Glenn Close is an award-winning actress whose most memorable performances have been portrayals of powerful, if deranged, women in film (“Fatal Attraction), theater (“Sunset Boulevard”) and television (the FX series “Damages.”)
Close grew up in Africa and Switzerland, while her father, a doctor, maintained a clinic in the Belgian Congo. She organized a touring theater group while in high school and after graduating with a degree in anthropology and acting from the College of William and Mary made her New York stage debut in the 1974 revival of “Love for Love.” Six years later, Close’s Tony-nominated work in the Cy Coleman musical comedy “Barnum” led director George Roy Hill to cast her in her first film, “The World According to Garp,” in which she played an early feminist. The role scored Close her first Oscar nomination.
Throughout the ’80s, she earned Oscar nominations for roles in “The Big Chill,” “The Natural” and “Fatal Attraction.” After the latter exploded at the box office, making her synonymous with the psychotic character, Close shifted directions, playing a bored-but-devious aristocrat in “Dangerous Liaisons,” which earned a fifth Oscar nod, and Cruella de Vil in Disney’s live-action remake of “101 Dalmatians.” "I've often been mistaken for Meryl Streep, although never on Oscar night," the actress has said of her many Academy Award nominations.
Close earned a best actress Tony Award playing Norma Desmond in the 1995 Broadway production of “Sunset Boulevard,” which introduced her skilled singing voice to those not familiar with her early stage career. (New York Mets fans, however, had known for years she could carry a tune; Close has performed the national anthem at the team’s opening games a record eight times.)
Close began her first regular TV series role in 2005 when she joined FX’s gritty cop drama “The Shield.” She partnered with the cable network soon after on a second show, the legal thriller “Damages,” for which she won Emmys in 2008 and 2009.
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Year | Category | Work | |
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1982 | Best Supporting Actress | The World According to Garp | Nomination |
1983 | Best Supporting Actress | The Big Chill | Nomination |
1984 | Best Supporting Actress | The Natural | Nomination |
1987 | Best Actress | Fatal Attraction | Nomination |
1988 | Best Actress | Dangerous Liaisons | Nomination |
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