Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes
Gena Rowlands

Gena Rowlands

Highest Rated: 100% Love Streams (1984)

Lowest Rated: 22% Taking Lives (2004)

Birthday: Jun 19, 1930

Birthplace: Madison, Wisconsin, USA

When actor Gena Rowlands arrived in Hollywood in the 1950s, she could easily have opted to take the Hollywood starlet route. But she shared a creative vision with filmmaker and husband John Cassavetes; preferring instead to use her stunning, camera-loving facial features and natural acting style in unglamorous roles in groundbreaking independent films that launched an entire movement. Devoted to the idea of unearthing complex human emotions rather than painting characters with a one-dimensional Hollywood brush, Rowlands was a key factor in Cassavetes' low budget, documentary-style dramas "Faces" (1968), "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974) and "Opening Night" (1977). Whether playing a suburban housewife or a successful entertainer, Rowlands took risks with unconventional characters who dared to look inwards and question the unfulfilled promises of the status quo. From her acclaimed, Oscar-nominated roles on the 1970s art house circuit, Rowlands spent her later career lending authenticity to more mainstream fare, with Golden Globe and Emmy-winning roles as eccentric mothers and middle-aged women in crisis in television movies and theatrical releases.

Highest rated movies

100% 88% Love Streams
96% 90% Opening Night
93% 85% Lonely Are the Brave
92% 73% A Child Is Waiting
91% 79% Gloria 89% 91% A Woman Under the Influence
86% 84% Paris, je t'aime
85% 87% Faces

Filmography

Movies

Credit
55% 56% Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks Lily Harrison (Character) $12.5K 2014
No Score Yet 14% Parts Per Billion Esther (Character) - 2014
No Score Yet 33% Yellow Unknown (Character) - 2012
No Score Yet No Score Yet Olive Tess M Powell (Character) - 2011
No Score Yet 50% What if God Were the Sun? Melissa Eisenbloom (Character) - 2007
64% 62% Broken English Vivien Wilder-Mann (Character) $955.6K 2007
86% 84% Paris, je t'aime Gena (Character),
Writer
$4.9M 2006
37% 58% The Skeleton Key Violet Devereaux (Character) $47.8M 2005
54% 85% The Notebook Allie Calhoun (Character) $81.0M 2004
22% 54% Taking Lives Mrs. Asher (Character) $32.7M 2004
No Score Yet 67% The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie Mrs. Evelyn Ritchie (Character) - 2003
No Score Yet 79% Charms for the Easy Life Charlie Kate Birch (Character) - 2002
75% 63% Hysterical Blindness Virginia Miller (Character) - 2002
No Score Yet No Score Yet Wild Iris Minnie Brinn (Character) - 2001
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Color of Love: Jacey's Story Georgia Porter (Character) - 2000
50% No Score Yet The Weekend Laura Ponti (Character) $31.4K 1999
No Score Yet No Score Yet Best Friends for Life Mrs. Harriet Cahill (Character) - 1998
75% 79% The Mighty Susan 'Gram' Pinneman (Character) $2.6M 1998
27% 72% Hope Floats Ramona Calvert (Character) $60.0M 1998
60% 79% Playing by Heart Hannah (Character) $4.0M 1998
62% 55% Paulie Ivy (Character) $27.0M 1998
No Score Yet No Score Yet Grace & Glorie Grace Stiles (Character) - 1998
66% 62% She's So Lovely Miss Jane Green (Character) $7.3M 1997
81% 47% Unhook the Stars Mildred 'Millie' Hawks (Character) $285.5K 1996
55% 45% The Neon Bible Aunt Mae (Character) $5.0K 1995
33% 52% Something to Talk About Georgia King (Character) $49.7M 1995
No Score Yet 87% Parallel Lives Francie Pomerantz (Character) - 1994
No Score Yet No Score Yet Silent Cries Peggy Sutherland (Character) - 1993
No Score Yet 27% Crazy in Love Honora Swift (Character) - 1992
77% 91% Night on Earth Victoria Snelling (Character) $2.0M 1992
67% 73% Once Around Marilyn Bella (Character) $14.3M 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Ted and Venus Mrs. Turner (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet 67% Face of a Stranger Pat Foster (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Montana Bess Guthrie (Character) - 1990
59% 75% Another Woman Marion Post (Character) $499.5K 1988
53% 54% Light of Day Jeanette Rasnick (Character) $9.1M 1987
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Betty Ford Story Betty Ford (Character) - 1987
No Score Yet 74% An Early Frost Katherine Pierson (Character) - 1985
100% 88% Love Streams Sarah Lawson (Character) - 1984
No Score Yet No Score Yet Thursday's Child Victoria Alden (Character) - 1983
55% 72% Tempest Antonia Dimitrius (Character) - 1982
91% 79% Gloria Gloria Swenson (Character) - 1980
No Score Yet 17% Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter Abigail Mason (Character) - 1979
70% 56% The Brink's Job Mary Pino (Character) - 1978
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Question of Love Linda Ray Guettner (Character) - 1978
96% 90% Opening Night Myrtle Gordon (Character) $10.5K 1977
29% 45% Two Minute Warning Janet (Character) - 1976
89% 91% A Woman Under the Influence Mabel Longhetti (Character) - 1974
82% 85% Minnie and Moskowitz Minnie Moore (Character) - 1971
80% 38% Machine Gun McCain Rosemary Scott (Character) - 1969
85% 87% Faces Jeannie Rapp (Character) - 1968
63% 58% Tony Rome Rita Kosterman (Character) - 1967
92% 73% A Child Is Waiting Sophie Widdicombe (Character) - 1963
No Score Yet 27% The Spiral Road Els (Character) - 1962
93% 85% Lonely Are the Brave Jerry Bondi (Character) - 1962
No Score Yet No Score Yet The High Cost of Loving Ginny Fry (Character) - 1958

TV

Credit
No Score Yet 83% NCIS Joann Fielding (Guest Star) 2010
89% 87% Monk Marge Johnson (Guest Star) 2009
No Score Yet 93% Numb3ers Unknown (Guest Star) 2006
No Score Yet 81% Columbo Elizabeth Van Wick (Guest Star) 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet Marcus Welby, M.D. Lorraine Denby (Guest Star) 1974
No Score Yet No Score Yet Peyton Place Adrienne Van Leyden (Character) 1964-1969
No Score Yet No Score Yet Garrison's Gorillas Unknown (Guest Star) 1968
10% No Score Yet The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. Unknown (Guest Star) 1967
No Score Yet No Score Yet Alfred Hitchcock Hour Unknown (Character) 1962-1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dr. Kildare Unknown (Guest Star) 1964
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Virginian Savannah (Guest Star) 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet Bonanza Unknown (Guest Star) 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet 77 Sunset Strip Barbara Adams (Guest Star) 1963
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Lloyd Bridges Show Leslie Kaufman (Guest Star) 1963
No Score Yet 87% Alfred Hitchcock Presents Lucille Jones (Character) 1960
No Score Yet No Score Yet Johnny Staccato Unknown (Guest Star) 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet Laramie Laurel DeWalt (Guest Star) 1959
No Score Yet No Score Yet The United States Steel Hour .Lily (Character) 1955