Biography of Barbara Barrie

Loved by millions of loyal fans as one of the stars of NBC’s hit comedy Suddenly Susan, Academy Award-nominated actress Barbara Barrie is a woman of exceptional achievement on and off the screen. Earning international renown for such memorable roles as the mother in the film Breaking Away, Barrie is also a wife, mother, and best-selling author. Her third book, entitled Second Act, chronicles her inspiring battle against colon cancer and its life-affirming aftermath. Expanding on this memoir, Barrie’s lecture program, offered exclusively by GTN, delivers a message of hope and recovery for young and old alike.

Barbara Barrie’s theatrical credits reveal one of the nation’s most successful and versatile performers. She appeared on Broadway in numerous productions including Company (for which she earned a Tony Award nomination), Prisoner of Second Avenue, California Suite,The Selling of the President and Torch Song Trilogy. She also starred in the off-Broadway productions of The Beaux’ Stratagem, The Crucible, Mi Vida Loca, Love Letters and The Killdeer, for which she won an Obie and a Drama Desk Award. Additionally, she was seen in The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well and as Viola, one of her favorite characters, in Twelfth Night for New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park. She performed with the American Shakespeare Company in Stratford, Connecticut for two seasons, where she was seen in The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. An Academy Award nominee for her role in Breaking Away, Barrie’s additional feature film credits include One Potato, Two Potato, which earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, Private Benjamin, End of the Line and The Bell Jar.