Say Anything, In Your Eyes
Picture legend:
1. Ione (pronounced: eye-oh-nee)
2. "River's Edge"
3. With John Cusack in "Say Anything..."
4. "Say Anything..."
5. With Fairuza Balk in "Gas Food Lodging"
6. With Tim Roth in "Four Rooms"
7. "Four Rooms"
8. "Dream for an Insomniac" with Jennifer Aniston
It is my great pleasure and honor to give a happy birthday shout out today to one of my very favorite actresses, Ione Skye Lee!
She was born Ione (origin of Ione: Greek, a violet-colored stone) Skye Leitch at a very early age in Hertfordshire, England, where my favorite film director, Stanley Kubrick lived and died, and where the first "Star Wars," trilogy was filmed, and the "Harry Potter" movies.
Her dad is the Scottish folk singer/songwriter Donovan, of "Sunshine Superman," "Mellow Yellow," and "Hurdy Gurdy Man," fame (the latter song figuring prominently in David Fincher"s 2007 "Zodiac," in which Ione also appeared). Her mom is the American former model Enid Karl, and her brother, Donovan Leitch, a model, musician, actor, and documentary film maker.
Her dad didn't have a great deal to do with her early life and Ione was raised by her mom here in the States, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Connecticut, to be precise. She attended the all girl (how sexist), catholic Immaculate Heart High School in nearby Los Feliz, and Hollywood High School for the Performing Arts in 1987.
Being so pretty and all (for a girl) she started out modeling. Her photographs caught the eye of director Tim Hunter, who cast her in his teen drama "River's Edge," along with Keanu (pronounced: can-oe) Reeves and rat lover Crispin Glover. This was before she even graduated high school.
1988's "A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon," followed, then in 1989 former 15 year old Rolling Stone writer and author of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Cameron Crowe cast her as Diane Court, alongside John Cusack in his directorial debut, "Say Anything..." which is probably her most successful and well known role to date. In 2002, Entertainment Weekly ranked "Say Anything..." as the greatest modern movie romance, and it was ranked number 11 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 best high-school movies.
I'm not a great lover of high school romance movies, but I even liked it, and it was in this film that Ione first came to my attention.
Ione is a painter as well, painting since she was a teenager. She has shown in Tokyo and here in L.A.
Ione has a thing for bad boy musicians and had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis during these years. in 1992 she married Adam Horovitz, a member of the Beastie Boys band. They separated in 1995 and divorced in 1999.
Ms. Skye admitted to not paying attention to her career arc over the years, saying she "never struck when the iron was hot" when it came to going after big movie roles in her 20s. Accordingly she has yet to experience the level of acclaim that "Say Anything..." had brought to her, yet she remains a vibrant and successful actress appearing in such films as "The Rachel Papers," in 1989, as Rob Lowe's girlfriend in "Wayne's World," a little known comedy of Mike Myers.
In 1992 she played the rebellious sister in "Gas Food Lodging," along with the lovely Fairuza Balk (who would later appear in Cameron Crowe's, semi-autobiographical "Almost Famous"), and her brother Donovan Leitch. The director, Allison Anders, would cast her in his segment of 1995's "Four Rooms," the telling of four stories set in a fictional hotel in Los Angeles on a New Year's Eve, the other three segments being directed by Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The year before she appeared in one of my all time favorite films, "Girls in Prison." In 1996 she starred in "Dream for an Insomniac," with Jennifer Aniston as her side kick.
Ione has worked on many television roles as well, guest starring in a 2002 episode of "The Twilight Zone." She's also appeared on "The Dead Zone," "Arrested Development," and "Private Practice."
She's also been in 2005's "Fever Pitch," and 2007's "Zodiac."
In 2008, Skye became engaged to Australian musician Ben Lee. On December 29, 2008, Skye and Lee were married in a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in India. They have a daughter, Goldie Priya Lee, who was born on September 24th, 2009. She also has a daughter by furniture designer David Netto, Kate born in 2001.
And all of us here at Joyce's Take wish her continued good health and fortune, and a very happy birthday!
Happy Birthday Ione!
How has this beauty escaped my radar until now?
ReplyDeleteSame goes for your blog. Now following.