Jane Wheeler

Canadian film, TV, and stage actress Jane Wheeler appeared most prominently onscreen in the 2008 3-D adventure "Journey to the Center of the Earth," as the mother of Josh Hutcherson's young hero in the Brendan Fraser hit. Wheeler also played the mother of the hero on Canuck TV's tongue-in-cheek horror series "Big Wolf on Campus," in the boxing drama "The Kid" co-starring Rod Steiger, and in the musical family flick " Barney's Great Adventure," featuring the famously joyful plush purple dinosaur. Cast more often as an edgy everywoman in erotic thrillers than in such kids' fare, Wheeler made her feature film debut in 1993's psychological thriller "The Neighbor," starring Steiger as a murderously unhinged gynecologist. She continued in the genre vein with roles in the indie thrillers "Stalked," "Obsessed," and "A Different Loyalty," starring Sharon Stone and Rupert Everett. Rounding out her crime-of-passion-thriller-filled resume, the actress--who, in fact, played a supporting role in the sexually charged TV-movie mystery "Crimes of Passion"--also tackled lighter roles in comedies like "Never Too Late" and "Still Life," as well as the acclaimed Todd Haynes-directed Bob Dylan fantasia, "I'm Not There."