Dianne Wiest Biography

Dianne Evelyn Wiest (born March 28, 1946) is an American actress.

Wiest has won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress twice, for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Bullets over Broadway (1994), both directed by Woody Allen. She appeared in three other of Allen's films: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Radio Days (1987) and September (1987). She also starred in Ron Howard's comedy-drama film Parenthood (1989), for which she received her second Academy Award nomination. Wiest has received a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as a BAFTA Award nomination.

Her other films include Footloose (1984), The Lost Boys (1987), Bright Lights, Big City (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Little Man Tate (1991), The Birdcage (1996), Practical Magic (1998), Dan in Real Life (2007), Synecdoche, New York (2008), Rabbit Hole (2010), and Sisters (2015).

Wiest also starred in the HBO drama series In Treatment (2008-2009) and currently stars in the CBS comedy series Life in Pieces (2015-present). For her work on television, she has received two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Early life

Wiest was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother, Anne Stewart (ne Keddie), was a nurse. Her father, Bernard John Wiest, was a college dean and former psychiatric social worker for the U.S. Army. Her mother was Scottish (from Auchtermuchty), while her father was an American of Croatian and German descent. They met in Algiers. Wiest has two brothers named Greg and Don. Her original ambition was to be a ballet dancer, but she switched her goal to theater in her senior year at Nurnberg American High School. Wiest graduated from the University of Maryland in 1969 with a degree in Arts and Sciences.

Career

Stage

Wiest studied theater at the University of Maryland, leaving after her third term to tour with a Shakespearean troupe. Later, she had a supporting role in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Ashes. She also acted at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, CT, playing the title role in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. She was an understudy both off-Broadway and on Broadway, in Kurt Vonnegut's Happy Birthday, Wanda June in 1970.

She made her Broadway debut in Robert Anderson's Solitaire/Double Solitaire, taking over in the role of the daughter in 1971. She landed a four-year job as a member of the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., in such roles as Emily in Our Town, Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and leading roles in S. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths and George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House. She toured the USSR with the Arena Stage. In 1976, Wiest attended the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and starred in leading roles in Amlin Gray's Pirates and Christopher Durang's A History of the American Film. At Joe Papp's Public Theater she took over the lead in Ashes, and played Cassandra in Agamemnon, directed by Andrei ?erban. In 1979, she originated the role of Agnes in Agnes of God in its first production in Waterford, Connecticut.

She appeared in two plays by Tina Howe: Museum and The Art of Dining. In the latter, Wiest's performance as the shy and awkward author Elizabeth Barrow Colt won three off-Broadway theater awards: an Obie Award (1980), a Theatre World Award (1979-1980), and the Clarence Derwent Award (1980), given yearly for the most promising performance in New York theatre.

On Broadway she appeared in Frankenstein (1981), directed by Tom Moore, portrayed Desdemona in Othello (1982) opposite James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer and co-starred with John Lithgow in Christopher Durang's romantic screwball comedy Beyond Therapy (1982), directed by John Madden. (She played opposite Lithgow again in the Herbert Ross film Footloose. During the 1980s, she also performed in Hedda Gabler, directed by Lloyd Richards at Yale Repertory Theatre, and in Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska (1984, Manhattan Theatre Club), Lanford Wilson's Serenading Louie (1984), and Janusz Glowacki's Hunting Cockroaches (1987, Manhattan Theater Club). As Wiest became established as a film actress through her work in Woody Allen's films, she was less frequently available for stage roles. However, she did appear onstage during the 1990s, in In the Summer House, Square One, Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl, and Naomi Wallace's One Flea Spare. In 2003, she appeared with Al Pacino and Marisa Tomei in Oscar Wilde's Salome. In 2005, she starred in Kathleen Tolan's Memory House. She also starred in a production of Wendy Wasserstein's final play Third (directed by Daniel Sullivan) at Lincoln Center.

Recent New York theater roles include performances as Arkadina in an off-Broadway revival of The Seagull (opposite Alan Cumming's Trigorin) and as Kate Keller in a Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, opposite John Lithgow, Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes. In 2009, Wiest appeared in the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. in a dialogue with Katie Holmes celebrating the life of an American veteran seriously wounded in Iraq, Jos Pequeo. Wiest spent September 2010 as a visiting teacher at Columbia University's Graduate Acting Program, working with a group of 18 first-year MFA Acting students on selected plays by Anton Chekhov and Arthur Miller.

In 2016 she took on the role of "Winnie" in The Yale Repertory Theatre's production of Samuel Beckett's, Happy Days, and reprised the role for Theatre for a New Audience in downtown Brooklyn, NY, in the spring of 2017.

Film and television

Her early screen roles include small roles in It's My Turn and I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can, both starring Jill Clayburgh in the lead roles. In 1984, she starred in Footloose, as the reverend's wife and Ariel's mother. Under Woody Allen's direction, Wiest won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Hannah and Her Sisters in 1987 and Bullets over Broadway in 1995. She also appeared in three other Woody Allen films: The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Radio Days (1987) and September (1987).

She followed her first Oscar success with performances in The Lost Boys (1987) and Bright Lights, Big City (1988). She also starred with Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Keanu Reeves and Martha Plimpton in Ron Howard's Parenthood, for which she received her second Oscar nomination. Other major film roles include Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990), Jodie Foster's Little Man Tate (1991) and The Birdcage (1996), Mike Nichols' remake of La Cage aux Folles.

On television, her performance on the series Road to Avonlea in 1989 brought her her first Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Dramatic Series. She received another nomination for her performance in the 1999 telefilm The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, co-starring Sidney Poitier. She starred in the television mini-series The 10th Kingdom in 2000. From 2000 to 2002, Wiest portrayed interim District Attorney Nora Lewin in the long-running NBC crime drama Law & Order. She also played the character in two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and the pilot episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Wiest starred alongside Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche in Dan in Real Life (2007) and had a key supporting role in Charlie Kaufman's 2008 film Synecdoche, New York. In 2008, she appeared as Gabriel Byrne's therapist, Gina Toll, on the HBO television series In Treatment, for which she received her second Emmy Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She received another nomination (in the same category) for the second season, in 2009, but did not win. She starred alongside Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole (2010), which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. Wiest also co-starred in Lawrence Kasdan's 2012 comedy Darling Companion, alongside Kevin Kline and Diane Keaton.

Personal life

Wiest was in a relationship with her talent agent Sam Cohn (1929-2009) for many years. She adopted two daughters: Emily (born 1987) and Lily (born 1991).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	It's My Turn	Gail	as Diane Wiest
1982	I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can	Julie Addison
1983	Face of Rage	Rebecca Hammil
1983	Independence Day	Nancy Morgan	Nominated "? New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
1984	Falling in Love	Isabelle
1984	Footloose	Vi Moore
1985	'	Emma
1986	Hannah and Her Sisters	Holly	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1987	Radio Days	Bea	Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1987	September	Stephanie
1987	'	Lucy Emerson
1988	Bright Lights, Big City	Mother
1989	Parenthood	Helen Buckman	Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1989	Cookie	Lenore
1990	Edward Scissorhands	Peg Boggs	Nominated "? Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1991	Little Man Tate	Jane Grierson
1994	Bullets over Broadway	Helen Sinclair	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
1994	Cops & Robbersons	Helen Robberson
1994	'	Doctor H. Aaron
1995	Drunks	Rachel
1996	'	Sally Dugan
1996	'	Louise Keeley	American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress in a Comedy Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1998	Practical Magic	Aunt Bridget 'Jet' Owens	Nominated "? American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated "? Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress in a Comedy
1998	'	Diane Booker
2001	I Am Sam	Annie Cassell
2002	Merci Docteur Rey	Elisabeth Beaumont
2005	Robots	Lydia Copperbottom	Voice only
2006	'	Flori	Sundance Film Festival "? Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Performance
2007	Dedication	Carol
2007	Dan in Real Life	Nana Burns
2008	Passengers	Toni
2008	Synecdoche, New York	Ellen Bascomb/Millicent Weems	Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast Independent Spirit Award - Robert Altman Award
2009	Rage	Miss Roth
2010	Rabbit Hole	Nat	Nominated "? Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
2011	The Big Year	Brenda Harris
2012	Darling Companion	Penny
2012	'	Ms. Crudstaff
2014	The Humbling	Carol, Pegeen's Mother
2015	Five Nights in Maine	Lucinda
2015	Sisters	Deana Ellis
2019	The Mule		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Zalmen: or, The Madness of God	Nina	Television film
1978	Great Performances: Out of Our Father's House	Elizabeth Gertrude Stern	Television film
1997	Road to Avonlea	Lillian Hepworth	TV series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
1999	The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn	Sarah McClellan	Television film Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
2000	The 10th Kingdom	The Evil Queen/Christine White	Television miniseries
2000-02	Law & Order	D.A. Nora Lewin	Seasons 11 & 12: 48 episodes Nominated "? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2000–01)
2001	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	D.A. Nora Lewin	Episode: "One"
2001-02	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	D.A. Nora Lewin	2 episodes
2004	The Blackwater Lightship	Lily	Television film Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
2004	Category 6: Day of Destruction	Secretary of Energy Shirley Abbott	Television miniseries
2008-09	In Treatment	Dr. Gina Toll	Season 1 & 2: 17 episodes Gracie Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series (2008) Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series (2009) Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2009) Nominated "? Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2008)
2008	The Return of Jezebel James	Talia Tompkins	2 episodes
2014	The Blacklist	Ruth Kipling	1 episode: Season 1, Episode 15, "The Judge" (#57)
2015-present	Life in Pieces	Joan Short	Series regular