Jordan Ladd (born January 14, 1975) is an American actress. The daughter of actress Cheryl Ladd and producer David Ladd, she initially worked with her mother in several made-for-television films, before making her big screen debut at 19, in the vampire film Embrace of the Vampire (1994). She subsequently appeared in the drama Nowhere (1997) and the comedy Never Been Kissed (1999). Ladd became known as a scream queen, having appeared in several successful horror films, including Cabin Fever (2002), Club Dread (2004), Death Proof (2007), and Grace (2009). Ladd is also known for work with director David Lynch appearing in his films Darkened Room (2002) and Inland Empire (2006).
Jordan Ladd | |
---|---|
![]() Ladd at the Grindhouse premiere in 2007 | |
Born | Hollywood, California, U.S. | January 14, 1975
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1990–present |
Spouse |
Conor O'Neill
(m. 2001; div. 2005) |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Alan Ladd (paternal grandfather) Sue Carol (paternal grandmother) Alan Ladd Jr. (paternal uncle) |
Personal life
editBackground
editLadd was born January 14, 1975,[1] in Hollywood, California, the daughter of Charlie's Angels star Cheryl Ladd (née Stoppelmoor) and David Ladd, a producer and former actor. Her parents divorced in 1980. Her paternal grandfather was Alan Ladd,[2] and her paternal grandmother was Sue Carol (née Evelyn Lederer), a Hollywood talent agent and actress of Jewish descent. She has a stepsister, Lindsay Russell, an aspiring actress.[3]
She graduated from high school in 1993, managing to lead a normal life despite her family's fame; she once remarked: "When I was in high school I used to go to the clubs, and of course that's exciting [...] You want to drink before you can and get into places you can't. But once I started acting professionally, I really didn't want to do the Hollywood nightlife thing."[4] She attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.[5]
Relationships
editLadd married her longtime boyfriend, documentary film editor Conor O'Neill, in 2001.[5] The couple divorced in July 2005.[6]
Career
edit1990s
editAt the age of two, Ladd began appearing in commercials. Her first commercial was for Polaroid. She began acting in film and television while in school, working with her mother in made-for-television films such as The Girl Who Came Between Them (1990) and Broken Promises: Taking Emily Back (1993).[7] After graduating high school, she took up acting professionally.
In 1994, she guest-starred in an episode of the NBC series Saved by the Bell: The New Class and made her big screen debut with a supporting appearance as a promiscuous college student opposite Alyssa Milano in the film Embrace of the Vampire. She spent the majority of the 1990s appearing in a variety of independent films in 1997, including Inside Out, Nowhere, and Stand-ins. In 1999, she appeared in Taking the Plunge, and also landed her first high-profile role alongside Drew Barrymore as a popular student who tortures an insecure copy editor in the teen comedy Never Been Kissed. The film was a commercial success, grossing US$84.5 million globally,[8] and gave her an initial wide exposure with audiences.
2000s
editLadd appeared in The Specials (2000), a comedy about a group of superheroes on their day off; in the film she played a neurotic named Nightbird.[9] By 2000, she also had starred as an actress who vying for an Academy Award in E! first original film Best Actress, and appeared in the critically acclaimed anthology film Boys Life 3.
Ladd starred as a college graduate and the victim to a flesh-eating virus in the horror film Cabin Fever (2002), Eli Roth's directorial debut.[10] Ladd described working on the film as "insane," as it began shooting just a month after 9/11. She remarked: "We shut down, we got up and running, and then we shut down again. We just hoped to finish the movie and hoped people would really understand and appreciate it. We had a blast doing it, even the tougher stuff. I'd rather work that way than on a big-budget fancy thing where you are completely separate from the process."[11] It was with this film that she began work in the horror genre, as she had a "real education on that way of storytelling" with Roth and the film.[12] Cabin Fever was largely praised by critics,[13] and made US$30.5 million on a budget of US$1.5 million.[14] That same year, she played a crying woman in David Lynch's Japanese-style horror short Darkened Room.
In 2004, Ladd took on the role of a suspect in a recent string of murders on a vacationing island in the horror comedy Club Dread, and starred as a mental health facility nurse in the horror Madhouse. Her topless scene in Club Dread ranked 14th in Complex magazine's "15 Best Topless Moments In Mainstream Horror Movies".[15] In 2005, she appeared opposite Anna Faris, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Long in the independent romantic comedy Waiting..., and in 2006, she briefly appeared in David Lynch's film Inland Empire, which also starred her mother.[16]
Quentin Tarantino cast her as a wild, partying Texan and the victim of a killer stuntman in Death Proof, his high-speed segment of the double–feature exploitation horror Grindhouse (2007),[17] alongside Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, Zoë Bell, and Kurt Russell.[18] The film flopped at the box office, but attracted significant media buzz and critical acclaim.[19][20] Director Eli Roth, in his contribution to Grindhouse, worked again with Ladd in a fake promo called Thanksgiving, which she shot "on the fly over" in Prague, where Hostel: Part II was being filmed;[21] in the horror sequel, she played the girlfriend of the sole survivor of the first film.
In her next film, the horror Grace (2009), Ladd portrayed a woman, who after a car accident, decides to carry her unborn baby to term anyway. The film was screened on the film festival circuit in North America, to critical acclaim.[22][23] John Anderson of Variety felt that Ladd played her role with "tongue planted firmly in cheek", in what he described as "a satirical creepfest that mines modern motherhood for all its latent terrors".[24] In 2009, she also starred in the made-for-television film The Wishing Well, as a journalist from New York City who gets sent to a small town in Illinois to report on a legendary wishing well.[25]
2010s
editLadd filmed a comedic short film entitled First Dates, exploring the dating scene of several single people. The production premiered at the AFI screening room in Los Angeles on January 8, 2011.[26] She starred in the fantasy romance film Awaken (2012), which premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival, as a mysterious woman who changes the mundane life of a man. In 2012, she also appeared in the direct-to-DVD disaster film Air Collision, as a flight attendant, and in the thriller Murder on the 13th Floor, as a wife who discovers her husband is having an affair with the live-in nanny and decides to seek revenge.
In 2015, Ladd guest-starred in an episode of the YouTube horror anthology series Scary Endings, directed by John Fitzpatrick. In 2016, she reunited with Fitzpatrick for the short thriller film Brentwood Strangler, in which she played a lonely woman goes on a blind date with a man who, unbeknownst to her, was replaced by an active and notorious serial killer, opposite Adam J. Yeend and Annika Marks.[27] She was cast in her role, following an introduction from Skypemare actress Cerina Vincent, who Ladd worked with on Cabin Fever.[28] The 19-minute production premiered on film festival circuits in North America and Australia, to a positive critical response.[29] Gruesome Magazine found Ladd to be a "delight" as an "emotionally strong woman who lets her guard down and exposes her vulnerability".[30]
In 2017, Ladd starred in the made-for-television thriller Stage Fright, as an opera soprano facing a series of dangers, and in the independent drama Blue Line, as a woman who, along with her best friend, go on a crime spree to rob her abusive husband and escape her marriage.[31]
Filmography
editThis section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (September 2021) |
Film
editYear | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Embrace of the Vampire | Eliza | |
1997 | Inside Out | Summer | |
1997 | Nowhere | Alyssa | |
1997 | Stand-ins | Monica-Bette Davis | |
1999 | Taking the Plunge | ||
1999 | Never Been Kissed | Gibby Zerefski | |
2000 | The Specials | Shelly / Nightbird | |
2000 | Boys Life 3 | Summer | Short film |
2001 | Puzzled | Skye | |
2002 | Crazy Little Thing | Dana | Also known as The Perfect You |
2002 | Darkened Room | Girl 1 | |
2002 | Cabin Fever | Karen | |
2004 | Club Dread | Penelope | Also known as Broken Lizard's Club Dread |
2004 | Junked | Nikki | |
2004 | Madhouse | Sara | |
2004 | Dog Gone Love | Arianna | |
2005 | Waiting... | Danielle | |
2006 | Inland Empire | Terri | |
2007 | Hostel: Part II | Stephanie | |
2007 | Death Proof | Shanna "Banana" | Part of the Grindhouse double feature |
2009 | Grace | Madeline Matheson | |
2011 | First Dates | Joanna | Short film |
2012 | Awaken | Rachel Arai | |
2012 | Murder on the 13th Floor | Ariana Braxton | |
2012 | Air Collision | Lindsay Bates | |
2016 | Brentwood Strangler | Maggie | Short film |
2017 | The Assault | Lindsay Walters | |
2017 | The Untold Story | Rebecca | |
2019 | Satanic Panic | Kim Larson |
Television
editYear | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1978 | Charlie's Angels | young Kris Munroe | Episode: "Angel on my Mind" |
1990 | The Girl Who Came Between Them | The Waitress | Movie |
1993 | Broken Promises: Taking Emily Back | The Waitress | Movie |
1994 | Love Street | Bordello Player | Episode: "Bordello" |
1994 | Saved by the Bell: The New Class | Debbie | Episode: "The Return of Screech" |
1997 | Weapons of Mass Distraction | Letitia | Movie |
1997 | Total Security | Fiona Richards | Episode: "One Wedding and a Funeral" |
1998 | Every Mother's Worst Fear | Martha Hoagland | Movie |
2000 | Best Actress | Amber Lyons | Movie |
2000 | The Deadly Look of Love | Janet Flanders | Movie |
2001 | Six Feet Under | Ginnie | Episode: "An Open Book" |
2005–2007 | Robot Chicken | Various Characters | 5 episodes |
2007 | It Was One Of Us | Avis Monroe | Movie |
2009 | The Wishing Well | Cynthia Tamerline | Movie |
2015 | Scary Endings | Grace | Episode: "Voyeur" |
2017 | Stage Fright | Sarah Conrad | Movie |
2018 | The Christmas Contract | Breonna Guidry | TV film |
References
edit- ^ Rose, Mike (January 14, 2023). "Today's famous birthdays list for January 14, 2023 includes celebrities Dave Grohl, Carl Weathers". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
- ^ Huffman, Kathy (November 23, 1979). Written at Chicago. "Producer David Ladd confronts child abuse in 'When She was Bad...'". Mason Valley News. Yerington, Nevada. p. 28. Retrieved June 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Knutzen, Eirik (August 7, 1994). "Cheryl Ladd enjoying life in Hawaii". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. pp. 184, 213. Retrieved June 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Malkin, Marc (April 10, 2007). "A Daughter of Hollywood Grinds On". E! Online.
- ^ a b Brady, James (August 10, 2003). "In Step with Jordan Ladd". Parade. Lakeland Ledger.
- ^ "Ladd, Jordan 1975-". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved August 26, 2019 – via www.encyclopedia.com.
- ^ Anglis, Jaclyn (June 21, 2017). "Cheryl Ladd's Daughter Is All Grown Up and the Spitting Image of Her Mom". Woman's World.
- ^ "Never Been Kissed (1999) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
- ^ "Rent The Specials (2000) on DVD and Blu-ray - DVD Netflix". dvd.netflix.com.
- ^ Tobias, Scott (September 10, 2003). "Cabin Fever". Film.
- ^ "14 Surprising Facts About Cabin Fever". mentalfloss.com. September 11, 2018.
- ^ "Exclusive Interview: Jordan Ladd". January 14, 2016.
- ^ "Cabin Fever (2002)" – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
- ^ "Cabin Fever (2003) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
- ^ "The 15 Best Topless Moments In Mainstream Horror Movies". Complex.
- ^ Lynch, David (August 26, 2009). David Lynch: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604732368 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Latest Movie News | Film Industry - Empire". Empire. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ Huver, Scott (April 5, 2007). "'Grindhouse' Grrls! Sydney Poitier, Jordan Ladd and Vanessa Ferlito Are the Dishy Dames of 'Death Proof'". Hollywood.com.
- ^ "Grindhouse (2007) - Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Grindhouse". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ "Interview: Jordan Ladd from "Grindhouse" - Movie Review / Film Essay". March 12, 2007.
- ^ "The horror of baby pangs". Los Angeles Times. August 14, 2009.
- ^ Grossberg, Josh (January 17, 2009). "Sundance Notebook: Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, more". E! Online.
- ^ Anderson, John (January 26, 2009). "Grace".
- ^ "Jordan Ladd And Jason London Star In Hallmark's "The Wishing Well"". Icelebz.com. December 15, 2009.
- ^ Limited, Alamy. "Stock Photo - Erica Leerhsen 'First Date' premiere screening held at The American Film Institute (AFI) Screening Room Los Angeles, California - 08.01.11". Alamy.
{{cite web}}
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has generic name (help) - ^ "Exclusive First Word, Poster & Images from John Fitzpatrick's Brentwood Strangler". DreadCentral.com. October 5, 2015.
- ^ "Exclusive Interview: Jordan Ladd Talks Brentwood Strangler". WickedHorror.com. January 14, 2016.
- ^ "Review: John Fitzpatrick's Brentwood Strangler". Horror Society. May 4, 2016.
- ^ Perry, Joseph (November 5, 2016). ""Brentwood Strangler" (Shriekfest 2016): Death Goes on a Date in Masterly Short Thriller".
- ^ "Blue Line Review". July 12, 2017.
External links
edit- Jordan Ladd at IMDb
- Jordan Ladd on X