Daryl
Christine Hannah was born December 3, 1960, in Chicago, Illinois. As a child,
she was diagnosed as borderline autistic because she was so shy. According to
her sister, actress Page Hannah, Daryl was a "very private, rather dreamy
person with a "Please Knock" sign on the door and parakeets and hamsters
running loose inside."
Hannah
made her screen debut in the 1978 Brian De Palma thriller The Fury, when she was
just 17. It was only a small part, but it gave her the incentive to further her
dramatic training. She studied with Stella Adler and graduated from the University
of Southern California in Los Angeles. Following
her graduation, she played Kim Basinger's younger sister in 1981's Hard Country.
In 1982, she co-starred in Summer Lovers, but it was another film from the same
year that made audiences sit up and take notice of the young actress. She was
then cast as Pris, the seductive, pleasure-model "replicant" in Ridley
Scott's futuristic detective story Blade Runner.
If
people took notice of her for her supporting role as Pris, then it's fair to say
that her next role made her a star. Appearing opposite Tom Hanks in Ron Howard's
1984 romantic comedy Splash, Hannah demonstrated her versatility and comedic flair
as Madison the mermaid.