Rosanna Lisa Arquette (born August 10, 1959 in New York City, New York) is an American actress, film director, and film producer who's best known for her roles in such movies as Desperately Seeking Susan, Pulp Fiction and The Whole Nine Yards.
Once told off a reporter for directing a question to her chest:
Reporter: After all those hot scenes in The Executioner's Song, what did you really, ah, feel like doing?
Rosanna: I feel like punching you right in the face.
She is the older sister of actors Patricia Arquette, Alexis Arquette, and David Arquette. She's been married four times and has one daughter.
Selected Filmography:
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Film
- S.O.B. (1981)
- Baby, It's You (1983)
- Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
- The Aviator (1985) drama with Christopher Reeve, nothing at all do with this one.
- Silverado (1985)
- After Hours (1985)
- 8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
- Nobody's Fool (1986) romantic comedy with Eric Roberts (Yes, there is such a thing.) Nothing to do with this.
- The Big Blue (1988)
- New York Stories (1989) (the "Life Lessons" segment)
- Black Rainbow (1989)
- Flight of the Intruder (1991)
- The Wrong Man (1993)
- Nowhere to Run (1993)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Crash (1996)
- Hope Floats (1998)
- The Whole Nine Yards (2000)
- Joe Dirt (2001)
- Kids in America (2005)
- Battle for Terra (2007) (voice)
- Repo Chick (2009)
- The Divide (2012)
- Draft Day (2014)
- Billionaire Boys Club (2018)
Television
- Eight is Enough (1 episode, 1979)
- Shirley (1979-1980) (Short-Runner comedy-drama as Shirley Jones' teenage daughter.)
- The Executioner's Song (TV movie, 1982)
- Son of the Morning Star (TV movie, 1991)
- Johnny Belinda (TV movie, 1982)
- Homicide: Life on the Street (1 episode, 1996)
- The Practice (1 episode, 2003)
- Will & Grace (2 episodes, 2003)
- The L Word (5 episodes, 2004–07)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (1 episode, 2005)
- Grey's Anatomy (1 episode, 2005)
- Malcolm in the Middle (1 episode, 2005)
- What About Brian (2006–07)
- Dirt (1 episode, 2008)
- Medium (1 episode, 2008)
- Eastwick (1 episode, 2009)
- Private Practice (2 episodes, 2010)
- Royal Pains (2 episodes, 2012)
- Girls (1 episode, 2013)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1 episode, 2014)
- Ray Donovan (6 episodes, 2013–14)
- CSI: Cyber (1 episode, 2015)
- Ratched (2 episodes, 2020)
- Big Sky (2 episodes, 2022–23)
Related tropes:
- Award Category Fraud: She won a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for Desperately Seeking Susan despite being the movie's star.
- Family Business: Her father, mother and grandfather Clifford (aka Charley Weaver) were actors. Rosanna also has two brothers and two sisters (used to be three brothers and one sister) in show business.
- Fan Disservice:
- In Crash, the protagonist sexually penetrates a large scar on Arquette's character's thigh. Consensually.
- In 8 Million Ways to Die her character vomits on Jeff Bridges' crotch.
- Fanservice
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: See Crash, The L Word and Dirt (2007).
- Old Shame: Two of them.
- She doesn't like The Big Blue much. At all.
- She also isn't fond of Nowhere to Run, or its star Jean-Claude Van Damme – of whom she once said "Acting is not his forte. Neither is being humble."
- One-Woman Song:
- Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" was inspired by her (she was dating him at the time).
- It's commonly assumed that "Rosanna" by Toto was written for her, because she was dating keyboardist Steve Porcaro at the time. Both his bandmate David Paich (who wrote the song) and Arquette herself have denied this, however.
- Romance on the Set: While filming The Big Blue she had an affair with the film's star Jean-Marc Barr. It didn't end well. It also ended her first marriage (to James Newton Howard).