Nina Siemaszko

Nina Siemaszko began acting at age four in a Chicago production of "The Sound of Music" and then continued to hone her craft as a child performer at the city's Polish-language RefRen Theatre. As she has matured, the petite attractive actress has carved a career alternating between leading and supporting roles on television and in both studio fare and independent films. Siemaszko made her feature debut in the best-forgotten "One More Saturday Night" (1986) before appearing in the teen romp "License to Drive" (1988), with Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. In 1989, she made her small screen debut in a small role in the acclaimed CBS miniseries "Lonesome Dove." Her turn as an alluring teen who turns to prostitution in "Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue" didn't win her any critical praise but she was did garner some notice as Talia Shire's daughter in "Bed and Breakfast" (both 1992) and as Mia Farrow in the CBS biography "Sinatra" (also 1992). Siemaszko had one of her better roles as a pregnant squatter in "The Saint of Fort Washington" (1993) Projects like the cult films "Floundering" and "Airheads" (both 1994) followed but did little to advance her career. She turned mainstream to play Annette Bening's sister in the comedy "The American President" (1995), which proved to be a box office disappointment. A further setback was the busted pilot "The Pastor's Wife" (1995), scripted by David E Kelley, in which she had the title role. It took another indie role, though, for the actress to earn glowing notices as a contemporary gold-digger in "George B." (1997) opposite David Morse. That same year, she starred as a klutzy nurse whose automobile goes out of control in the Fox TV-movie "Runaway Car." More recently, Siemaszko assumed the role of Mona Ramsay (created by Chloe Webb) in the sequel "Armistead Maupin's 'More Tales From the City'" (Showtime, 1998) before lending support to Robin Williams in "Jakob the Liar" (1999).