Kelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. McGillis was born in Newport Beach, California, the daughter of Virgina Joan , a homemaker, and Donald Manson McGillis, a general practitioner of medicine. She attended the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California. In 1979, she moved to New York City to study acting at the Juilliard School, where she graduated in 1983. While at Juilliard she performed in William Congreve's Love for Love, directed by John Blatchley. Her... breakout role was that of an Amish mother in the 1985 film Witness with Harrison Ford, for which she received a Golden Globe award nomination. Her next high profile role was that of flight instructor, Charlie, in the 1986 fighter-pilot film Top Gun with Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. After 1988's The Accused, she appeared in Cat Chaser with Peter Weller, a film she despised and which discouraged her from pursuing an acting career. McGillis appeared in dozens of television and film roles throughout the 1990s before taking a break from acting for a few years.
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