* Biography researched and written by the Unofficial Jill Schoelen Site.
Jill Schoelen started her acting career at the tender age of 14 when she landed her first role starring opposite Nicholas Cage in the made for TV movie "Best of Times." In her second TV movie, "Happy Endings," Jill was nominated for the Youth in Film Awards 1983-1984 for BEST YOUNG ACTRESS IN A FAMILY FILM MADE FOR TELEVISION. She studied at the prestigeous Gena Bua's Acting for Life Theatre located in Burbank, CA. Jill had made a career working both on the big and small screens landing mostly lead roles in films of the thriller/horror genre. Her most notable roles have been in "The Stepfather" as the charming yet suspious daughter of Terry O'Quinn, the young and impressionable Diva in "The Phantom of the Opera" opposite Robert Englund, and as a college student stalked by a psychopath in the thriller "When a Stranger Calls Back." For her role in "The Stepfather," Jill was again nominated for the Youth in Film Awards 1986-1987, this time for BEST YOUNG ACTRESS IN A HORROR MOTION PICTURE; and she took home the statue for BEST ACTRESS at the 1987 Catalonian International Film Festival in Sitges, Spain. Jill has also graced us with her talents as a singer, belting out rock songs in the feature film "Rich Girl," playing guitar and singing a melodic tune in "Curse II: The Bite," singing cavity inducing, upbeat tunes in "Babes in Toyland," and headlining Los Angeles' longest running musical, "Pepper Street."
In the romance department, Jill has been linked with two of her co-stars Keanu
Reeves, and what turned out to be a heartbreaking engagement with Brad Pitt.
As the story goes, Jill and Brad met on the set of the horror film "Cutting
Class" in 1987. They dated for 9 months. While shooting on location in
Budapest, Hungary for Jill's then latest film "Phantom of the Opera,"
Brad visited Jill, where she sadly broke off the engagement.
Renowned Fashion Designer Dorothy
Schoelen also happens to be Jill's mother. With the support of Jill's
brothers Todd and Mark,
Dorothy is keeping her designs all in the family. They help mom out with the
distribution and production of her latest fashions.
Jill is also a runner and has participated in a number of 10k races throughout
the Los Angeles area.
After completing what has proved to have been her final film "Not Again"
in 1995, Jill has since retired from the spotlight and refocused her priorities
on raising her 2 children with husband and composer Anthony
Marinelli in Encino, California.
