The Juilliard-trained actress first appeared on-screen as Tom Conti's love interest in Reuben, Reuben (1983), a critical if not commercial success. Based on her work in that film, Australian director Peter Weir cast her as a young Amish widow in Witness (1985). Costarring with Harrison Ford made McGillis a top Hollywood prospect, and she landed the coveted part of flyboy Tom Cruise's leading lady in the jet opera Top Gun (1986), a box-office blockbuster but an artistic pariah. Since then, McGillis' output has been uneven: Her angelic role in Made in Heaven (1987) and her damsel-in-distress turn in The House on Carroll Street (1988) certainly didn't advance her career. A meaty role, as the prosecutor of Jodie Foster's rapists in The Accused (1988), didn't help, either; Foster got most of the best notices-and an Academy Award. Winter People (1989) was barely seen and Cat Chaser (1990) went direct to video. Then The Babe (1992) flopped at the box office, though McGillis' warm performance as the second Mrs. Babe Ruth scored her some long-overdue points. Hoping to shape a better vehicle for herself, she coproduced and starred in the madefor-TV Grand Isle (1992).