Recognized as an extraordinary actress capable of delivering engaging performances to carve out her niche in the film industry, Catherine Keener undoubtedly has transformed into one of the most celebrated actresses that people always pay their respect on. Born on March 23, 1959 in Miami, Florida, this blue-eyed thespian spent her childhood years in Hialeah, part of the city's metropolitan area where she attended Immaculate Conception School before returned to Miami to continue her study at Monsignor Edward Pace High School. It was not until the dark-haired girl entered Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts that she began to develop her interest in acting, recklessly quitting a photography class to take a theater ensemble class in which she was involved in its stage production of "Uncommon Women and Others."

Following her graduation from the college in 1983, Catherine managed to find a decent work as an assistant to casting director Gail Eisenstadt who then encouraged her to be an actress instead and helped her to earn a bit part in "About Last Night" (1986) so that she could obtain a Screen Actors Guild card. Other roles soon followed, like in ABC's short lived series of "Ohara" (1987-1988), "Survival Quest" (1989), "Catchfire" (1990), also "Johnny Suede" (1991) which marked her first collaboration with writer-director Tom DiCillo. Keeping up the good teamwork, she afterwards was often seen in this filmmaker's subsequent works, such as "Living in Oblivion" (1995) and "The Real Blonde" (1997).

Mostly appeared in independent features, Catherine received a big turn in her life when she was cast by Spike Jonze to play Maxine Lund in his 1999 effort of "Being John Malkovich" alongside John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Charlie Sheen. Not only shared the huge praise critics directed toward the movie, she even received nominations at numerous award events, most notably that of Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 2000 Academy Awards