← Back to explore

Jessica Lange

Acting

Born April 20, 1949 · Cloquet, Minnesota, USA

Also known as Jessica Phyllis Lange · جسیکا لنگ

Biography

Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American actress. She is the 13th actress to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having won two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, along with a Screen Actors Guild Award and five Golden Globe Awards. Lange made her professional film debut in Dino De Laurentiis's 1976 remake of the 1933 action-adventure classic King Kong, for which she also won her first Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. In 1979, she starred in the acclaimed musical film All That Jazz. In 1983, she won her second Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in Tootsie (1982) and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the troubled actress Frances Farmer in Frances (1982). Lange received three more nominations for Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985) and Music Box (1989), before winning her third Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a bipolar housewife in Blue Sky (1994). In 2010, Lange won her first Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's aunt Big Edie in HBO's Grey Gardens (2009). Between 2011 and 2014, she won her first Screen Actors Guild Award, first Critics Choice Award, fifth Golden Globe Award, three Dorian Awards and her second and third Emmy Awards for her performances in the first, second and third seasons of FX's horror anthology series American Horror Story (2011–2015, 2018). In 2016, Lange won her first Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway revival of Long Day's Journey into Night. She also had a supporting role in Louis C.K.'s Peabody Award-winning web series Horace and Pete. In 2017, for her portrayal of actress Joan Crawford in the miniseries Feud, Lange received her eighth Emmy, 16th Golden Globe, sixth Screen Actors Guild Award and second TCA Award nominations. In 2019, she received a tenth Emmy nomination for her performance in American Horror Story: Apocalypse. Lange is also a photographer with four published books of photography. She has been a foster parent and holds a Goodwill Ambassador position for UNICEF, specializing in HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Russia.

Awards & recognition

  • CineMerit Award · 2024
  • Tony AwardBest Actress in a Play · 2016
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 2014
  • Lucie Award · 2012
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 2012
Show all 19 awards →
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 2009
  • Crystal Award · 2000
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1995
  • Theatre World Award · 1992
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actress · 1983
  • Golden Globe AwardNew Star of the Year – Actress · 1976
  • Drama Desk AwardOutstanding Actress in a Play
  • Women in Film Honors
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1995 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1990 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1986 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1985 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1983 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actress · 1983 · nominated

Filmography44 titles

American Horror Story

2011as Elsa Mars

Big Fish

2003as Sandra Bloom (senior)

Feud

2017as Lillie Mae Faulk

All That Jazz

1979as Angelique

Cape Fear

1991as Leigh Bowden

The Vow

2012as Rita Thornton

Music Box

1989as Ann Talbot

Tootsie

1982as Julie Nichols

The Great Lillian Hall

2024as Lillian Hall

The Politician

2019as Dusty Jackson

Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex Fashion & Disco

2018as Self

Broken Flowers

2005as Carmen

Frances

1982as Frances Farmer

Grey Gardens

2009as Big Edie

Rob Roy

1995as Mary MacGregor

Losing Isaiah

1995as Margaret Lewin

Far North

1988as Kate

Sweet Dreams

1985as Patsy Cline

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1981as Cora Papadakis

Neverwas

2005as Katherine Pierson

Prozac Nation

2001as Mrs. Wurtzel

Men Don't Leave

1990as Beth Macauley

King Kong

1976as Dwan

Wild Oats

2016as Maddie

Don't Come Knocking

2005as Doreen

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

2015as Self - Guest

In Secret

2013as Madame Raquin

Blue Sky

1994as Carly Marshall

Crimes of the Heart

1986as Meg Magrath

The Gambler

2014as Roberta

Marlowe

2022as Dorothy Quincannon

Hush

1998as Martha Baring

Bonneville

2006as Arvilla Holden

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

2003as Self

Shepard & Dark

2012as Self (archive footage)

Cousin Bette

1998as Cousin Bette

Everybody's All-American

1988as Babs Rogers Grey

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

2003as Self - Guest

King Kong Lives

1986as Dwan (archive footage)

Late Night with Seth Meyers

2014as Self - Guest

Masked and Anonymous

2003as Nina Veronica

How to Beat the High Cost of Living

1980as Louise

The View

1997as Self

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors

2014as Self