Linda Blair

Born on January 22, 1959, in St. Louis, Missouri, Linda Blair was cast as a teen in the horror film "The Exorcist," in which she played a demonically possessed girl. The actress received a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for her role, and the film became a major, much-talked-about hit. Blair went on to do TV-movie work as well as more genre films, and later became an animal activist.

Blair's next big role was in the arresting and heartbreaking 1974 NBC TV-movie "Born Innocent," in which she played a sensitive teen runaway who becomes hardened in a state girls' home. Later that same year she was featured in "Airport 1975," a drama/disaster pic with an ensemble cast lead by Charlton Heston and Karen Black.

For the duration of the decade, Blair starred in other TV movies like "Sweet Hostage," "Sarah T.: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic" (both 1975) and Wes Craven's "Summer of Fear" as well as the 1979 Canadian film "Wild Horse Hank" and domestic big screen venture "Roller Boogie." She also returned to her Regan MacNeil role in "The Exorcist II: The Heretic," which didn't fare as well as its predecessor.

Blair continued to star in genre action/thriller film productions throughout the '80s and early '90s, while also having guest spots on TV programs like "Murder She Wrote," "MacGyver," "Perry Mason" and "Married With Children." She returned to horror with the 1990 spoof "Repossessed," co-starring Leslie Nielsen, and had an uncredited cameo appearance as a reporter in 1996's "Scream."

In 1997, Blair took to the Broadway stage as part of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre revival of the musical "Grease," taking over the role of Betty Rizzo. She appeared in a handful of projects during the early 2000s as well, including the Griffin Dunne comedy "Lisa Picard Is Famous" and the television series "The Scariest Places on Earth," which she hosted.