Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, two Emmys and one Screen Actors Guild Award, Lange is regarded as one of the premier actors of her generation.

 

Lange was discovered by producer Dino De Laurentiis and made her professional film debut in 1976's King Kong. In 1982, she became the first actor in forty years to receive two Oscar nominations within the same year;she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in Tootsie and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the troubled actress Frances Farmer in Frances. Lange received three more nominations for Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985) and Music Box (1989) before being nominated a sixth time and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive in Blue Sky (1994). She later won her first Emmy for her portrayal of Big Edie in HBO's successful Grey Gardens (2009) and won her first Screen Actors Guild Award along with a second Emmy for her work on FX's smash-hit television series American Horror Story (2011–2012).

 

In addition to acting, Lange is a photographer with two published works,and is a humanitarian, holding a position as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Congo and Russia.

 

Personal life

Lange was married to photographer Francisco "Paco" Grande from 1970 to 1981.Since 1982, she lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard; they separated in 2010. She has three children: Alexandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Samuel Walker (born 1987) with Shepard.

 

In 2008, Lange published her own collection of black-and-white pictures entitled 50 Photographs (powerHouse Books) with a special introduction by Patti Smith.An exhibition of her work, along with a series of her films, was presented at the oldest international museum of photography and film, the George Eastman House, after which Lange was presented with the first George Eastman House Honors Award in 2009.In 2010, she published a second collection of photographs, En México.

 

Awards and honors

In total, Lange has received six Academy Award nominations, winning two Oscars, twelve Golden Globe nominations, winning five, four Emmy nominations, winning two, three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, winning one, four Satellite Award nominations, winning one, one British Academy Film Award nomination, and one Laurence Olivier Award nomination, among several other prestigious awards and nominations. Her work has also earned her the National Society of Film Critics award, the New York Film Critics Circle award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award, the Boston Society of Film Critics award, the Chicago Film Critics Association award, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle award, the Moscow International Film Festival award, the Taormina Film Festival award, and the Donostia Award from the San Sebastián International Film Festival, among several other critics' circle and festival awards. Lange has also been awarded a prestigious "Gala Tribute" from the Film Society of Lincoln Center, a Theater World Award, and a Crystal Award, among other specialized awards and tributes.