Wendy Crewson

After spending most of the 1980s in television, Wendy Crewson moved to a number of high-profile feature films in the 1990s. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Crewson attended Canada's Queens University and continued studying acting in London, England, after college. Back in North America, Crewson sharpened her versatile talent in a number of TV productions, including Heartsounds (1984), Murder: By Reason of Insanity (1985), and Robert Altman's acclaimed political satire Tanner '88 (1988), starring Altman regular and Crewson's husband-to-be Michael Murphy. Though Crewson continued to do TV in the 1990s, including The Lives of Girls and Women (1994), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), and At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story (1998), she increasingly branched out into features. Making her mark in a small part in The Doctor (1991), Crewson moved on to larger roles as the mother of a psychotic Macauley Culkin in The Good Son (1993), Tim Allen's ex-wife in the comedy hit The Santa Clause (1994), and Peter Gallagher's unfortunate blind date in the tearjerker To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996). After playing a tough lawyer in the crime thriller Gang Related (1997), Crewson further displayed her ability to convey strength as Harrison Ford's undaunted First Lady in Wolfgang Petersen's summer blockbuster Air Force One (1997). Following a substantial role in the independent romantic comedy Better Than Chocolate (1999), Crewson seemed to be on the verge of adding another hit to her resumé as one of Robin Williams' original owners in the fantasy Bicentennial Man (1999), but the film failed to live up to box-office expectations.