Linda Blair

About Linda Blair

Linda Denise Blair (born January 22, 1959) is an American actress and activist. She played Regan MacNeil in the horror film The Exorcist (1973), for which she won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for an Academy Award. The film established her as a horror icon and scream queen; she reprised the role in the sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), for which she earned a nomination for a Saturn Award.

Blair went on to star in numerous television films, including Born Innocent (1974), Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975), and Stranger in Our House (1978), before establishing herself as a sex symbol in the musical film Roller Boogie (1979). The 1980s had her starring in numerous horror and exploitation films, including the slasher Hell Night (1981), the prison drama Chained Heat (1983), and the grindhouse cult thriller Savage Streets (1984). She was the host of the Fox Family reality series Scariest Places on Earth (2000–2006) and had regular appearances on the Animal Planet series Pit Boss (2010–2012).

Blair is a prominent activist for the animal rights movement. In 2004, she founded the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves to rehabilitate and adopt rescue animals. A vegan, she co-authored the book Going Vegan! in 2001.