Jessica Lange | |||||||||||
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![]() Jessica Lange at the 1990 Academy Awards |
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Born | Jessica Phyllis Lange April 20, 1949 Cloquet, Minnesota, U.S. |
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Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20 1949) is an American stage and screen actress who, among many other accolades, has won two Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.
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Lange, the third of four children, was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, the daughter of Dorothy Florence (née Sahlman) and Albert John Lange, who was a teacher and salesman.[1] Her maternal grandparents were of Finnish descent, while her paternal grandparents were German and Dutch.[2] She studied art briefly at the University of Minnesota before going to Paris where she studied mime with Étienne Decroux. She returned to New York City in 1973 and took acting lessons while working as a waitress and a fashion model for the Wilhelmina modeling agency.
In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis cast her in his motion picture remake King Kong, which started and almost ended her career. Although the King Kong remake was a top moneymaker for Paramount Pictures, critics were not kind to the film and Lange did not appear in another film for three years, when Bob Fosse cast her as the glamorous figure of death in All That Jazz. The unfavorable reviews were devastating but critics took notice with her impressive turn in Bob Rafelson's remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981).
Her performance in her next film, Frances (1982), in which she portrayed actress Frances Farmer, was highly lauded and earned her a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress. She received two nominations that year, the other as Supporting Actress in the comedy Tootsie (1982), for which she won. She continued giving impressive performances through the 80s and 90s in films such as Sweet Dreams (1984) (playing country/western singer Patsy Cline), Music Box (1989), Men Don't Leave (1990), and Blue Sky (1994) for which she won the Best Actress Academy Award.
In 1992, Lange made her Broadway debut opposite Alec Baldwin in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. In 2000, she appeared on the London stage as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. In 2005, she returned to Broadway in another Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie with actor Christian Slater.
Lange was married to photographer Paco Grande from 1970-1981. Since 1982, she has lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard. She has three children, Alexandra (born 1981) with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Walker Samuel (born 1987) with Shepard. Lange currently lives in New York City.
Lange is a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. She has also been a public critic of President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence".[3]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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1976 | King Kong | Dwan | Golden Globe |
1979 | All That Jazz | Angelique | |
1980 | How to Beat the High Co$t of Living | Louise | |
1981 | Notre Dame of the Cross | uncredited | documentary |
1981 | The Postman Always Rings Twice | Cora Papadakis | |
1981 | The Best Little Girl in the World | TV | |
1982 | Tootsie | Julie Nichols | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe; Nominated - BAFTA Award |
1982 | Frances | Frances Farmer | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress; Nominated - Golden Globe |
1984 | Country | Jewell Ivy | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress; Nominated - Golden Globe |
1985 | Sweet Dreams | Patsy Cline | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress |
1985 | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Maggie | TV |
1986 | Crimes of the Heart | Margaret 'Meg' Magrath | |
1988 | Far North | Kate | |
1988 | Everybody's All-American | Babs Rogers Grey | |
1989 | Music Box | Ann Talbot | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress; Nominated - Golden Globe |
1990 | Men Don't Leave | Beth Macauley | |
1991 | Cape Fear | Leigh Bowden | |
1992 | O Pioneers! | Alexandra Bergson | Nominated - Golden Globe |
1992 | Night and the City | Helen Nasseros | |
1994 | A Century of Cinema | Herself | documentary |
1994 | Blue Sky | Carly Marshall | Academy Award for Best Actress; Golden Globe |
1995 | Losing Isaiah | Margaret Lewin | |
1995 | Rob Roy | Mary MacGregor | |
1995 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Blanche DuBois | Golden Globe; Nominated - Emmy Award |
1997 | A Thousand Acres (film) | Ginny Cook Smith | Nominated - Golden Globe |
1997 | Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's | Herself | uncredited; documentary |
1998 | Hush | Martha Baring | |
1998 | Cousin Bette | Cousin Bette | |
1999 | Titus | Tamora | |
2001 | Prozac Nation | Mrs. Wurtzel | |
2003 | XXI Century | documentary | |
2003 | Masked and Anonymous | Nina Veronica | |
2003 | Big Fish | Older Sandra Bloom | |
2003 | Normal | Irma Applewood | Nominated - Emmy Award; Nominated - Golden Globe |
2004 | Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines | Narrator | documentary |
2005 | The Needs of Kim Stanley | documentary | |
2005 | Broken Flowers | Carmen | |
2005 | Don't Come Knocking | Doreen | |
2005 | Neverwas | Katherine Pierson | |
2006 | Bonneville | Arvilla | |
2007 | Sybil | Dr. Cornelia Wilbur | TV |
2008 | Grey Gardens | "Big Edie" | post-production |
Awards and achievements | ||
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Preceded by Marilyn Hassett |
Golden Globe for Best New Actress 1977 for King Kong (not awarded for individual work, but King Kong was her only work to that point) |
Succeeded by Irene Miracle |
Preceded by Maureen Stapleton for Reds |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1982 for Tootsie |
Succeeded by Linda Hunt for The Year of Living Dangerously |
Preceded by Joan Hackett for Only When I Laugh |
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture 1983 for Tootsie |
Succeeded by Cher for Silkwood |
Preceded by Holly Hunter for The Piano |
Academy Award for Best Actress 1994 for Blue Sky |
Succeeded by Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking |
Preceded by Holly Hunter for The Piano |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama 1995 for Blue Sky |
Succeeded by Sharon Stone for Casino |
Preceded by Joanne Woodward for Breathing Lessons |
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television 1996 for A Streetcar Named Desire (play) |
Succeeded by Alfre Woodard for Miss Evers' Boys |
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Persondata | |
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NAME | Lange, Jessica |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lange, Jessica Phyllis |
SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actress |
DATE OF BIRTH | April 20, 1949 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Cloquet, Minnesota, U.S. |
DATE OF DEATH | |
PLACE OF DEATH |