Karen Sillas

A cool, confident-looking blonde with evocative, glamorous eyes and a clefted, jutting chin, Karen Sillas began a collaboration with filmmaker Hal Hartley when she performed in his student thesis film, "Kid" (1985), while the two attended SUNY-Purchase. Moving to New York City, she studied at the Actors Studio and appeared in such Studio productions as "Miss Julie," "The Cherry Orchard" and "Rasputin" before making her feature debut in a small role as the no-nonsense Nurse Paine in Hartley's striking "Trust" (1990). Sillas continued her affiliation with the director, playing a more prominent part as a lonely cafe owner who becomes involved with two very different brothers in his intriguing "Simple Men" (1992), and made a cameo appearance in Hartley's feature version of "Flirt" (1994). Her search for offbeat parts to spotlight her pensive seriousness and skill at conveying an edgy toughness tinged with vulnerability led her to portray a struggling artist in Dierdre Fishel's "Risk" (1993).