Diane Venora
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Diane Venora (born August 10, 1952) is an American stage, television, and film actress.
Venora was born in East Hartford, Connecticut, which she left for a scholarship at Juilliard School. After graduation, she performed extensively on the stage and developed a reputation as a talented actress particularly in Shakespearian plays. In 1983, she starred in Joseph Papp's production of Hamlet at the New York Shakespeare Festival in the lead role, the first woman to play the role at the prestigious showcase.
In 1988, her critically acclaimed performance in Clint Eastwood's biographical feature of jazz great Charlie Parker, Bird, as Chan Parker, his wife, earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination and the New York Film Critics Circle Award. This role essentially made her famous.
She was married to cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak, but later divorced him. After the divorce, she lived in New York with her daughter, Madzia, traveling often for work. She quit show business when Madzia was 8 to spend more time with her daughter. During her 7-year hiatus, Venora stayed close to home, teaching disadvantaged children and acting in an occasional play. When Madzia was 15, Venora took her to Los Angeles and soon landed a starring role in the ABC TV series Thunder Alley (playing Ed Asner's character's daughter), and a recurring role in the Emmy award-winning TV series Chicago Hope.
In 1995, she starred opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat, earning high regard from both critics and audiences for her role of Justine Hanna, the Pacino character's troubled wife. That performance and her follow-up as Juliet's mother, Gloria Capulet, in Romeo + Juliet (1996) earned her supporting roles in The Jackal (1997) and The 13th Warrior (1999).
