Madeleine Stowe is a well-known actress who started out as a TV actress and made her way into Hollywood in the early 90s. She is renowned for her roles in movies such as Revenge, 12 Monkeys, Stakeout, Unlawful Entry, Last of Mohicans etc.
However, many of her fans have been wondering where the actress is today since she hasn’t been seen on the big screen in a long time.
Madeleine Stowe Bio Summary
Full name: Madeleine Marie Stowe Mora
Date of birth: August 18, 1958
Place of birth: Queen of Angels Hospital, Los Angeles, California
Zodiac sign: Leo
Age: 65 years (as of 2023)
Current residence: Los Angeles, California, USA
Height: 5′ 8″ (173 cm)
Father: Robert Stowe
Mother: Mireya Mora Stowe
Siblings: 3
Marital status: Married
Spouse name: Brian Benben (m. 1982)
Kids: May Theodora Benben
Early Life
Madeleine Marie Stowe Mora was born in Los Angeles, California on August 18, 1958. Her father, Robert Stowe, was an engineer from Oregon, and her mother, Mireya, was part of a prominent Costa Rican family. She was the oldest of three children in her family and was raised in the Eagle Rock area of LA.
Her father’s multiple sclerosis influenced her to become an introvert. She was taught the piano by Sergei Tarnowsky during her teenage years. After her piano instructor passed away in 1976, she made up her mind to become more outgoing and embrace socializing.
She attended the University of Southern California and studied cinema and journalism. While there, she was seen on the stage of the ‘Solaris,’ a theater in Beverly Hills. This led to her being chosen for acting projects before she had finished her studies.
In 1978, she first appeared in the detective show Baretta and had some cameo roles on television. Additionally, that same year, she starred as ‘Mary’ in the television film The Nativity.
Career
Madeleine Stowe had a few minor roles in films during the 70s and 80s, but it wasn’t until 1987 that her part in the crime comedy Stakeout propelled her to stardom. The movie was a huge success at the box office.
In 1991, she gained recognition after starring alongside Mark Harmon in the comedy movie Worth Winning and played a major role in the independent movie Closet Land. She was praised for her performance alongside Kurt Russell in the 1992 crime drama Unlawful Entry.
In the same year, she gained wide recognition for her role as ‘Cora Munro’ in The Last of the Mohicans with a performance that became one of her most celebrated throughout her career. This was shortly followed by her winning performance in the film Short Cuts which earned her an award.
Madeleine Stowe showcased her talent as an actor by playing a wide range of characters. In the thriller Blink, she portrayed a visually impaired musician while in Bad Girls she took on the role of a prostitute.
Additionally, she was seen in the neo-noir thriller China Moon and the science-fiction flick 12 Monkeys, which earned her a Saturn Award nomination in 1993.
In 1994, People magazine included her on their list of the “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” and the following year, Empire magazine crowned her one of the “100 Sexiest Stars in Film History”.
After having her daughter in 1986, Madeleine Stowe focused her attention on films. During the period from 1998 to 2002, she acted with John Travolta in The General’s Daughter, with Mel Gibson in We Were Soldiers, and with Sylvester Stallone in Avenging Angelo.
In 2002, she made her comeback to television with The Magnificent Ambersons. After that, she shifted her focus to her family life and began to allocate less time to performing. From 2011 to 2015, she was cast in the show Revenge as ‘Victoria Grayson’, and in 2016 she appeared in 12 Monkeys as ‘Lillian’.
Madeleine Stowe’s Personal Life
In 1982 Madeleine Stowe tied the knot with actor Brian Benben, and four years later they were blessed with the birth of their daughter, May Theodora Benben.
From 1996 to 1998, Stowe took a break from her acting profession to invest more time in her family, living with her husband and daughter at a farm in close proximity to Johnson City, Texas.
She has been a committed participant on the board of directors of the Artists for Peace and Justice Foundation. This foundation deals with the problems of destitution in several countries across the world. She went to Haiti in 2008 to help out with their cause.
Where is Madeleine Stowe today?
In 2019, Madeleine Stowe came back to television with Soundtrack, a Netflix series featuring Paul James as a man attempting to get his life back on track and Stowe as his affluent mother-in-law.
Stowe made a splashy return to television in 2023 when it was announced that she’d be playing a recurring role in the prequel series Welcome to Derry, which followed Andy Muschietti’s two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s It.
She had previously starred in a one-season musical drama that gave new interpretations to both classic and modern pop songs.
