Possessing a trademark smoky rasp and a beauty that Ms. magazine called "consequential, not cosmetic", Lili Taylor forged her distinctive career playing quirky, complex characters in mostly independent films. The Chicago native who would go on to thrive as outsiders and misunderstood misfits began in theater, acting in regional productions with Chicago's Northlight Theater and the Actors Theater of Louisville, among others. She also spent an "exchange" season (1987) in Czechoslovakia before moving to NYC in 1988 to perform in Richard Foreman's experimental "What Did He See?".Taylor's first
