Catherine Keener is one of Hollywood's best kept secrets. She's been in so many films it's staggering, yet she's not the star she deserves to be. She's been involved in almost every aspect of the film industry, yet she's not a mover or a shaker. She is absolutely gorgeous, but she's not spoken of in hushed tones like a Nicole Kidman. She's a brilliant actor, but she's not held in the kind of esteem of a Meryl Streep, who wouldn't play some of the roles she's played.
I remember Catherine best for two roles: Nicole Springer in Living in Oblivion (with a great star turn by Steve Buscemi) and Trish in The 40 Year Old Virgin. In both films, she's the stabilizing influence in the main male character's life; she keeps him going; she gives him a reason to live. It's that strength that comes through the readily in her performances. She's not afraid to be strong, to not be the ingenue, to be a real, living, breathing woman in an industry that expects waifs. She's not afraid to be vulnerable, either, to show her weaknesses and work through them the way real people have to. She's very much a real person in her performances, and that's what I love about her. A good writer and a good director know how to work Catherine; they let her live her character and show that strength and that weakness all at once, to let her be a real person and let us live with it. She's so incredibly real. I, of course, don't know her personally (although I wish I did), but I would imagine she's just as real in person, no pretensions, no BS, just a person who does a job and does it well. Kind of like most of us.
I would seek out films with Catherine Keener in them. She's long been considered "The queen of the indies," but The 40 Year Old Virgin showed she can carry a major film. I'm waiting for her to star in a serious, big Hollywood film and burst into flame like nobody ever has before. She's earned it; anybody who works that hard for that long with that kind of talent is going to get their moment eventually.
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