A top teenaged model of the late 1970s and romantic lead of 80s and 90s film and TV, Cates began her film career in teen movies ("Paradise", "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" both 1982, and "Private School" 1983) before winning attention in 1984 for two very different roles: as Zach Galligan's sweet-natured girlfriend with a tragic Christmas memory in Joe Dante's "Gremlins"; and as Lilli, a vengeful actress out to destroy the mother-she-never-knew who abandoned her at birth, in the sensationally trashy ABC TV miniseries, "Lace". ("All right, which one of you dumb bitches is my mother?") Cates
