O'Neal was born in 1963 into the motion picture family of actor Ryan O'Neal (of mostly Irish ancestry) and actress Joanna Moore (of English descent). Her mother died in 1997 of lung cancer after a successful career in which she had appeared in such movies as Touch of Evil. Her father Ryan who is struggling with a form of leukemia, recently reunited with Farrah Fawcett after many years of separation.
Academy Award as a child
In 1974, Tatum O'Neal became the youngest person ever to receive the Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Paper Moon. This controversial movie which also featured her real-life father as a con-man, portrayed young Tatum as a child in the company of a crook who was being further tutored in a life of crime and corruption. The motion picture was financed by Herbert W. Armstrong's Ambassador International Cultural Foundation.
Other movie roles
Other movies starring Tatum O'Neal include The Bad News Bears, Nickelodeon (both 1976), International Velvet (1978), and Little Darlings (1980).
Marriage
In 1986, O'Neal wed tennis superstar John McEnroe, and the couple had three children: Kevin, Sean, and Emily. Following their divorce in 1992, she took up residence in New York City. McEnroe, who in 1997 married musician Patty Smyth, has custody of his three children with O'Neal.
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