Only child born to Robert and Josephine Quinlan. She grew up in Mill Valley, Ca, and got her break in acting when George Lucas came to her high school to cast for his movie American Graffiti. She followed up her one-line role 4 years later with Lifeguard, and then several roles in the late 1970s and '80s. Her breakthrough performance came in 1994, as Marilyn Lovell in the Oscar-winning Apollo 13, for which she was nominated for an Oscar. Today she stars in the TV series Family Law, but her contract stipulates that she cannot work later than 6 pm, so she can be home with her husband Bruce Abbott, son Tyler (b. 1990), and step-son Dalton (b. 1989).
Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1977" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 29. Was a gymnast in high school. Her leading role in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden was previously intended for Natalie Wood, who had unrealized plans to both produce and star in that film. Graduate of Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California where she was an accomplished diver.