Biography

Samantha Mathis

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Samantha Mathis was born in 1970 in New York, to Donald Mathis and Austrian-born Bibi Besch, an aspiring actress at the time. Her maternal grandmother was actress Gusti Huber. Her first acting job was in a commercial for baby products with her mother. Since her parents divorced when she was only three years old, Samantha was very exposed to the acting industry from a very young age, which made her almost destined to become an actress. Samantha's first feature film was Pump Up the Volume (1990) opposite her on- and off-screen love at the time, Christian Slater.
- IMDb mini biography by: Lisa Buckley <buckley@idirect.com>

Accompanied River Phoenix to The Viper Room on the night he died. She was his girlfriend at the time.
Spoke fluent German from childhood, stemming from her Austrian royal ancestry.
Became best friends with Sandra Bullock when they made The Thing Called Love (1993) together.
Launched a successful on-line flora design firm called Succulent LA with designer and partner Ryann Davis. Five percent of the proceeds go to the Green Coast Foundation.
In June 2002, performed on Broadway in New York with Chris O'Donnell in "The Man Who Had All the Luck".

Samantha says that kissing ex-boyfriend Christian Slater in Broken Arrow (1996) was "like kissing your brother".
[About her role in The Mists of Avalon (2001), directed by German-born Uli Edel, specifically the infamous "threesome" scene]: The guys have on boxers, but I've just got, like, a piece of nude stretchy material taped to my breasts and my legs. And then suddenly Uli yells out of the darkness, "Remember you're doing it for ze kingdom, for ze kingdom!"
[on River Phoenix] River's death was a life changing experience for me. We all know that when anyone dies, it makes us look at life differently. Seeing someone so young and loving and full of life crumble and dies changed all my priorities. You know, it made me see what is really important and what isn't. Ultimately, I have really had to learn to laugh at life, too. Otherwise, it can all become too much.
(On River Phoenix) "The nicest memory I have of him is when we went down to his family's property in Costa Rica, and we'd eat these mangoes for breakfast. River had them dripping all over him. When he ate, he ate with his hands. For me, he'll always be that beautiful, drippy mess."
(On River Phoenix) I feel blessed to have worked with him and to have known him. He challenged me as an actress, he was always surprising and startlingly honest. He was an all too fleeting presence in my life, a beautiful young man. Who will always be in my heart.

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