Phoebe Belle Cates (born July 16, 1963) is a retired American actress.
She started out as a model before making her film debut in Paradise in 1982. That same year, she appeared in Fast Times at Ridgemont High; Rolling Stone would later note that one of her scenes in the latter film has "the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history". Her other films include Gremlins, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Date with an Angel, and Drop Dead Fred.
After starring in 1994's Princess Caraboo, Cates quit acting to raise her two children with husband and fellow actor Kevin Kline. Her only roles since then have been in the film The Anniversary Party (where she costarred with Kline as a favor to director Jennifer Jason Leigh, her best friend and former Fast Times co-star) and the video game LEGO Dimensions (where she reprised her character from Gremlins).
Cates currently runs a boutique called Blue Tree in New York City's Upper East Side.
Her career and works demonstrate the following tropes:
- But Not Too Foreign: Phoebe Cates's Catholic mother is half Russian and half Chinese-Filipino, and Phoebe’s father is of Ukrainian Jewish descent (in fact, Phoebe's last name "Cates" is an anglicized version of the family name "Katz").
- Dawson Casting: When she was cast in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, she had just turned 18. This was for a good reason. Had she not been an adult, her nude scene would have legally constituted child pornography.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her infamous nude scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High is considered one of the most memorable parts of the movie and also allowed her to become a household name among teenage boys. This gets a nod in the first episode of Stranger Things Season 3 (which is set in 1985), as Dustin describes his new girlfriend as "Phoebe Cates, but hotter". Referenced again in Season 4, where Steve tells Robin that the girl she's crushing on must be gay also (or bi), as she returned her rented copy of Fast Times at "that scene"
- Reclusive Artist: She retired from acting in the '90s to take care of her kids, and has only done one movie since, in 2001. She rarely gives interviews or talks about her family, and her lone usage of social media is semi-frequently running the Instagram account for her Blue Tree boutique.
