| Jessica Lange |
Lange at the 1990 Academy Awards |
| Born |
Jessica Phyllis Lange
April 20, 1949 (1949-04-20) (age 60)
Cloquet, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Occupation |
Actress |
| Years active |
1976–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Paco Grande (1970–1981) |
| Domestic partner(s) |
Sam Shepard (1982–present) |
Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American stage and screen actress. With a career that has spanned thirty-five years and six Academy Award nominations (including two wins), she may be most notable for her performances in Frances, Tootsie, Sweet Dreams, Blue Sky, and Grey Gardens.
Early life
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.234 She studied art briefly at the University of Minnesota before going to Paris, France, where she studied mime with Étienne Decroux. She returned to New York City, New York in 1973 and took acting lessons while working as a waitress and a fashion model for the Wilhelmina Models agency.
Career
Film
In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis cast her in his motion picture remake of 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 (1979). 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 the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received two Academy Award nominations that year, the other for Best Supporting Actress in the comedy Tootsie (1982), for which she won. She continued giving impressive performances through the 1980s and 1990s in films such as Sweet Dreams (1985) (playing country/western singer Patsy Cline), Music Box (1989), Men Don't Leave (1990), and Blue Sky (1994), directed by Tony Richardson, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Since 2000, Lange has mostly appeared in supporting roles on screen. In her most recent film, Grey Gardens (2009) , a remake of the 1970s cult documentary, she played Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale which earned her an Emmy Award.
Broadway/Stage
In 1992, Lange made her Broadway-theatre début in New York City opposite Alec Baldwin in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. She appeared in the West End in London, United Kingdom, in 2000, 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 Christian Slater.
Humanitarian work and political views
She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She has also been a public critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence."5
Personal life
Lange was married to photographer Paco Grande from 1970-1981. Since 1982, she has lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard. She has three children, Aleksandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Walker Samuel (born 1987) with Shepard.
Lange currently lives in New York City.
Filmography
References
External links
| Persondata |
| 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 |
|
![video Jessica Lange tells the ladies what it was like wearing prosthetics and working with live animals in "Grey Gardens." For more video ... Picture](../viewVideo.html?title=Jessica Lange The ViewYouTube=YouTube&summary=Jessica Lange tells the ladies what it was like wearing prosthetics and working with live animals in "Grey Gardens." For more video ...&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/AF7KGnD8z7A&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://0.gvt0.com/vi/AF7KGnD8z7A/default.jpg&celebrity=Jessica Lange&videoType=YouTube)
![video Two great meltdown scenes from "Frances," Jessica Lange's finest performance. Picture](../viewVideo.html?title=Jessica Lange melts down in "Frances"YouTube=YouTube&summary=Two great meltdown scenes from "Frances," Jessica Lange's finest performance.&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/HehEvBv045M&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://3.gvt0.com/vi/HehEvBv045M/default.jpg&celebrity=Jessica Lange&videoType=YouTube)
![video frankmorganthomas.com Here we have the voice of Patsy Cline and the acting talents of Jessica Lange for a fine performace of "Sweet Dreams ... Picture](../viewVideo.html?title=SWEET DREAMS Jessica Lange performs as Patsy ClineYouTube=YouTube&summary=frankmorganthomas.com Here we have the voice of Patsy Cline and the acting talents of Jessica Lange for a fine performace of "Sweet Dreams ...&link=http://www.youtube.com/v/H2ETkH2Mh1k&fs=1&source=uds&autoplay=1&thumb=http://1.gvt0.com/vi/H2ETkH2Mh1k/default.jpg&celebrity=Jessica Lange&videoType=YouTube)
![All That Jazz - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [LP]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51vBCNa-Q5L._SL160_.jpg)