Jessica Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American actress.

She was born Jessica Phyllis Lange in Cloquet, Minnesota. 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 model for the Wilhelmina 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 continuted 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.

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.

She was married to photographer Paco Grande from 1970-1981. Since 1982, she has lived with playright/actor Sam Shepard. She has three children, Hanna and Walker (with Shepard) and Alexandra (with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov). She currently lives in Minnesota.

Academy Awards and nominations

• 1982 Nominated Frances
• 1982 Won Tootsie
• 1984 Nominated Country
• 1985 Nominated Sweet Dreams (movie)
• 1989 Nomianted Music Box
• 1994 Won Blue Sky

External links

• Oliver, Phillip. Jessica Lange. [1] Retrieved February 8, 2005.