The glamorous and cla s sy Hollywood actress Jessica Lange is a renowned internationally for her excellent acting abilities and her charm. Jessica Lange’s name has been included in the list of phenomenal actors all around the world, with two Academy Awards, 5 Golden Globe Awards and three Dorian Awards.
Jessica Lange was famous during the 80’s and till date, people love to see her on the big screen. Her honest acting has let her to uncountable movies and exceptional TV series.
Early Life And Education Of Jessica Lange
Born on 20th April 1949, in Cloquet, Minnesota, Jessica Lange is the daughter of Albert John Lange (teacher and traveling salesman) and Dorthy Florance (housewife). Jessica has three siblings; two older sisters and a younger brother.
Jessica’s family life was chaotic as they had to move from place to place over a dozen times. Ultimately the family settled back to Cloquet where Jessica graduated from Cloquet High school.
Later, Jessica went to the University of Minnesota where she got an art scholarship to study art and photography. Lange traveled to many places after graduation and later ended up in Paris where she studied mime theatre and joined the Opera-Comique as a dancer.
Jessica Lange's Career
Lange was first discovered by fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez who helped her become a model for the Wilhelmina modeling agency. After that Lange became luckier when she was discovered by Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis.
Dino was looking for a cla s sy beauty to cast in his remake of King Kong and lucky for him, he met Lange who was all that he needed. Later in 1976, the film was made. King Kong was Lange’s first movie which turned out to be fruitful for her.
The movie was critically and commercially a huge success. Lange went on to win a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the year. The year definitely proved to be good for Lange because she was also contacted by director Bob Rafelson who met Lange, had several meetings and auditions with Lange after finally giving her the lead role in the cla s sic film noir, The Postman Always Rings Twice.
The film got mixed reviews but Lange received positive compliments for her performance. Director Graeme Clifford took Lange as the lead role for his first movie, a biological film of actress Frances Farmer. Soon after that, Lange starred in Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie in 1982.
Both the movies were a huge success. That year Lange turned out to be the first performer in 40 years to receive two Academy Award nominations in the same year. Her first nomination was for Frances, which Lange did not win but she won her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Tootsie.
The shower of Awards did not end here for Lange, for Tootsie Lange earned a Golden Globe, a National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Kansa City Film Critics Circle. For her performance in Frances, Lange earned a Best Actress at the Moscow International Film Festival.
Lange was bombarded with movies during the 80’s due to her Academy winning performance. In 1985, Lange portrayed legendary country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz’s biopic, Sweet Dreams. Her performance in this movie led Lange to be nominated a fourth Oscar.
By the end of the 80’s Lange had been seen in many movies and in 1989, Lange starred in Costa-Gavras’ Music Box which led Lange to yet another Academy Award nomination and her sixth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
In 1992, Lange received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! After which in 1994, Lange won the Academy Award for Best Actress, a Golden Globe, her first Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and Sant Jordi de Cine Award for Best actress which were all for her performance in Tony Richardson’s Blue Sky.
Later, Lange went on to play many movies like Masked and Anonymous (2003), Big Fish (2003), Broken Flowers (2005) and Don’t Come Knocking (2005). In 2009, Lange won her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, her eleventh Golden Globe Award nomination and her second Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Grey Gardens. Lange joined the cast of American Horror Story in 2011.
She acted phenomenally and won a second Primetime Emmy Award, her fifth Golden Globe award, her first Screen Actors Guild Award, a special Achievement Satellite Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series by the International Press Academy, the Dorian Award for Best TV performance of the Year by the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association ( GALECA) and nominations for the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama , Critic’s Choice Television Award, and Saturn Award.
In 2012, Lange was again seen in American Horror Story’s second installment; Asylum which won her a second Dorian Award for Best TV Performance of the Year by the GALECA and her thirteenth nomination for the Golden Globe Award.
A year after that, Jessica Lange received her third Dorian Award for Best TV performance of the Year, her third Primetime Emmy Award for her work in American Horror Story: Coven, her fourteenth Golden Globe nomination, her fifth Screen Actor Guild Award nomination, her third Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination and her fifth Satellite Award nomination .
Jessica Lange's Personal Life
Lange is regarded as one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood. Lange’s net worth is a whopping $15 million. Lange is a philanthropist who is a Goodwill Amba s sador for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Jessica Lange married photographer Fransisco “Paco” Grande in 1970 after which the couple filed for divorce in 1981. Lange was in an affair with Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov from 1976 to 1982. The couple has a child born in 1981.
Lange was then involved in a relationship with playwright Sam Shepard. The couple has two children. Lange and her husband Sam got separated in 2009.
Like any other actor Lange was subjected to many rumors; rumors about her being in a lesbian relationship with American Horror Story co-star Sarah Paulson in 2012 and even rumors about her death in 2014, both of which is false. Jessica Lange who is currently 65 years old has been a boon in the film industry and her viewers are eager to see more of her in the near future.
by monika, 17 Sep, 2014
