- During the filming of The Goonies (1985), she made a bet with director Richard Donner that she would stop biting her nails. Donner paid up several years later, while they were doing the film's DVD audio commentary.
- Was conceived while her unmarried parents Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton were performing together in the Broadway production of "Hair" (1970).
- On the DVD audio commentary for The Goonies (1985), she says that she was once playing the title role in Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" on stage when an audience member shouted "Gooooonies!" from his seat.
- Became a vegetarian as a teen after her boyfriend, the late River Phoenix, introduced her to the lifestyle.
- Member of The Steppenwolf Theatre Company Ensemble.
- Niece of David Carradine, Michael Bowen and Robert Carradine. Cousin of actresses Ever Carradine and Kansas Carradine.
- Chicago punk-band The Lawrence Arms have a song called "Light Breathing (Me and Martha Plimpton in a Fancy Elevator)" about the actress.
- She was nominated twice for a Joseph Jefferson Award: in 1996 for Actress in a Supporting Role in a play for "The Libertine" and in 2001 for Actress in a Principal Role in a Play for "Hedda Gabler", both at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.
- Spokesperson for the Center for Reproductive Rights' Draw the Line campaign. The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global legal organization dedicated to advancing women's reproductive health, self-determination and dignity as basic human rights.
- She has also appeared on Broadway numerous times. In the years 2007-2009, she was nominated for 5 Tony Awards, and won 3 Drama Desk Awards.
- She and her grandfather John Carradine both appeared in Woody Allen films: Carradine played Doctor Bernardo in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) while Plimpton played Laura in Another Woman (1988).
- Stepdaughter of actress Hayley DuMond.
- She is a lifelong liberal Democrat.
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