There’s a reason people keep asking about Meg Foster’s eyes: they’re almost impossibly blue, and they seem to follow you through the screen. Foster built a decades-long career around that gaze, from a television Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter to cult-movie immortality in They Live, and her résumé runs deep beyond those touchstones — including the first season of TV’s Cagney & Lacey (TV Insider (TV guide)).
Born: May 10, 1948 · Age: 76 (as of 2024) · Known for: They Live, Masters of the Universe, The Scarlet Letter
Quick snapshot
- Born May 10, 1948, in Reading, Pennsylvania, as Margaret Mary Foster (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia))
- Raised in Rowayton, Connecticut, one of five siblings (IMDb (film database))
Whether her blue eyes are tied to a medical condition — no reliable source confirms it.
Her exact net worth — estimates vary.
Why she left Cagney & Lacey after one season.
- Screen career began in 1969 with NET Playhouse (IMDb biography)
- Cult peak: Masters of the Universe (1987) and They Live (1988) (The Famous People (celebrity database))
- Returned to screens with 25 Hill (2011) and The Lords of Salem (2012) (IMDb awards)
Still a fan favorite at genre conventions and retrospectives. No major upcoming titles appear in her primary filmography listings.
Seven facts, one pattern: Foster’s public record runs deep on screen credits and stays deliberately shallow on personal details.
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Margaret Mary Foster |
| Born | May 10, 1948, Reading, Pennsylvania |
| Raised in | Rowayton, Connecticut |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Known for | They Live, The Scarlet Letter, Masters of the Universe |
| Spouse | Stephen E. Bingen (m. 1976–1979) |
What ethnicity is Meg Foster?
Meg Foster is Caucasian, born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1948 (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia)). Her parents are identified as David and Nancy Foster, whose maiden name was Adamson (The Famous People (celebrity database)), and she grew up in Rowayton, Connecticut, one of five siblings (IMDb (film database)).
What is Meg Foster’s age and birthplace?
- Born: May 10, 1948, Reading, Pennsylvania, USA
- Age: 76 as of 2024
- Raised in: Rowayton, Connecticut
Foster was in her late 30s when she landed back-to-back cult roles in Masters of the Universe (1987) and They Live (1988) — a useful frame for a career that peaked after nearly two decades of steady screen work.
The myth around Foster’s eyes often overshadows her résumé. No verified source has linked her blue irises to a medical condition — that’s internet speculation wrapped around a naturally striking feature.
What is her family background?
- Parents: David and Nancy Foster, whose maiden name was Adamson
- Siblings: Four, making five children in the family
- Training: Studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City (IMDb (film database))
The Neighborhood Playhouse gave Foster a stage-trained foundation that predates every film credit on her résumé. That formal background helps explain how she moves so comfortably between television realism and the stylized realms of sci-fi and fantasy.
What this means: Foster’s ethnicity was never a mystery — her look was. The two shouldn’t be confused.
How old is Meg Foster?
Meg Foster was born on May 10, 1948, making her 76 as of 2024. She started screen acting at 21 with a role in NET Playhouse in 1969 (IMDb (film database)). What followed was a steady climb through American television’s most competitive era.
What did Foster do before the cult movies?
- 1970–1977: Feature debut in Adam at 6 A.M., then the TV film Sunshine (1973), which spawned a short-lived series (1975) and a sequel, Sunshine Christmas (1977) (TV Insider (TV guide))
That decade of television work — anthology entries, made-for-TV movies, and series spin-offs — is the foundation beneath the 1980s film career. When producers needed an actress who could ground fantasy with straight-faced conviction, Foster had already spent years proving exactly that.
Foster’s age reframes her filmography: she was a seasoned professional, not an ingenue, when Hollywood’s genre directors came calling. The gravity she brought to Evil-Lyn and Holly wasn’t luck — it was two decades of practice.
The implication: Foster’s age is a feature, not a bug, in her career story. The “cult icon” label obscures a performer who was already a screen veteran when the 1980s made her famous.
What are Meg Foster’s most famous movies?
The role fans remember most is Holly in John Carpenter’s They Live (1988) (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia)). One year earlier, she had played Evil-Lyn in Masters of the Universe (IMDb (film database)), and in 1979 she anchored the miniseries The Scarlet Letter as Hester Prynne (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia)).
What is Meg Foster’s most famous role?
- They Live (1988): Holly
- Masters of the Universe (1987): Evil-Lyn
- The Scarlet Letter (1979): Hester Prynne
These three roles show the range in miniature: a cult-movie lead, a fantasy antagonist, and a literary heroine. Not bad for an actress the internet mostly remembers for her eye color.
What else did she star in during the 1970s and 1980s?
- Ticket to Heaven (1981): earned a Genie Award nomination for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress (IMDb (film database))
- Clash of the Titans (1981): reportedly played Hera (The Famous People (celebrity database))
- The Osterman Weekend (1983), The Emerald Forest (1985), and The Lords of Salem (2012): directed by Sam Peckinpah, John Boorman, and Rob Zombie, respectively (TV Insider (TV guide))
- Later genre work: Stepfather II and Blind Fury (1989), plus guest roles on Quantum Leap, ER, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Murder, She Wrote, Sliders, and Xena: Warrior Princess (2000) (IMDb (film database))
The thread connecting these credits: Foster never stayed in one lane. Prestige miniseries in 1979, studio fantasy in 1987, independent horror in 2012 — the through-line is range, not genre.
Foster’s cult status rests on two films from consecutive years — Masters of the Universe (1987) and They Live (1988) — yet those performances draw on more than a decade of prior television craft.
Meg Foster’s career timeline
1948: Born Margaret Mary Foster on May 10 in Reading, Pennsylvania.
1969: First reported screen role in the anthology series NET Playhouse (IMDb (film database)).
1979: Starred as Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.
Early 1980s: Played Christine Cagney in season one of Cagney & Lacey.
1987–1988: Evil-Lyn in Masters of the Universe, then Holly in They Live.
2011: Returned with 25 Hill and Sebastian (IMDb (film database)).
2012: Appeared in Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem (TV Insider (TV guide)).
The pattern: Foster’s career peaks came in pairs — two cult films in consecutive years, two return projects in consecutive years — with long productive stretches in between. She kept working, even when the projects got smaller.
Meg Foster: confirmed facts and open questions
Confirmed facts
✓ Born May 10, 1948, in Reading, Pennsylvania (Wikipedia (community encyclopedia))
✓ Raised in Rowayton, Connecticut, one of five siblings
✓ Married to writer-director Stephen E. Bingen from 1976 to 1979, according to published biographical profiles
✓ Played Evil-Lyn in Masters of the Universe (1987) and Holly in They Live (1988) (IMDb (film database); Wikipedia (community encyclopedia))
✓ Nominated for a Genie Award for her role in Ticket to Heaven (IMDb (film database))
What’s still unclear
✗ Whether her blue eyes are the result of a medical condition — no credible source has confirmed this
✗ Her exact net worth — estimates vary, with figures around $1–2 million commonly cited but unverified
✗ Why she left Cagney & Lacey after one season
The split tells its own story: what’s documented about Foster is almost entirely professional. The personal facts that do exist — the marriage, the quiet life — are sparse precisely because she chose them to be.
For fans, those unknowns add to the mystique. Foster’s public profile has always been career-first: the roles are documented, the private life is not.
Meg Foster in the words of others
Film lore around Foster tends toward the same theme: those eyes. A widely shared Facebook post from the page Some Amazing Facts summed up the industry’s reaction this way:
“Directors often said the camera couldn’t handle the intensity of her eyes.”
— Some Amazing Facts, film-lore page on Facebook
The biographical record is more grounded. An Amazon biography blurb describes her entry into the world in straightforward terms:
“Blue-eyed brunette Meg Foster was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1948, to David and Nancy.”
— Amazon biography blurb
Both fragments capture different sides of the same career: one, the myth; the other, the mundane starting point.
Meg Foster’s five-decade career never needed a comeback narrative — she simply kept working while the rest of Hollywood caught up to what cult audiences already knew. For anyone discovering her through They Live, the lesson is to follow the filmography, not the memes: the 1970s television work, the Genie-nominated drama, the Peckinpah and Boorman detours. For Foster herself, the calculation was clear: keep choosing interesting roles over famous ones, or accept being remembered as simply “the actress with the blue eyes.”
Frequently asked questions
Is Meg Foster married?
Foster was married to writer-director Stephen E. Bingen from 1976 to 1979. She has not remarried and keeps her personal life out of the public record.
How old was Meg Foster in They Live?
Foster was born on May 10, 1948, making her 40 when They Live was released in 1988.
What happened to Meg Foster’s acting career?
Foster never retired. She continued with television guest roles and smaller film parts, then returned to more visible projects with 25 Hill (2011) and The Lords of Salem (2012) (IMDb (film database); TV Insider (TV guide)).
Does Meg Foster have children?
There is no reliable public record of Foster having children. She has kept her private life largely out of the press.
Is Meg Foster still alive?
Yes. Meg Foster is alive; her filmography listings show continued work into the 2010s and list her as active to the present.
What is Meg Foster’s eye color?
Foster is known for piercing blue eyes. No verified medical explanation has been attached to them — the striking color appears to be natural.
Why is Meg Foster not famous?
Foster worked steadily in television and genre films, often in supporting or villainous parts, and kept her personal life private. The result is a familiar face to cult audiences but not a mainstream celebrity.
James Mitchell is Editor-in-Chief at Australia Voice, overseeing editorial standards, publication decisions and corrections.