Bio
Diana Scarwid is an American actress best known for her role as Christina Crawford in the 1981 feature film Mommie Dearest, in which she plays the much-abused adopted daughter of Hollywood legend Joan Crawford.
In recent years she has had memorable guest appearances on the television series Lost and Prison Break.
Scarwid's first film appearance was in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby (1978). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as John Savage's girlfriend in Inside Moves (1980).
The very next year she "won" the Razzie award for Worst Supporting Actress in Mommie Dearest, making her the first person ever to go from being an Oscar nominee to a Razzie "winner" in just one year.
Nonetheless, she received mostly critical acclaim for the role.
Like co-star Faye Dunaway, Scarwid's appearance in the film typecast her. With isolated exceptions like 1983's Silkwood (in which she earned critical reviews as Cher's girlfriend), Scarwid was largely confined to lesser work in "B" films like Psycho III (1986) and Brenda Starr (1993).
In recent years, Scarwid has garnered more high-profile film roles. She had a brief but scene-stealing part as Jody, the slightly ditzy friend of Michelle Pfeiffer's character in the (2000) film What Lies Beneath.
In (2003), she appeared in Party Monster as controversial New York City club promoter Michael Alig's mother, Elke Alig.
In television, Scarwid portrayed Rose Kennedy in the made-for-TV movie JFK: The Restless Years (1993), and Bess Truman in the HBO film Truman (1995), playing opposite Gary Sinise, for which she earned an Emmy nomination.
In 2004, she landed a contract role in the acclaimed Fox television series Wonderfalls.
In 2006, she had a four-episode recurring role as Jeanette Owens, a lonely housewife, in the second season of the series Prison Break.
She was also been featured as Isabel in the 2007 season of Lost, as the figurative "sheriff" of The Others, in the episode "Stranger In A Strange Land" (Season 3, Episode 9).
In 2007 she will appear in the gay romance film Dream Boy, scheduled for release in the United States on 4 November.
Scarwid has been married to Eric Sheinbart, a physician, since 1977. The couple have two children, Jeremy and Ursula.