Cartwright was born in Bristol and grew up in Los Angeles, having immigrated to the US shortly after the birth of her younger sister, actress Angela Cartwright. In 1958, her career as a child actress began with a role in In Love and War. Among her early appearances were repeated roles in the television series Leave It to Beaver and episodes of "The Haunting" and The Twilight Zone "I Sing the Body Electric". In 1963, she guest starred twice in NBC's medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour, in the episodes "The Silence of Good Men" and "My Name is Judith, I'm Lost, You See". Cartwright appeared in the films The Children's Hour and Alfred Hitchcock'sThe Birds, which were both highly successful. In The Birds, she was cast along with her television father from Leave It to Beaver, Richard Deacon, although the two were not on screen together. She played daughter Jemima Boone in the first two seasons of NBC's Daniel Boone from 1964 until 1966, with co-stars Fess Parker, Patricia Blair, Darby Hinton, Ed Ames and Dallas McKennon. She won a regional Emmy Award for the television movieTell Me Not in Mournful Numbers.
Career
Cartwright achieved success with Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien, the latter performance winning her a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was originally cast as Aliens 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, Inserts, Goin' South, The Right Stuff, Flight of the Navigator, The Witches of Eastwick, Money Talks, Scary Movie 2, Kinsey and Straight-Jacket. A frequent performer in television, she has played guest roles in such series as Route 66, The Mod Squad, Miami Vice, Baywatch, L.A. Law, ER, The X-Files, Chicago Hope, Will & Grace, Touched by an Angel, Judging Amy, Six Feet Under, The Closer, and '. Cartwright has received three Emmy Award nominations, one for her work in ER in 1997, and two for her work on The X-Files in 1998 and 1999. Cartwright also starred as Mrs. Olive Osmond in the made-for-TV film Inside the Osmonds. She co-starred in the fourth version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Invasion. She appears on the cover art for the Scissor Sisters' 2006 single "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" as well as on their second albumTa-Dah. In 2014, Cartwright reprised her role as Joan Lambert for DLC episodes in ' based on the original film, and appeared in the remake of The Town That Dreaded Sundown. It was announced on June 11, 2019, Cartwright will join the cast of General Hospital in a top-secret role in July 2019; at press time, it was reported that she will appear in a "special" five-episode story arc.
