Madeleine Stowe was born in Los Angeles, California, to Mireya Maria (Mora Steinvorth) and Robert Alfred Stowe, a civil engineer. Her mother was a from a prominent political family in Costa Rica. Stowe grew up in Eagle Rock, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles. At age ten she started practicing for a career as a concert pianist and trained every day for hours. However, when her instructor died in 1976 she more or less quit playing.She went to University of Southern California and studied cinema and journalism before taking up acting at Beverly Hills’ Solaris Theater. She made a few appearances in TV and on film but her breakthrough came in 1987 with Stakeout (1987). Other major credits include The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Short Cuts (1993).When not filming, she spends her time at her ranch in Texas, which she shares with her husband Brian Benben.
Madeleine Stowe
Fun Facts
Her father was from Oregon and had Dutch, German and English ancestry. Her mother was from a prominent political family in Costa Rica. One of Madeleine's maternal great-grandfathers was a German immigrant to Costa Rica, while one of her maternal great-great-grandfathers, Bruno Carranza, was President of Costa Rica (serving a term of several months).
Pretended to be a reporter just so she could meet John Travolta before she became famous.
Was extremely shy in high school.
She and husband Brian Benben own a working cattle ranch outside of Fredericksburg, TX.
In 1995 she was chosen by "Empire"" magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#90).
Replaced Faith Hill as Julie Moore in We Were Soldiers (2002).
In The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Quotes
While it was nice working with a lot of those people, ultimately it was unsatisfying to play a victim, and I realized I couldn't do it anymore. It had to stop.