory's The Europeans, a role that brought her a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Eichhorn subsequently relocated to Hollywood, where she appeared opposite Treat Williams in Why Would I Lie? and was cast as Maureen Cutter in Cutter's Way alongside Jeff Bridges and John Heard. The American Film Institute described her performance as Alex Cutter's alcoholic wife as the most underrated of the decade, and she received the Best Actress Award in the American division at the Deauville Film Festival. In 1980, she was cast opposite Gene Hackman in the Universal feature All Night Long, but was replaced three weeks into principal photography when Barbra Streisand's agent persuaded director Jean-Claude Tramont to recast the role. That same year, Eichhorn traveled to Poland to shoot the CBS/TimeLife production The Wall. Subsequent film and television credits included Wildrose, Opposing Force, East Lynne with Martin Shaw, and The Weather in the Streets with Michael York and Joanna Lumley for the BBC.

Eichhorn made her New York theatre debut in 1986 opposite Nathan Lane in The Common Pursuit, while simultaneously playing Elizabeth Carlyle on the daytime drama All My Children for a year. In 1984, she had starred in Golden Boy at the Royal National Theatre in London. She was invited to become a Life Member of the Actors Studio in 1988, and later began a recurring collaboration with director Greg Hersov and writer Alex Finlayson at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, starting with the award-winning production Winding the Ball.

Her Broadway career spanned 1990 to 1993. She made her Broadway debut at the Belasco Theatre in 1990 in The Speed of Darkness, appearing alongside Len Cariou, Stephen Lang, and Robert Sean Leonard. She subsequently starred in Any Given Day at the Longacre Theatre, opposite Sada Thompson and Justin Kirk. During this period she also appeared in the film A Modern Affair opposite Stanley Tucci.

In 1996, Eichhorn returned to Los Angeles and continued her association with the Royal Exchange Manchester, appearing in two further Hersov-Finlayson productions, Tobaccoland and Misfits, in which she played Marilyn Monroe. She returned to New York in 2000 for theatre, television, and teaching work before relocating to London in 2003 to focus on writing and producing. In 2004, she returned to the Royal Exchange Manchester to play Ouisa in Six Degrees of Separation and portrayed Joy Gresham opposite Julian Glover's C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands at Salisbury Playhouse. Her London theatre credits include Women of Lockerbie and Enduring Freedom, and her British television appearances include Spooks, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, and Cracker. In 2007, Eichhorn produced and co-wrote Defenders of Riga, which served as Latvia's official submission to the 2009 Academy Awards.