Actress Veronica Cartwright was born on April 20, 1949 in Bristol, England. She began her acting career as a child actress, in the 1950s, making her debut through an uncredited role in the 1958 film In Love and War. Most of her early work was on American television, such as Leave It To Beaver, The Twilight Zone and The Eleventh Hour, although she also had success in the films The Children’s Hour and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. In 1964, she took a regular role in the NBC series Daniel Boone.
Cartwright’s career slowed down in the late 1960s, but she nevertheless found success through her occasional film work in the following decade. Her more memorable roles during the time include Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien; she was supposed to play the film’s lead until director Ridley Scott decided to swap her role with that of Sigourney Weaver’s. She continued to work on television towards the 1980s, including a recurring role in Tanner ’88, and also appeared in films such as Flight of the Navigator, The Witches of Eastwick and Valentino Returns. Her emphasis on films continued towards the 1990s—Man Trouble, Shoot the Moon, Money Talks—although she took semi-regular roles in The X Files (which earned her two Emmy nominations) and L.A. Law.
Cartwright recently took guest roles in television shows such as Without A Trace, Invasion, Six Feet Under, CSI, Boston Legal and The Nine. She also took roles in the films Kinsey and Just Married (albeit uncredited). She is set to star in the upcoming series Eastwick, a remake of the film which she previously appeared in, although she is not reprising the same role.