Kelly Ann McGillis was born in Newport Beach, California, to Virginia Joan Snell, a homemaker, and Donald Manson McGillis, a general practitioner of medicine. Her ancestry is a rich tapestry of English, Welsh, Scots-Irish, and German roots. McGillis decided to forgo her high school education to pursue a career in acting, and subsequently attended the prestigious Juilliard in Manhattan and the Pacific Conservatory of Performing Art in Santa Monica, California.
During her early career, McGillis held a variety of jobs to make ends meet, including waiting tables, while simultaneously landing stage roles and working towards her goal of becoming a successful actress. Her breakthrough came with a supporting part in the Academy Award-nominated film Reuben, Reuben (1983),which led to a plethora of television work and a lead role opposite Harrison Ford in the critically acclaimed thriller Witness (1985). This box office hit, directed by Peter Weir, catapulted her to fame and garnered the attention of Hollywood producers, including Jerry Bruckheimer, who cast her as Charlie Blackwood in the massive hit Top Gun (1986),which went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year and cemented her status as a household name.
Ironically, McGillis's breakthrough role did not translate to high-profile work, and she instead chose to focus on her passion for theater. She took on various stage roles, including performances in William Shakespeare's plays such as "The Merchant of Venice", "Don Juan", "Twelfth Night", "The Merry Wives of Windsor", "Mourning Becomes Electra", and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". In 1994, she scored the title role in the Broadway production of "Hedda Gabler", although the show unfortunately closed after only 33 performances.
In the early 1990s, McGillis became a mother to two daughters and began to work more sporadically on television and film in order to spend time with her family and focus on her business, a restaurant in Florida. She continued to work on a range of projects, including Winter People (1989),Cat Chaser (1989),The Babe (1992),North (1994),At First Sight (1999),and The Monkey's Mask (2000),as well as a string of made-for-TV films.
More recently, McGillis has completed a national stage tour of "The Graduate", playing the iconic Mrs. Robinson, and continues to act while pursuing her studies in Addiction Studies and raising her children in Pennsylvania.
