Daryl Christine Hannah was born on December 3, 1960, in Chicago, Illinois. Her mother, Susan Jeanne Metzger, was a schoolteacher and producer, and her father, Donald Christian Hannah, owned a tugboat company. She was raised in Long Grove, Illinois. Her parents divorced, and her mother later married businessman Jerrold Wexler. Hannah has Scottish, Irish, German, Norwegian, and Danish ancestry. She has two sisters, Page and Tanya, and a half-brother, Don. Hannah struggled with insomnia and shyness as a child. She studied ballet and acting as a child and teen.
Hannah attended Francis W. Parker School in Chicago before transferring to Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, graduating in 1979. She briefly attended the University of Southern California. She made her film debut in 1978 with a brief appearance in Brian De Palma’s horror film, *The Fury*. Early roles also included appearances in *Hard Country* (1981) and *Blade Runner* (1982), where she portrayed Pris Stratton, a violent replicant. This role helped establish her as a rising actress.
Hannah’s career gained significant momentum throughout the 1980s. She starred in *Splash* (1984), where she played a mermaid, which became a commercial and critical success. Other notable roles during this period include *Reckless* (1984), *The Pope of Greenwich Village* (1984), *Roxanne* (1987), and *Wall Street* (1987). She also made a memorable appearance in *Steel Magnolias* (1989).
In the 1990s and beyond, Hannah continued to work in film and television. She appeared in movies such as *Memoirs of an Invisible Man* (1992), *Grumpy Old Men* (1993), *The Little Rascals* (1994), *Grumpier Old Men* (1995), and *Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery* (1997).