Rebecca Pidgeon

Rebecca Pidgeon
Pidgeon at the premiere of Redbelt, April 2008
Spouse	David Mamet (1991-present)

Rebecca Pidgeon (born October 10 or October 25, 1963 or 1965) is a Scottish-American actress, singer and songwriter. She is married to film director/screenwriter and playwright David Mamet.

Biography

Early life

Pidgeon was born to English parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, while her father was a visiting professor at MIT. Her family moved to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1970. She thus holds dual United States/United Kingdom citizenship. Growing up in Edinburgh, she was a teenage friend of singer Shirley Manson.

Pidgeon attended drama college and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. After some promising work as an actress in the United Kingdom, she moved to the United States.

Career

From 1986 to 1990, Pidgeon was the lead singer of the British folk/pop band Ruby Blue. Pidgeon left Ruby Blue, shortly after the band had signed a major record label and was beginning to gather both commercial and critical success. She appeared in her first feature film in 1988, The Dawning. She then decided to concentrate on her acting career, starring in David Mamet's plays and films, initially in the movie Homicide, then in the play Oleanna, a part written for her. Pidgeon composed the music for the film version which starred Debra Eisenstadt in her role.

Returning to music in 1994, she released the solo album The Raven, followed by New York Girls' Club. A further album, The Four Marys, a collection of traditional Celtic folk songs, followed in 1998. In 2005, she released Tough on Crime and her most recent album, Behind the Velvet Curtain: Songs from the Motion Picture Redbelt, includes a cover version of the Beach Boys song, "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" and a duet with Luciana Souza.

Pidgeon has had starring roles in several of Mamet's films, including The Spanish Prisoner (1997), The Winslow Boy (1999) and Heist (2001).

She appeared in the U.S. television series The Unit, playing Charlotte Ryan. She had a small role in the 2008 movie Redbelt written and directed by Mamet, and also performed the music in it. In October 2005, she released Tough on Crime, which featured Walter Becker on guitar and the late Billy Preston on keyboards.

She also had a role opposite Tom Selleck in the CBS TV movie "Sea of Change" (2007) where she played the role of "Leeann Lewis", a murder-bank robbery suspect.

Personal life

Pidgeon had met American writer/director David Mamet while acting in his play Speed-the-Plow during its run at The National Theatre in London. Though he was married at the time to actress Lindsay Crouse, Mamet began a relationship with Pidgeon. In 1990, Mamet divorced Crouse and he married Pidgeon in 1991. She and Mamet have two children, Clara and Noah. Pidgeon, who was born to a non-practicing Christian family, has converted to Mamet's Jewish faith.

Filmography

File:Pidgeon Dawning.jpg

Pidgeon in her first acting role, as Nancy Gulliver in The Dawning

• The Dawning 1988
• Campaign (TV mini-series) 1988
• She's Been Away 1989
• Uncle Vanya (made for TV) 1991
• Homicide 1991
• The Water Engine (made for TV) 1992
• The Spanish Prisoner 1997
• The Winslow Boy 1999
• Catastrophe 2000
• State and Main 2000
• Heist 2001
• Advice and Dissent 2002
• Shopgirl 2005
• Edmond 2005
• Provoked 2006
• The Unit (TV series) 2006-2007
• Redbelt 2008
• How To Be 2008

External links

• Official website