Ethan Frome launched her career more than two decades ago with the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. She later moved to New York and received every major prize for her work on and off Broadway. She then crossed over to the world of film and built her resume by becoming a favorite among the Hollywood critics.

The youngest of four children, Joan was born in Rochelle, Illinois (pop. 10,000). While growing up, she spent time at her father's gas station with her siblings. While attending Rochelle Township High School, she tried out for a play, and absolutely loved it. Joan decided acting was what she wanted to do with her life.

After graduating high school in 1974, Joan chose to attend Eastern Illinois University, because it offered students a great deal of practical experience. While at Eastern, Joan became friends with a then-unknown John Malkovich, a fellow actor in the department. Joan transferred to Northern Illinois University in 1976, and received a call from Malkovich, who invited her to do a play with the newly-formed Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. In 1977, Joan moved to Chicago and became a full-time member of the company, which also consisted of Gary Sinise, Laurie Metcalf and Malkovich. Of her time with Steppenwolf, Joan says it was monumental in terms of her development as an actress. In 1983, Joan went to New York with the Steppenwolf show And A Nightingale Sang, which is when she acquired an agent for the first time in her career.

In 1986, Joan made her Broadway debut opposite Malkovich in Lanford Wilson's Burn This, for which she received a Best Actress Tony Award in 1987. She followed up the lengthy run of Burn This by plunging into the title role in The Heidi Chronicles, for which she received a Best Actress Tony Award nomination in 1988. After her successful runs on the New York stage, Joan shifted her talent to such early films as Peggy Sue Got Married and Tucker. Initially, she found the transition to film a challenging one, however she continued to develop her technique in such films as Manhunter, Ethan Frome and In Country.

Joan caught Hollywood's attention in 1995's Nixon, when she portrayed the First Lady opposite Sir Anthony Hopkinsand received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1997, Joan received her second consecutive Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Elizabeth Proctor, opposite Daniel Day Lewisin The Crucible. She continued to build her impressive resume with supporting roles, and in 1997, she showed a new side of her talent by starring opposite John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in the action/thriller Face/Off. She earned many critical kudos with her work in The Ice Storm, opposite Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline Joan transformed from black and white to color in the 1999 film Pleasantville, opposite William H. Macy. Also in 1999, Joan re-teamed with fellow Steppenwolf member Gary Sinise in It's The Rage, an ensemble drama about the effects of guns on society. In her first role as a leading lady, she headlined a true story based on the life of Irish crime journalist Veronica Guerin in When the Sky Falls.

In 2000, Joan returned to the White House in The Contender, a political drama written especially for her by former film critic Rod Lurie. Portraying a U.S. Senator chosen to fill the vacancy of the Vice President, Joan earned her first Best Actress Academy Award nomination. For her work in the TNT miniseries The Mists of Avalon in which she co-starred with Angelica Houston and Julianna Marguiles, Allen received an Emmy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.

In 2003, Allen appeared in Off The Map, an independent film directed by Campbell Scott, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Allen was busy in 2004 as movie goers saw her in The Notebook and The Bourne Supremacy, opposite Matt Damon, in addition to shooting The Upside of Anger (opening March 11), a comedy opposite Kevin Kostner and Yes, an English film directed by Sally Potter (Orlando, The Tango Lesson), whose dialogue is delivered entirely in verse.