- Born
- Birth nameMargaret Elizabeth Chan
- Nickname
- Meggers
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Meg Tilly was set on being a dancer, and at 17 connected to the Connecticut Ballet Company and later Throne Dance Theatre. It was in this capacity that she had her screen debut in Alan Parker's Fame (1980). Unfortunately, an injury to her back cut short her plans for a dance career, and a small appearance in the TV series Hill Street Blues (1981) turned her towards acting (her dancing skills were not all forgotten, as was evident in The Big Chill (1983) and Psycho II (1983)). She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Agnes of God (1985), and nobody doubted that she was on her way to stardom. One step on the road to that status was her being cast in Miloš Forman's Amadeus (1984) as Constanza, but again her body interfered, and seven weeks into the production with her foot in a cast were more than the producers could accept, and she was replaced. Her "consolation", was a role in Forman's next project Valmont (1989), didn't do her career much good. Since then she has averaged a movie a year, and with the exception of Leaving Normal (1992), none have tapped the enormous reservoir of talent she has.
- IMDb mini biography by: <elmic@post8.tele.dk> - Mother Patricia was a teacher, and former stage actress, her father Harry (Chinese), a car salesman. In the mid 1960s her mother divorced and moved back to Texada Island, British Columbia, to live with Tilly's grandmother, and later the family moved to Victoria. Sister of actress Jennifer Tilly. Raised in British Columbia by her mother and step-father, Meg started taking dancing lessons at age 12. She earned a scholarship to a top ballet school in New York. At 17 was connected to Connecticut Ballet Company and later Throne Dance Theatre, but a serious back injury ended her dancing career. She then went to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and the rest, as they say, is history. Meg made her first film appearance in a bit as an auditioning dancer in Fame (1980). She has also written a novel titled "Singing Songs".
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpousesDon Calame(2002 - present)John Calley(October 13, 1995 - February 2, 2002) (divorced)Tim Zinnemann(1983 - 1989) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenDavid Zinnemann
- ParentsHarry ChanPatricia Tilly
- RelativesSteve Tilly(Sibling)Rebecca S Chan(Sibling)Jennifer Tilly(Sibling)
- While older sister Jennifer Tilly has remained mum about the history of childhood sexual abuse in the family recently revealed by Meg (which included her stepfather and one of her mother's boyfriends), youngest sister Becky has corroborated her sister's revelations.
- 1995: Retired from acting and moved to British Columbia, Canada, to devote herself to writing and raising a family.
- Said that her worst film experience was working with Anthony Perkins and director Richard Franklin in Psycho II (1983). Her best film experience was working with director Norman Jewison and co-stars, Jane Fonda and Anne Bancroft in Agnes of God (1985). Interestingly, both films resulted in Tilly being nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe and an Oscar.
- Her first fiction novel was "Singing Songs" (1994; Dutton Books) based on memories of her own childhood. Her second novel "Gemma" (2006; Syren Book Company), is a graphic, disturbing tale about child sexual abuse, which has prompted her to recently reveal her own true-life sexual abuse as a youngster growing up.
- Son, with Colin Firth, William Joseph Firth (b. 1990).
- [on her retirement from acting] Do I regret quitting? Absolutely not. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I had the privilege of watching my children grow up. I was there for the joys and the sorrows, the challenging heartbreaking times as well as the giddy, exuberant triumphs. I would not have traded those years for anything in the world.
- I really enjoy acting. At home I can't even finish a sentence, and here am I reading these wonderful lines. I think it must be every housewife's dream, to be an actress part-time.
- I still have a problem with nuns. I follow them around like a kitten with a ball of yarn.
- I'm not that fashion-conscious. A lot of time, when women are appearing to be so perfect, it's because they're a mess underneath.
- If you meet people who have been successful in Hollywood, or look at their photographs, you see a haunted look in their eyes. You sense a trapped feeling.
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