This juvenile star of the 1970s, then a delicate blonde with somewhat
androgynous features made a splash with her first feature role, the
fast-talking con artist in training in Peter Bogdanovich's period
comedy "Paper Moon" (1973). The nine year old Tatum O'Neal offered a
polished performance that belied her novice status and earned a Best
Supporting Actress Oscar, making her the youngest winner of a
competitive acting award.
Born
in 1963, O'Neal is the daughter of actors Joanna Moore and Ryan O'Neal.
Their tumultuous marriage, acrimonious divorce and subsequent problems
colored the upbringing of O'Neal and her younger brother Griffin. After
spending several years with her mother (who was battling addictions to
amphetamines and alcohol), O'Neal chose to live with her father.
Following her screen success, O'Neal was often seen at screenings and
nightclubs with her father, seductively dressed and heavily made-up.
She traded on her position to become (to that date) the highest paid
child star when she earned a reported $350,000 and nine percent of the
net profits for her second feature, "The Bad News Bears" (1976), in
which she was a headstrong little league pitching ace. Another teaming
with her father and Bogdanovich for "Nickelodeon" (also 1976) met with
less success, but in hindsight is an underrated, delightful valentine
to the early days of filmmaking.
As she matured, O'Neal attempted
to stretch as a performer, opting to play an Olympic hopeful equestrian
who happens to be the niece of a grown-up Velvet Brown in Bryan Forbes'
"International Velvet" (1978), a sequel to the 1944 Elizabeth Taylor
vehicle "National Velvet". She teamed with fellow kid star Kristy
McNichol for "Little Darlings" (1980), a passable comedy about two
rivals at a summer camp. After 1984's misguided "Certain Fury", O'Neal
concentrated on her marriage to tennis star John McEnroe and raising
their family. Married in 1986, the two endured an often rocky
relationship and eventually separated in 1992.
Like many child
stars, O'Neal has not been able to translate her early successes into
an adult career. When she resumed acting in 1992, she was widely panned
in her stage debut in the off-Broadway play "A Terrible Beauty". A
co-starring role with Crispin Glover in the low-budget "Little Noises"
(1992) also did little to advance her standing in Hollywood. The
following year, she acquitted herself as a police cadet who escapes
prison and flees after committing murder in the based-on-fact
miniseries "Woman on the Run: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story" (NBC).
Except for a small role as a drug-addicted artist in "Basquiat" (1996),
O'Neal was not seen until she emerged in 2003 in "The Scoundrel's
Wife," where she played a widowed mother in a small village during
World War II. Despite her Oscar, O’Neal was forced to submit her
headshot and audition for the part like any other actor just starting
out. It was a tough and humiliating process, especially for a film that
never saw theatrical distribution in the United States.
Tatum admitted in a July 2002 article with People
magazine that she has been struggling with cocaine and heroin addiction
which had caused her to lose custody of her children to McEnroe for a
short time. In October 2004, O’Neal published a tell-all book, “A Paper
Life” (HarperEntertainment), that revealed all the tawdry details of
her life, including her long struggle with drugs and alcohol, her
estrangement from her father and her rocky marriage to McEnroe. In and
out of rehabs throughout the 1990s, O’Neal eventually cleaned up and
began the long process of riving her career. After “The Scoundrel’s
Wife,” O’Neal appeared in episodes of “Sex and the City” (HBO,
1998-2004), “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (NBC, 2001- ) and
“Rescue Me” (FX, 2004- ). She then joined eight other stars in an
effort not to embarrass themselves on “Dancing with the Stars” (ABC,
2005- ), a live ballroom dancing competition that paired celebrities
with professional dancers to perform such dances as the Quickstep, Fox
Trot and Paso Doble, among others. O’Neal did well her first dance, but
botched the Rumba and was voted off the second week of the competition.
Family
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Brother: Griffin O'Neal.
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Daughter: Emily Katherine McEnroe. born on May 10, 1991
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Father: Ryan O'Neal. married Joanna Moore in 1963; divorced in 1967; assumed custody of Tatum and Griffin in 1970
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Grandfather: Charles O'Neal. helped raise Tatum and Griffin after their parents' divorce; died on September 1, 1996
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Grandmother: Patricia O'Neal. helped raise Tatum and Griffin after their parents divorce
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Half-brother: Patrick O'Neal. mother, Leigh Taylor-Young
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Half-brother: Redmond James O'Neal. mother, Farrah Fawcett
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Mother: Joanna Moore. born c. 1934; married Ryan O'Neal in 1963;
divorced in 1967; battled addictions to amphetamines and alcohol; died
on November 22, 1997 of lung cancer
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Son: Kevin McEnroe. born on May 23, 1986 in Santa Monica California
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Son: Sean McEnroe. born c. 1988
Significant Others
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Companion: Alec Baldwin. reportedly began dating in spring 2002
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Companion: Steven Hutensky. born c. 1965; works for Miramax; met in
1999; announced engagement in March 2001; announced separation on July
13, 2001
Education
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Hollywood Professional School, Hollywood, California
Milestones
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1970 Moved in with her father (date approximate)
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1973 Film acting debut, "Paper Moon"; earned Oscar as Best Supporting
Actress; the youngest recipient of a competitive acting Oscar
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1976 Became the highest paid child actor (to that date) when she
received $350,000 and nine percent of the net profit for "The Bad News
Bears"
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1984 Last film for eight years "Certain Fury"
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1989 Co-starred in the TV special "15 and Getting Straight" (CBS)
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1992 Off-Broadway debut, "A Terrible Beauty"
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1992 Returned to features in "Little Noises"
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1993 First adult TV role as the title character in "Woman on the Run: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story" (NBC)
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1996 Played small role in "Basquiat"
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2003 Had first leading part in films in years, starring in title role of the independent film "The Scoundrel's Wife"
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2005 Had a recurring role on FX's "Rescue Me" as Tommy's sister
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2006 Joined the second season of ABC's Hit Series, "Dancing with the Stars"
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