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Jessica Lange

Born 1949-04-20 in Cloquet, MN
An Actor

Discuss Jessica Lange here...

In Brief:

Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress.

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Bio:

Lange was born in Cloquet, Minnesota to Dorothy and Albert Lange. She is of Finnish and Polish extraction and the third of four children. She studied art briefly at the University of Minnesota before going to Paris where she studied mime. 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. The unfavorable reviews were devastating but critics took notice when she made an 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 Best Actress Academy Award nomination. 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), and Blue Sky (1994) for which she won the Best Actress Academy Award.

Lange once stated that her role as Patsy Cline in the film Sweet Dreams was her all time favorite role because of Cline’s fascinating character.

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. The revival was met with mostly negative reviews.

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 remarking "I despise him and his entire administration."

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Awards:

• 1982 - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Tootsie
• 1994 - Academy Award for Best Actress - Blue Sky

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Filmography:

• Grey Gardens (2007)
• The Mermaids Singing (2007)
• Bonneville (2006)
• Neverwas (2005)
• Don't Come Knocking (2005)
• Broken Flowers (2005)
• The Needs of Kim Stanley (2005) (Documentary)
• Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines (2005) (Documentary)
• Big Fish (2003)
• Masked and Anonymous (2003)
• XXI Century (2003) (Documentary)
• Prozac Nation (2001)
• Titus (1999)
• Cousin Bette (1998)
• Hush (1998)
• OFf the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997) (Documentary)
• A Thousand Acres (1997)
• Rob Roy (1995)
• Losing Isaiah (1995)
• Blue Sky (1994)
• A Century of Cinema (1994) (Documentary)
• Night and the City (1992)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• Men Don't Leave (1990)
• Music Box (1989)
• Everybody's All-American (1988)
• Far North (1988)
• Crimes of the Heart (1986)
• Sweet Dreams (1985)
• Country (1984)
• Frances (1982)
• Tootsie (1982)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
• Notre Dame of the Cross (1981) (Documentary)
• How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980)
• All That Jazz (1979)
• King Kong (1976)

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