A Rapidly Rising Career Is Great but Love Rules for Kyra Sedgwick

Kyra Sedgwick sees what she calls a trend of the ‘90s, acts it--and lives it. “It’s all about stopping that insatiable drive to be successful,” she says.

Current films “Regarding Henry” and “The Doctor” both address the themes of balance in one’s life and realizing what’s important, she says, and so does “Women & Men: In Love There Are No Rules,” an Aug. 18 HBO presentation in which she stars.

She plays an achingly homesick, disillusioned young wife of a fledgling boxer (Matt Dillon). She broils steaks for the boxer--who drags himself out of bed at 1 in the afternoon and begs off intimacy with the old saving-his-strength excuse--all the while dreaming of her family and friends back in Kansas City and pleading with her husband to take time to enjoy her, enjoy the present.

Sedgwick, whose film and stage credits have been piling up, says balance is a “huge issue in my life.” Perhaps she has come far enough to afford to be reflective. She starred opposite Tom Cruise in the 1989 “Born on the Fourth of July” and is starring opposite husband Kevin Bacon in the upcoming romantic comedy “Pyrates.” She played the daughter of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in last year’s “Mr. & Mrs. Bridge” and has performed on stage with both Bacon and Dillon. She also won a 1988 Theatre World Award for Broadway performances of “Ah, Wilderness!”

“Suddenly I turned around and thought: ‘Oh, this is great. My career is going very well.’ But at the end of life, at the end of the day, my concerns will be, is my kid OK? Is my husband OK? Is my family OK?” she says.

“The Hollywood career mill is such a fast track. You can lose perspective on what’s important so easily,” says Sedgwick, who lives in Connecticut with Bacon and 2-year-old son Travis to try to maintain balance. “Both Kevin and I lose our perspective when we’re there (in L.A.).”