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(Warner Bros.)

♫All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes. Rosanna, Rosanna♫

Contrary to popular belief, the lyrics to Toto’s classic 1982 pop single ‘Rosanna’ aren’t entirely about actress Rosanna Arquette. The song was written by the band’s keyboardist and main songwriter David Paich, who used various past girlfriends as inspiration for the words. The title, however, is a reference to the famous Rosanna, who was dating David’s bandmate and fellow keyboardist Steve Porcaro at the same time the song and accompanying album ‘Toto IV’ were recorded. For the past four decades, Rosanna claims the two questions she’s asked more than anything else are: “Are you the woman ‘Rosanna’ is about?” and “What was it like to work with Madonna?” The latter referring to the two co-starring in Susan Seidelman’s madcap romcom Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). But even without ‘Rosanna’ and Susan, most fans would probably still know who Rosanna Arquette is. Her grandfather was legendary radio and TV comedian Cliff Arquette, known for his public persona ‘Charley Weaver.’ Her dad is film/TV character actor Lewis Arquette and her mom, Brenda, ran many occupations from poet, stage actress, activist, theatre manager and even therapist. Born the oldest of five children, Rosanna got to experience her parents’ crazy hippie lives up close, whether it was attending the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where Bob Dylan performed or the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969, both under the age of 10.

By the time Rosanna was out of high school, she was following the family tradition and appearing in things like a 1979 episode of ABC’s “Eight is Enough,” Bill L. Norton’s More American Graffiti (1979) and Blake Edwards’ SOB (1981). Her breakthrough would be Lawrence Schiller’s The Executioner’s Song (1982), where Rosanna received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Television Feature. 1985 was even better with Desperately Seeking Susan as her first starring role in a hit, featuring a Golden Globe nom for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy; as well as a role in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, which gained her a BAFTA nom for Best Supporting Actress. Since then, Rosanna’s been a consistently working with parts in films such as Luc Besson’s The Big Blue (1988), Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), David Cronenberg’s Crash (1996), Jonathan Lynn’s The Whole Nine Yards (2000), and TV series including Showtime’s “The L Word” (2004-07) and “Ray Donovan” (2013-14). In the 2000s, she worked behind the camera to direct the documentaries Searching for Debra Winger (2002) and All We are Saying (2005). And, as film fans will know, younger siblings David, Patricia and Alexis followed Rosanna into acting.

(Orion Pictures)

Rosanna and Marty Scorsese also reunited for the segment ‘Life Lessons’ of the anthology feature New York Stories (1989), where the actress’ second musician boyfriend, Peter Gabriel, made an appearance too. Like with Steve and Toto, Rosanna is considered the inspiration for another 1980s music staple as well: Peter’s ‘In Your Eyes’ from his 1986 acclaimed LP ‘So.’ Impressively, despite her upbringing and preference for music stars, the actress has never had a scandal involving drugs or sex. Though she got pretty close in 1990, when Playboy Magazine bought a set of unpublished nude photos of Rosanna taken by legendary photographer Bert Stern and featured them in an issue along with her as the cover photo. Rosanna has suggested this was the beginning of the end of her relationship with Peter, as she was embarrassed and tried to sue, while Peter is a practicing Buddhist who doesn’t believe in public nudity.

Although she never made it down the aisle with either Steve or Peter, Rosanna did marry four times, including to nine-time Oscar nominated film composer and Toto affiliate James Newton Howard in 1986-87; and she has daughter Zoe [b. 1994] with restauranter John Sidel, Rosanna’s husband from 1993 to 1999. Whether she’s being directed by Scorsese, acting alongside Madonna, referenced in a classic rock song or active with her always tight legendary family, Rosanna will meet you all the way.

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