Carey Lowell

The Daughter of a Geologist Who Didn't Want to Be a Model

Carey Lowell spent her childhood moving from country to country following her father's expeditions. She lived in Libya and the Netherlands before fashion claimed her in New York. But she never intended to stay on the runways of the Ford agency.

And she got it quickly.

She studied acting at New York University and at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She made her film debut in Dangerously Close in 1986. That teen action movie wasn't a major release, but it got casting directors to take notice of her name.

The Contract That Changed Her Visibility

In 1989, she accepted the role of Pam Bouvier in Licence to Kill. Timothy Dalton was a drier James Bond, and she fit in with an attitude that moved away from the decorative female role typical of the franchise. She earned a competitive salary for the era and shot much of her action scenes in Mexico.

That experience in spy movies didn't typecast her right away. She worked with William Friedkin in The Guardian during 1990 and appeared in the romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle in 1993. But the pace of film shoots began to wear her down.

Jamie Ross appeared in the series Law & Order in 1996. Lowell played the assistant district attorney for two full seasons. She left the project to spend more time with her daughter, and the production wrapped up her exit with a child custody storyline.

She returned to the character on occasion.

From Media Divorce to the Potter's Wheel

Her private life overshadowed her career on several occasions. She was married to photographer John Stember and to actor Griffin Dunne before starting her longest relationship. In 2002, she married Richard Gere after years of a discreet courtship.

The divorce proceedings began in 2013 and were not legally finalized until 2016. It was a long and costly separation that ended up in Manhattan courts over the division of a fortune estimated at $120 million. After that ordeal, she turned to a quiet, physically demanding discipline for refuge.

And mud was the answer.

In 2017, she founded Lowell Ceramics. She crafts stoneware and porcelain pieces in her North Haven studio. Although she made brief appearances in shows such as Blue Bloods or Bull during 2018, her priority is handmade production. Her online shop sells bowls and vases priced at over 200 dollars per piece.