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Wikipedia
Trinidad "Trini" Alvarado[1] (born January 10, 1967) is an American actress best known for her performances as Margaret "Meg" March in the 1994 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel Little Women and Lucy Lynskey in the comedy/horror film The Frighteners. She also has notable stage performances to her credit and considerable singing talent. Her latest appearance was on the Fox show Fringe.
Personal life
Alvarado was born in New York City, the daughter of Sylvia, a Puerto Rican flamenco dancer, and Domingo Alvarado, a Spanish-born flamenco singer.[1][2][3] She attended the Professional Children's School and also studied at Fordham University. Alvarado admitted in a People magazine interview for the movie Stella, "I lead kind of a quiet life. I just grew up that way." [4]Alvarado more or less stays out of the limelight and is a self-described homebody; she revealed during the promotion for The Frighteners, "It's just difficult to go away. I was very nervous about having to go to New Zealand for nearly seven months [to make The Frighteners]. I was very tragically saying goodbye to everybody."[5]
Presently residing in New York City, Alvarado is married to actor Robert McNeill.
Career
She made her show business debut at the age of seven when she joined her family's dance troupe,[6] and that led to roles on stage, including the role of Melinda in Elizabeth Swados' Broadway musical Runaways in 1978. Alvarado was featured on the song "Lullaby From Baby to Baby" along with Karen Evans, which Swados herself calls the "theme song" of the musical.[7] The next year, she starred in Rich Kidsalongside John Lithgow and Jeremy Levy, and she lent her vocals to the ending song "Happy Ida and Broken-Hearted John".[8] The same year, she appeared in the ABC Afterschool Special "A Movie Star's Daughter" as Dena McKain, her first of two appearances in the series (her second was the 1981 special Starstruck).
In 1980, Alvarado subsequently appeared in Times Square with Tim Curry and Robin Johnson, during which she and Johnson duet on the song "Your Daughter is One." She had roles in a string of TV shows and movies before appearing on the big screen again in Gillian Armstrong's 1984 drama Mrs. Soffel. In 1985, Alvarado took on the role of Anne Frank in the off-Broadway musical Yours, Anne. The following year, she starred as the title character in Maggie Magalita, another off-Broadway production.
Her next roles — the young Lisa Titus in the ill-fated 1987 film The Chair, the tough, smart-aleck May "Mooch" Stark in the frank, girl-dominant teen movie Satisfaction — led up to one of her most memorable film roles to date: playing the daughter of Stella Claire, portrayed by Bette Midler. Midler and Alvarado bonded on set and even performed an impromptu duet of the chorus of the Beatles' "If I Fell" during Alvarado's screen test, which led to Alvarado being cast.[9] After Stella, Alvarado played the role of Elinor Hartley in American Friends, whichMichael Palin both wrote and starred in. Alvarado later worked alongside John Goodman again on the 1992 biopic The Babe, playing the role of Helen Woodford Ruth.
Alvarado would get the chance to work with director Gillian Armstrong again on the 1994 film adaptation of Little Women. When asked about the role, she said, "I am Hispanic and Meg... is not a Hispanic, but even so they gave me the part. But I understand the situation. I understand it because sometimes I see a film about Hispanics, where none of actors is Hispanic, and I feel bad about that. I'd feel particularly bad if they hadn't allowed me to audition, when they said that they'd already seen all the Hispanics in Hollywood, which isn't true." [10] She and her cast mates endured lessons in Victorian life, including proper etiquette, and restricting dresses. About the women's limiting garb, Alvarado said, "It's so obvious why women were thought of as the weaker sex. I don't know if it was a subconscious desire of designers to hold women back, but you can't even take a full breath [in these Victorian dresses]." [10] Generally well received by critics and audiences,Little Women showcased Alvarado in one of her most-known roles to date, along with Pamela Pearl from Times Square.
Alvarado's next film was 1995's The Perez Family, also starring Alfred Molina, Anjelica Huston and Marisa Tomei. The next year saw the release of The Frighteners, Peter Jackson's horror/comedy film about a con artist who sees ghosts, and The Christmas Tree, the directorial debut of actress Sally Field. Alvarado is better known for the first, even though The Frighteners wasn't hugely popular during its initial release. In the making-of documentary included with the revamped DVD, Alvarado admitted to enduring bruises because of the more active, violent scenes in the movie and to being "cursed"; an ice cream truck from a local New Zealand vendor would go by playing "Greensleeves" every time Jackson did a close-up on her and make her break character.[11]
After making an appearance in the last few minutes of Paulie as the grown-up Marie Altweather in 1998, Alvarado would not grace the big screen again until 2007, in the critically acclaimed film Little Children. She played roles on the small screen, appearing alongside Eric Stoltzfor the third time in 2000's The Last Dance amid a string of TV guest appearances and movies. She recently played the role of Samantha Loeb in the Fox TV sci-fi drama Fringe, appearing in two episodes in 2008 and 2009. Alvarado has parts in the upcoming film All Good Things, which also stars former co-star Kirsten Dunst, and The Good Guy, which had been screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2009.
Alvarado also loaned her voice to narrate the audio books Tricksters Choice, Tricksters Queen and the series Alanna: Song of the Lioness Quartet by author Tamora Pierce. Alvarado also voiced Debbie Macomber's Changing Habits.
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | The Magic Pony Ride | Jump Rope Girl (uncredited) | Short film |
| 1978 | Big Apple Birthday | Goldilocks | Short film |
| 1979 | Rich Kids | Franny Philips | |
| 1979 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Dena McKain | Episode: "A Movie Star's Daughter" |
| 1980 | Times Square | Pamela Pearl | |
| 1981 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Alicia Marin | Episode: "Starstruck" |
| 1982 | American Playhouse | Gail Brock | Episode: "Private Contentment" |
| 1982 | Dreams Don't Die | Teresa | TV movie |
| 1983 | Jacobo Timerman: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number | TV movie | |
| 1984 | Mrs. Soffel | Irene Soffel | |
| 1986 | Kate & Allie | Mindy | Episode: "Winning" |
| 1986 | Kay O'Brien | Sarah Avery | Episode: "Big Vacation" |
| 1987 | Sweet Lorraine | Molly Garber | |
| 1987 | Spenser: For Hire | Laurie Kincaid | Episode: "Sleepless Dream" |
| 1988 | Satisfaction | Mooch | |
| 1988 | Frank Nitti: The Enforcer | Anna | TV movie |
| 1988 | The Chair | Lisa Titus | |
| 1990 | American Playhouse | Younger Elinor | Episode: "Sensibility and Sense" |
| 1990 | Stella | Jenny Claire | |
| 1991 | American Friends | Miss Elinor Hartley | |
| 1991 | American Blue Note | Lorraine | |
| 1992 | The Human Factor | Episode: "Pilot" | |
| 1992 | The Babe | Helen Woodford Ruth | |
| 1994 | Little Women | Meg March | |
| 1995 | The Perez Family | Teresa Perez | |
| 1996 | The Frighteners | Dr. Lucy Lynskey | |
| 1996 | The Christmas Tree | Beth | TV movie |
| 1998 | Paulie | Adult Marie Alweather | |
| 2000 | The Last Dance | Denise Cope | TV movie |
| 2001 | Bitter Winter | TV movie | |
| 2004 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Maggie Shaye | Episode: "Ritual" |
| 2004 | The Jury | Sandra Saramago | Episode: "Three Boys and a Gun" |
| 2006 | Little Children | Theresa | |
| 2008 | Fringe | Samantha Loeb | Episode: "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones" |
| 2009 | Fringe | Samantha Loeb | Episode: "Bound" |
| 2009 | The Good Guy | Sylvia | |
| 2010 | All Good Things | Sarah Davis |
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