Linda Fiorentino

Fiorentino grew up in South Philadelphia and later in the Turnersville section of Washington Township, New Jersey, as part of a large Catholic Italian-American family. She graduated from Washington Township High School in 1976 and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Rosemont College in 1980. She then studied at the Circle in the Square Professional Theater School in New York City, one of only 54 applicants chosen from 1,200, while working as a bartender at the nightclub Kamikaze, where Bruce Willis also worked. She has studied photography at the International Center of Photography since 1987. She is an avid liberal political activist and has supported Democratic candidates.

Fiorentino's career included several notable near-misses. She reportedly turned down the role opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun, a part that went to Kelly McGillis, and instead pursued a biopic about Edie Sedgwick that never came to fruition. She was attached to a Georgia O'Keeffe biopic that stalled, and later optioned a screenplay about Russian poet Anna Akhmatova that was never produced. In 2008, she made headlines when her then-boyfriend, ex-FBI agent Mark T. Rossini, was charged with accessing sensitive bureau files at her request, allegedly to help private investigator Anthony Pellicano, though she claimed it was for film research. The incident ended their relationship and led to Rossini's resignation.

Fiorentino was married to writer-director John Byrum from 1992 to 1993. She has no children and splits her time between New York City and Westport, Connecticut. With a filmography spanning 25 years, she remains known for her intense performances and her role in The Last Seduction, which cemented her reputation as a compelling screen presence.