Linda Kozlowski Bio
Linda Kozlowski (born January 7, 1958) is a retired American actress whose career in film and on stage stretched from the early 1980s into the early 2000s. She is best known for her role as Sue Charlton in the Crocodile Dundee film series, a part she first played in 1986 opposite Australian performer Paul Hogan. Her work on the original Crocodile Dundee earned Linda Kozlowski a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, the most prominent recognition of her screen career.
Trained at the Juilliard School, Linda Kozlowski moved from the New York stage to feature films and television, building a résumé that included comedies, thrillers, and science fiction. After more than two decades on screen, she stepped away from acting in the early 2000s to focus on family and other ventures.
Early Life and Background
Linda Kozlowski was born on January 7, 1958, the daughter of Stanley M. Kozlowski and Helen E. Kozlowski, whose maiden name was Helena Parniawska. She grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, and graduated from Andrew Warde High School in 1976, completing her secondary education in the same town where she had spent her formative years.
Her parents came from varied backgrounds, with family ties reaching into Polish heritage through her father’s lineage. The household in Fairfield provided Linda Kozlowski with a stable environment in which to pursue her growing interest in the performing arts. As a teenager, she took part in school productions, an early sign of the stage career that would follow.
Encouraged by her family, Linda Kozlowski applied to competitive training programs in New York. Her acceptance into the Juilliard School’s drama division marked a clear step toward a professional career. The rigorous training she received there became the foundation of her later work in theater, film, and television.
Path to Acting
Linda Kozlowski graduated from the Juilliard School’s drama division in 1981, after years of focused study in acting, voice, and movement. Her training at Juilliard, one of the most respected conservatories in the United States, prepared her for the demands of stage work in New York City. Almost immediately after graduation, she began to find professional opportunities in theater.
She debuted in the 1981–1982 off-Broadway production of How It All Began, a small but meaningful first credit. Linda Kozlowski then joined the Broadway company of Death of a Salesman, playing the role of Miss Forsythe. In 1984, she took on the same role for the 1985 film version of the play, marking her entry into screen acting under the direction of a major production team.
Her early stage and film work introduced Linda Kozlowski to casting directors in New York and Los Angeles. The combination of classical training and on-set experience made her a strong candidate for bigger roles. By the mid-1980s, she was ready to audition for projects with wider commercial reach, which led directly to her casting in Crocodile Dundee.
Linda Kozlowski Career
Early Career (1981–1985)
Linda Kozlowski’s early career was rooted in the New York theater scene. After her Juilliard graduation in 1981, she performed in the off-Broadway production How It All Began, an important first credit that showed her range in contemporary work. She also appeared on Broadway in Death of a Salesman, an experience that connected her with established directors and actors.
In 1985, she reprised her stage role of Miss Forsythe in the film version of Death of a Salesman, a notable early project that moved her work from stage to screen. These first years allowed Linda Kozlowski to sharpen her craft and build a résumé strong enough to attract feature film offers.
Breakthrough (1986–1988)
Linda Kozlowski’s breakthrough came in 1986, when she was cast as the female lead, Sue Charlton, in the Australian film Crocodile Dundee opposite Paul Hogan. The casting proved pivotal, as her on-screen chemistry with Paul Hogan sparked a real-life romance that lasted for years. The film became a global hit, and her performance brought her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1987.
Building on that success, she starred alongside Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee II in 1988, returning to the role of Sue Charlton. That same year, Linda Kozlowski appeared in Pass the Ammo with Bill Paxton, Tim Curry, and Annie Potts, expanding her range into comedy and crime. She also appeared in the television miniseries Favorite Son, an early step into prestige TV work.
This stretch of work established her as a bankable leading lady in both film and television. The pairing with Paul Hogan, in particular, gave Linda Kozlowski a recognizable screen presence and a string of offers from Hollywood and Australian productions.
Later Roles and Retirement (1990–2001)
Linda Kozlowski continued to work steadily into the 1990s. In 1990, she starred with Paul Hogan in Almost an Angel, a comedy that reunited the popular duo. She followed it with Backstreet Justice, a 1994 thriller co-starring Paul Sorvino, and The Neighbor, also in 1994, in which she acted opposite Rod Steiger. In 1995, she took a role in the science fiction remake Village of the Damned.
Her final screen appearance came in 2001, when she returned to her most famous role in Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, again alongside Paul Hogan. After that project, Linda Kozlowski largely stepped away from the industry. She has spoken about her frustration with the low-budget films she was being offered, saying the experience was wearing her down and prompting her to leave acting behind.
Notable Works and Milestones
The Crocodile Dundee series stands as the signature work of Linda Kozlowski’s career, defining her public image and earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her filmography also includes Pass the Ammo, The Neighbor, and Village of the Damned, projects that showed her willingness to take on varied genres. Across stage, film, and television, her body of work marks her as a recognizable actress of the late twentieth century.
Linda Kozlowski Award Nominations
Linda Kozlowski received one major industry award nomination during her acting career. In 1987, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance as Sue Charlton in the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee. The nomination remains the most prominent formal recognition of her work on screen.
Linda Kozlowski Family
Linda Kozlowski is the daughter of Stanley M. Kozlowski and Helen E. Kozlowski, whose maiden name was Helena Parniawska. She grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, and later moved to New York to study acting. Her family background helped shape her path into the arts, encouraging her early interest in performance.
With her former husband, Australian actor Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski has one son, Chance. The couple married in 1990 and later divorced in 2014. In 2017, she married Moroccan tour guide Moulay Hafid Baba, and the couple have since made their home in Morocco.
Personal Life
Linda Kozlowski met Paul Hogan on the set of Crocodile Dundee in 1986, and the two became a couple during the production of Crocodile Dundee II. They married on May 5, 1990, after Hogan’s earlier divorce was finalized, and they later made their home in Los Angeles. The marriage lasted until 2014, when the pair divorced.
Linda Kozlowski and Paul Hogan share one son, Chance. In 2017, she married Moulay Hafid Baba, and the couple now live in Morocco, where they co-own a tour company. Her life since leaving acting has been centered on family and new ventures outside the entertainment industry.