Jill Schoelen

uous films geared mostly toward the young, including D.C. Cab (1983), Thunder Alley (1985) and Hot Moves (1984). The dark-eyed, black-haired pretty with the trademark bangs wouldn't find her horror niche until hooking up with Wes Craven and his TV movie Chiller (1985) (TV). From there she scored big with the cult shocker The Stepfather (1987) wherein she played the resourceful stepdaughter terrorized by the lecherous, meek-appearing Terry O'Quinn as the title monster.

The sleeper hit put Jill on the map with a seemingly solid future, continuing on with The Phantom of the Opera (1989), this time keeping company opposite Freddy Krueger inhabiter Robert Englund as her deranged pursuer. But a few bumps in the road with such lowgrade fodder as Curse II: The Bite (1989), Cutting Class (1989) and Popcorn (1991) put a permanent damper on her career, despite coming back with a bit of grit in the thriller TV movie When a Stranger Calls Back (1993) (TV). Her object-of-a-stalker days behind her after filming Not Again! (1996), she settled comfortably back and raised two children with husband/musician/composer Anthony Marinelli.