Thomson made her acting debut in the
Off-Broadway play
Kid Champion in 1975, and at the recommendation of her friend
Christopher Walken, who she considered her "godfather in cinema". She made her film debut in the 1979 war veteran drama
Night-Flowers and made subsequent minor appearances in films including
Heaven’s Gate,
Desperately Seeking Susan,
At Close Range,
Something Wild,
Wall Street and
Fatal Attraction. On the New York stage she appeared in plays including
Uncommon Women and Others,
The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs and
Barbarians. High-profile film work continued into the 1990s, with Thomson cast in
True Romance,
The Crow and
Bad Boys, and appearing in a major supporting role in
Unforgiven as the prostitute whose disfigurement sparks the film's story. Her television work includes portraying the role of Anna Rostov on
The Colbys, and appearing on
The Tracey Ullman Show and the
HBO comedy sketch show
Hardcore TV. Her collaborations with the Israeli filmmaker Amos Kollek, among them
Sue,
Fiona and
Fast Food Fast Women, earned Thomson cult status in France. In 1999, she said in a rare interview that she had grown distant from the American film industry. "If Hollywood ignores me, it’s also because I’m not very good at public relations; I don't send Christmas cards to remind them of me ... apart from a little money, there's nothing Hollywood I miss." By 2001 she had parted ways with her US acting agent entirely. Thomson's last major film performances were as an embittered transgender woman in
François Ozon’s 2000 comedy
Water Drops on Burning Rocks, and as a widowed single mother "sinking into alcoholism and despair" in 2002's
Bridget, to date her final collaboration with Kollek. == Personal life ==