Biography for
Jessica Lange More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

20 April 1949, Cloquet, Minnesota, USA

Birth Name

Jessica Phyllis Lange

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Jessica Lange was born in 1949, in Cloquet, Minnesota, USA, where her father worked as a traveling salesman. She obtained a scholarship to study art at the University of Minnesota, but instead went to Paris to study drama. She moved to New York, working as a model, until producer Dino De Laurentiis cast her as the female lead in King Kong (1976). The film attracted much unfavorable comment and, as a result, Lange was off the screen for three years. She was given a small but showy part in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979), before giving a memorable performance in Bob Rafelson's The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), as an adulterous waitress. The following year, she won rave reviews for her exceptional portrayal of actress Frances Farmer in Frances (1982) and a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her work in Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982) (as a beautiful soap-opera actress). She was also outstanding as country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz's Sweet Dreams (1985) and as a lawyer who defends her father and discovers his past in Music Box (1989). Other important films include Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991) (as a frightened housewife) and Tony Richardson's Blue Sky (1994), for which she won a Best Actress Academy Award as the mentally unbalanced wife of a military officer. She made her Broadway debut in 1992, playing "Blanche" in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire".

IMDb Mini Biography By: Thanassis Agathos

Spouse

Francisco Paco Grande

(29 July 1970 - 1981) (divorced)

Trivia

Born at 11:00am-CST

Has had long time relationship with actor Sam Shepard (1982-present).

Lange has three children - Alexandra "Shura", b. 1981 (whose father is Mikhail Baryshnikov), Hanna Jane Shepard (January 13, 1986) and Samuel Walker Shepard(born June 14, 1987; goes by middle name).

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#64). [1995]

She is a big supporter for rights of the Monks of Nepal.

Lived in Minnesota with Sam and their children for a few years, but now living in New York (2004).

Between modeling jobs, she waitressed at the Lion's Head in Greenwich Village.

In 1970s Manhattan, Lange was represented by Wilhelmina Models, the same agency that later discovered Gia Carangi'.

Her interpretation of the pushed-to-the-limit Cora in the remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) was partially inspired by the downbeat life of B-movie actress Barbara Payton. In a Rolling Stone interview, Lange mentioned how she thought her character might have first drifted to Hollywood as an aspiring starlet, and costar Jack Nicholson gave her Payton's lurid, tell-all autobiography "I Am Not Ashamed" to look over on the set. Coincidentally, Lange and the blonde Payton were both born in Cloquet, Minn.

She is one of the elite ten thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year for their achievements in two different movies. The other nine are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Cate Blanchett, Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx.

Beat Meryl Streep for the role of Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams (1985), according to Streep. Streep said it was one of the few if not the only role she ever went after. Then later said that she couldn't however, imagine the movie without her (Lange).

Measurements: 34B-22-34 (modeling in Paris in 1973), 36C-24 1/2-35 (in 1990), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2001 (2000 season) for Best Actress for her performance in "Long Day's Journey into Night" at the Lyric Theatre.

Attended the Guthrie Theater Drama School at the prestigious Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Received the Anton Chekhov Fine Arts Award.

Daughter Shura (Alexandra) Baryshnikov, whose father is Mikhail Baryshnikov, graduated from Marlboro College in Vermont, the same college that Chris Noth attended in the 70s. [2003]

Is of Polish and Finnish descent

Her performance as Frances Farmer in Frances (1982) is ranked #85 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Daughter of Dorothy (b. 1913) and Al Lange, a teacher (1913-1989).

Has two older sisters named Ann Lange and Jane Lange and a younger brother named George Lange who is a pilot.

She was one of the favorite actresses of Benazir Bhutto.

Had a fall at her home in Minnesota on March 17, 2009, breaking her collarbone and dislocating her arm. After an overnight stay in the hospital, she was released the next day.

Personal Quotes

It took Sydney Pollack a long time to get me to do Tootsie (1982). I asked myself if I wanted to play some frothy, ditzy character after I had just done Frances (1982). Obviously, I'm thrilled that I did.

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