Born in Englewood, New Jersey, Hope
Davis had a long friendship with her neighbor Mira
Sorvino. Hope's first interest in acting came when
she and Sorvino wrote a play and performed it for
their neighbors. Her next encounter with fame came
years later as Billy Baldwin's used-and-abused girlfriend
in Flatliners (1990).
After a small role as a French ticket agent in Home
Alone (1990), she had
yet another touch with fame in Kiss of Death (1995),
in a memorable role that required her to be bench-pressed
by co-star Nicholas Cage.
The next year, Hope had more promising role in The
Daytrippers, in which she played the suspicious
wife of philandering Stanley Tucci. The film was
a hit and she was next seen in Guy, another critically
acclaimed film.
In 1998, Hope had a starring role in Next Stop Wonderland.
Critics praised her performance as Erin, a nurse
recovering from a major breakup with her activist
boyfriend, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. She
achieved to make a cold and unsympathetic character
into someone the audience could relate to and support.
Hope then had a substantial role in the thriller
Arlington Road (1999).
She then gained additional exposure that year in
Mumford, a comedy about a small town psychiatrist
with a past. A few more small films followed before
she was cast as Jack Nicholson’s estranged
daughter in About Schmidt (2002).
The film was a relative success, thanks to Nicholson’s
Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Hope next made a turn in American Splendor (2003),
about the underground comic book artist Harvey Pekar,
played by Paul Giamatti. Cast as Pekar’s wife,
the highly neurotic Joyce, Hope showed a skillful
performance that was undoubtedly one of the reasons
that American Splendor won the Grand Jury Prize
at the 2003 Sundance Festival.
Filmography:
2006
The Hoax
2006
Infamous
2005
The Matador
2005
Proof
2005
The Weather Man
2005
Duma
2003
American Splendor
2002
About Schmidt
2002
The Secret Lives of Dentists
2001
Hearts in Atlantis
2001
Final
2000
Joe Gould's Secret
2000
Deadline [TV Series]
1999
Arlington Road
1999
Mumford
1998
Next Stop Wonderland
1998
The Impostors
1997
The Myth of Fingerprints
1996
Guy
1996
The Daytrippers
1996
Mr. Wrong
1990
Kiss of Death
1995
Run for Cover
1990
Home Alone
1990
Flatliners
Awards:
Golden Globe
•
2003 Best Supporting Actress (American
Splendor)
Independent Spirit Awards
•
2003 Best Supporting Actress (Secret
Lives of Dentists)
National Society of Film Critics
•
2003 Best Actress [Runner-up]
(The Secret Lives
of Dentists)
