Elizabeth McGovern born July 18 1961 is an American film television and theater actor In 1980 while studying at Juilliard McGovern was offered a part in her first film Ordinary People in which she played the girlfriend of troubled teenager Timothy Hutton The following year she completed her education as an actress at the American Conservatory Theatre and at The Juilliard School and began to appear in plays first OffBroadway and later in famous theaters In 1981 she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Evelyn Nesbit in the film Ragtime In 1984 she starred in Sergio Leones gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America as Robert De Niros romantic interest Deborah Gelly In 1989 she played Mickey Rourkes girlfriend in Johnny Handsome directed by Walter Hill and the same year she appeared as a rebellious lesbian in Volker Schlöndorffs thriller The Handmaids Tale