Background
Cartwright was born in Bristol and grew up in Los Angeles, having emigrated to America shortly after the birth of her younger sister, actress Angela Cartwright.
Cartwright was born in Bristol and grew up in Los Angeles, having emigrated to America shortly after the birth of her younger sister, actress Angela Cartwright.
As a child actress she appeared in supporting roles in The Children"s Hour and The Birds. Her career as a child actress began in 1958 with a role in In Love and War. She was cast as daughter Jemima Boone in the first two seasons of National Broadcasting Company"s Daniel Boone from 1964 until 1966, with co-stars Fess Parker, Patricia Blair, Darby Hinton, Editor Ames, and Dallas McKennon.
Cartwright"s career slowed during the late 1960s.
She was originally cast as Alien"s heroine Ellen Ripley, but director Ridley Scott switched her role with Sigourney Weaver"s just prior to shooting the film. Other film roles include: Spencer"s Mountain with Henry Fonda and Kym Karath (1963), Inserts (1974), Goin" South (1978), The Right Stuff (1983), Flight of the Navigator (1986), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Money Talks (1997), Scary Movie 2 (2001), Kinsey (2004) and Straight-Jacket (2004).
A frequent performer in television, she has played guest roles in such series as The Mod Squad, Miami Vice, Baywatch, Los Angeles Law, Emergency, The X-Files, Chicago Hope, Will & Grace, Touched by an Angel, Judging Amy, Six Feet Under, The Closer, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Veronica Cartwright also starred as Mistress
Olive Osmond in the made for television film Inside the Osmonds.
She co-starred in the fourth version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Invasion (2007). She appears on the cover art for the Scissor Sisters" 2006 single "I Don"t Feel Like Dancin"" as well as on their second album Ta-Dah. In 2014, Cartwright reprised her role as Joan Lambert for DLC episodes in Alien: Isolation based on the original film.
She appeared in the same year 2014, in the remake of The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
Cartwright is the older sister of actress Angela Cartwright, who appeared in The Sound of Music (1965) and as a regular in the television series Lost in Space and Make Room for Daddy.
She is perhaps best known for her roles in the science fiction films Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and Alien (1979), for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was the youngest actress to win an Emmy for Tell Maine Not in Mournful Numbers. She continued to work and achieved two of her biggest successes with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and Alien (1979), the latter performance winning her a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Cartwright has received three Emmy Award nominations, one for her work in Emergency in 1997, and two for her work on The X-Files in 1998 and 1999.
