Samantha Mathis

Samantha Mathis (born May 12, 1970) is an American actress and trade union leader who serves as the Vice President, Actors/Performers of SAG-AFTRA. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in Pump Up the Volume (1990), and later co-starred or appeared in such films as FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Super Mario Bros. (1993), Little Women (1994), The American President (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), American Psycho (2000), The Punisher (2004), and Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012). She has recently had recurring roles on The Strain as New York City Councilwoman Justine Feraldo, and on Billions as Taylor Mason Capital COO Sara Hammon.

Samantha Mathis
Mathis guest starring on Billions in 2019
Born	(1970-05-12) May 12, 1970 Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1988–present
Parent(s)	Bibi Besch

Early life

Mathis was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Donald Mathis and Austrian-born actress Bibi Besch.[1][2][3] Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and Mathis was raised by her mother. She relocated with her mother to Los Angeles at the age of five.[4] Mathis's mother discouraged her from pursuing acting, but growing up on locations, in theaters, and in acting classes, Mathis knew she wanted to act.[1][2] She decided to become an actress at the age of twelve.[5] Through her mother, she is the granddaughter of yacht racer Gotfrid Köchert and actress Gusti Huber.

Career

Mathis began acting professionally at the age of 16.[6] Her first job was a commercial for "Always Slender Pads – Just For Teens".[2] She co-starred in the television series Aaron's Way and Knightwatch from 1988 to 1989. Her first starring role in a feature film was that of Nora in Pump Up the Volume (1990), opposite Christian Slater, whom she briefly dated at the time.[1][4] Mathis dyed her natural blonde hair black for the role in an effort to change her image from sweet and innocent to strong-willed.[5]

Mathis appeared in the television movies Extreme Close-up, 83 Hours 'til Dawn, and To My Daughter in 1990. Mathis and Slater had voice roles in the animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992). She next appeared in the comedy This Is My Life (1992), written and directed by Nora Ephron, playing an insecure teenager.[6] Mathis appeared in the play Fortinbras in New York City in October 1992.[7] Super Mario Bros. (1993), in which she played Princess Daisy from the popular Nintendo video game, was a box-office bomb but gained a cult following since its release.[8]

Mathis met actor River Phoenix on the set of The Thing Called Love (1993) and the two started a relationship. She was with Phoenix on October 31, 1993, the night he died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital of a drug overdose after collapsing outside West Hollywood's Viper Room.[1][9] She made the film Jack and Sarah (1995), which was shot in London, in order to get out of the country after his death because of the excessive press coverage.[4]

Mathis appeared in the 1994 film adaptation of Little Women, and in How to Make an American Quilt (1995), both starring Winona Ryder.[10] She then appeared in The American President (1995), playing the assistant to the President of the United States. Mathis costarred with Christian Slater again, along with John Travolta, in John Woo's Broken Arrow (1996). She took a little over a year off from acting after her mother died in 1996 from breast cancer.[11][1]

Mathis later appeared in American Psycho (2000), a film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 novel of the same name. She starred in Attraction (2000), and in The Simian Line (2001). She starred in the TNT television miniseries The Mists of Avalon (2001). Mathis starred with Thomas Jane in The Punisher (2004). She had a guest role on the ABC television show Lost as Olivia Goodspeed. She played Jane Fonda's daughter in the Broadway show "33 Variations."[12] Her indie film Lebanon, PA had its world premiere at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival. She appeared in an off-Broadway production of the play, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, at New York City's Westside Theatre in October 2011.[13]

In 2013, Mathis played psychiatrist Alice Calvert on the CBS television series Under the Dome, based on a novel by Stephen King.[14] In 2014, she joined the cast of the FX horror drama series The Strain as Justine Feraldo, a New York City councilwoman for Staten Island.[15]

In 2019, Mathis appeared Off-Broadway in the role of Kate Conlee in Make Believe, a new play by Bess Wohl staged at the Second Stage Theater. Michael Greif directed.[16]

Her 2020 musical, Whisper House, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]

Personal life

Mathis was the last girlfriend of actor River Phoenix and was with Phoenix the night he died as a result of a drug overdose while attending The Viper Room in Los Angeles, California.[1] In the autopsy report, the Los Angeles Police detailed that Mathis refused several times to give more details surrounding the death of Phoenix and had told deputies at the time of Phoenix's death that she had no knowledge of his drug use.[17]

Mathis spoke for the first time publicly about the death of Phoenix in an interview with The Guardian in 2018.[18] She elaborated on the circumstances surrounding Phoenix's death: "I knew something was wrong that night, something I didn’t understand. I didn’t see anyone doing drugs but he was high in a way that made me feel uncomfortable...the heroin that killed him didn’t happen until he was in the Viper Room. I have my suspicions about what was going on, but I didn’t see anything."[19]

Awards and nominations

Mathis was nominated in 1995 for a Young Artist Award at the Young Artist Awards for Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture for This Is My Life (1992) and in 2005 for a Saturn Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Supporting Actress on Television for Salem's Lot (2004) (TV).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Pump Up the Volume	Nora Diniro
1992	This Is My Life	Erica Ingels	Nominated—Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture
	FernGully: The Last Rainforest	Crysta (voice)
1993	The Music of Chance	Tiffany
	Super Mario Bros.	Princess Daisy
	The Thing Called Love	Miranda Presley
1994	Little Women	Adult Amy March
1995	Jack and Sarah	Amy
	How to Make an American Quilt	Young Sophia Darling Richards	Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	The American President	Janie Basdin
1996	Broken Arrow	Terry Carmichael
	Museum of Love	Stephanie	Short film
1998	Waiting for Woody	Gail Silver
	Sweet Jane	Jane
2000	The Simian Line	Mae
	American Psycho	Courtney Rawlinson
	Attraction	Corey
2004	The Punisher	Maria Castle
2005	Kids in America	Jennifer Rose
	Touched	Jeannie Bates
2006	Believe in Me	Jean Driscoll
	Local Color	Carla
2009	The New Daughter	Cassandra Parker
	Apple Pie and Coffee	(voice)	Short film
2010	Buried	Linda Conroy (voice)
	Order of Chaos	Jennifer
	Lebanon, Pa.	Vicki
2011	Good Day for It	Sarah Bryant
	Camilla Dickinson	Rose Dickinson
2012	Atlas Shrugged: Part II	Dagny Taggart
2014	Affluenza	Bunny Miller
2016	American Pastoral	Penny Hamlin
2017	Ray Meets Helen	Mary
2018	Being Frank	Bonnie
	The Clovehitch Killer	Cindy
	Boarding School	Isabel
TBA	The Georgetown Project	Jennifer Simon	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Aaron's Way	Roseanne Miller	Main cast; Season 1
	Circle of Love	Roseanne Miller	Television film
1988–89	Knightwatch	Jacqueline 'Jake' Monroe	Main cast; Season 1
1989	Cold Sassy Tree	Lightfoot McClendon	Television film
	CBS Summer Playhouse	Mary Dunne	Episode: "American Nuclear"
1990	Extreme Close-Up	Laura	Television film
	83 Hours 'Til Dawn	Julie Burdock
	To My Daughter	Anne Carlston
1999	The Outer Limits	Marie Wells	Episode: "The Shroud"
	Freak City	Ruth Ellison	Television film
1999–2000	Harsh Realm	Sophie Green	4 Episodes
2000	Mermaid	Rhonda	Television film
2001	First Years	Ann Weller	Main cast; Season 1
	Night Visions	Diane Ballard	Episode: "The Passenger List/Bokor"
	The Mists of Avalon	Gwenhwyfar	Television film
2002	PBS Hollywood Presents	Lisa Morrison	Episode: "Collected Stories"
2003	The Twilight Zone	Rachel Stark	Episode: "Into the Light"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Hilary Barclay	Episode: "Control"
2004	Salem's Lot	Susan Norton	Television film Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television
2005	Fathers and Sons	Jenny	Television film
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Dr. Christine Ansel	Episode: "Saving Face"
2006	Secrets of a Small Town	Samantha Steele	Episode: "Pilot"
	Absolution	Bettina Lloyd	Television film
	House	Maria Palko	Episode: "Clueless"
	Nightmares & Dreamscapes	Karen Evans	Episode: "The Fifth Quarter"
2007	Lost	Olivia Goodspeed	Episode: "The Man Behind the Curtain"
	A Stranger's Heart	Callie Morgan	Television film
	Mitch Albom's For One More Day	Young Pauline 'Posey' Benetto
2009	Grey's Anatomy	Melinda Prescott	3 Episodes
	Royal Pains	Amy Hill	Episode: "Wonderland"
2010	Unanswered Prayers	Lorrie Beck	Television film
2011	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Donna	Episode: "The Hero"
2013	Under the Dome	Alice Calvert	Recurring role; Season 1
2014	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Catherine Summers	Episode: "Reasonable Doubt"
2015–16	The Strain	Justine Feraldo	Main cast; Seasons 2-3
2019	Billions	Sara Hammon	Recurring role; Season 4
	Into the Dark	Dr. Victoria Harris	Episode: "All That We Destroy"
	Bull	Avery Kress	Episode: "The Flying Carpet"
2020	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Melanie Franks	Episode: "Swimming With The Sharks"

References

1. Graves, Lucia (July 24, 2019). "'It was too much loss. I fell apart': Samantha Mathis on River Phoenix and her career revival". The Guardian. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
2. Craven, Jonathan (March 1996). "Sam I am" (interview). Bikini.
3. "Samantha Mathis". TVGuide.com. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
4. Hensley, Dennis. "Elementary Mathis", Detour (December 1995)
5. Matsumoto, Jon (September 1, 1990). "Acting's in Samantha Mathis' Blood: Mom's and Grandmom's Too", The Los Angeles Times; retrieved August 31, 2009.
6. Malkin, Nina (June 1992). "This is my Life". Seventeen. pp. 4, 82-83.
7. Gussow, Mel (October 14, 1992). "Theater in Review". The New York Times; retrieved April 24, 2008.
8. "That Time Samantha Mathis, Daisy from Super Mario Bros., and a Puppet Defeated King Koopa". YouTube. October 14, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
9. Pearce, Garth (June 1996). "Why I Still Grieve For River", OK! Weekly
10. Thompson, Bob (October 15, 1995). "Patch in to Mathis". The Toronto Sun.
11. Sheridan, Patricia (April 30, 2007). "Samantha Mathis profile", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; retrieved April 24, 2008.
12. Kaufman, Joanne (March 17, 2020). "Samantha Mathis, Self-Isolating Downtown". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
13. Hetrick, Adam (October 5, 2011). "Dee Hoty and Samantha Mathis Join Love, Loss, and What I Wore Oct. 5" Archived November 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Playbill; retrieved October 30, 2011.
14. Rushfield, Richard (July 15, 2013). "Richard Rushfield visits the set of CBS's summer hit 'Under the Dome'". Grantland.com. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
15. Petski, Denise (November 14, 2014). "Samantha Mathis Joins 'The Strain'; Inbar Lavi In 'The Last Ship'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
16. Brunner, Jeryl (August 16, 2019). "With The New Play 'Make Believe' Samantha Mathis Takes A Deep Dive Into Childhood". Forbes. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
17. "Autopsy report" (PDF). www.autopsyfiles.org.
18. Alexander, Bryan (October 26, 2018). "River Phoenix's death: Samantha Mathis breaks silence about the tragic night 25 years ago". USA Today. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
19. Freeman, Hadley (October 25, 2018). "The untold story of lost star River Phoenix – 25 years after his death". The Guardian. Retrieved October 25, 2018.

External links

• Samantha Mathis on IMDb