Lisa Suzanne Blount was born in Fayetteville, Washington County, to Glen Roscoe Blount and Louise Martin Blount, natives of Floral, Independence County. She had one brother, Greg. The family moved to Jacksonville, Pulaski County, where Blount graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1975.
Lisa Blount began her acting career at age nineteen with a lead role in September 30, 1955 (1977),which was shot in Conway, Faulkner County, and released in 1977. Written and directed by James Bridges, it starred Richard Thomas, Dennis Quaid, and Tom Hulce.
Lisa Blount married cinematographer actor Christopher Tufty on March 19, 1982, and later divorced. She married Ray McKinnon in 1998 and had no children.
Lisa Blount is best remembered for her 1982 role in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). The movie won two Academy Awards and was nominated for four others. Her screen character, the ambitious, cynical, and insecure Lynette Pomeroy, is the best friend of Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger).
Lisa Blount added television roles to her repertoire. She received critical plaudits for her appearance in the second season of Moonlighting (1985) in the episode Sleep Talkin' Guy (1986). She played a high-class call girl named Toby, whose client talked in his sleep, revealing details of planned murders.
Lisa Blount was given a key role in director John Carpenter's horror film Prince of Darkness (1987),in which she appeared as the love interest to Jameson Parker. As a result of her appearance in this and a few other horror movies, she was sometimes referred to by the press as a "scream queen" star.
Lisa Blount and McKinnon received an Academy Award in 2002 for a live-action short film she produced and he directed titled The Accountant, which concerned the plight of American family farms. Many critics believe that Blount's most poignant role was in the 2004 movie Chrystal (2004),which was written, directed, and co-produced by McKinnon, who also played the character Snake in the film.
Lisa Blount died at her home in Little Rock after spending seventeen years fighting a chronic illness called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). She is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Floral.
