Green-eyed, dewy-skinned actress Robin Tunney came from a poorish middle-class family, a native of Chicago's South Side, she attended Catholic high school and spent her summers performing in such stage productions. She began her career as a child performer in local commercials in her native Chicago, IL. She worked as a model while studying acting at the Chicago Academy of Performing Arts and the Second City Players Workshop. After numerous appearances in local theater, including roles in "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" and "Bus Stop", the young performer moved to L.A. Almost immediately, she landed roles on the CBS Schoolbreak Special "But He Loves Me" and an episode of the ABC drama "Life Goes On" (both 1991). Tunney went on to play a recurring role on the short-lived FOX drama "Class of '96" (1993) and portrayed a manicurist on the equally short-lived CBS sitcom "Cutters" (1993). She also won praise for her performances as Kathleen Kennedy in "JFK: Reckless Youth" (ABC, 1993) and as a frontier woman in "Riders of the Purple Sage" (TNT, 1996). On the big screen, Tunney appeared as a popular high school girl attracted to Brendan Fraser's caveman in the pallid comedy "Encino Man" (1994). She also garnered notice for her turn as a suicidal youth in Allen Moyle's ensemble drama "Empire Records" (1995). Andrew Fleming's supernatural "The Craft" (1996) marked her first leading role, as a newcomer to a Catholic school who bonds with three other outcasts. She also starred in movies, "Vertical Limit" with Chris O'Donnell. On the set of her 1997 movie, the independent film, "Niagara, Niagara," she met and fell in love with the director, Bob Gosse. A few months later the two were married on October 4, 1997, although reportedly divorced in 2002.
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