Jessica Lange

About Jessica Lange

Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American actress. She is one of the few performers to achieve the "Triple Crown of Acting", having received two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and Tony Award.

Lange made her professional film debut in Dino De Laurentiis's 1976 remake of the 1933 action-adventure classic King Kong, which despite receiving mixed reviews, earned her the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. Lange went on to receive two Academy Awards, her first for Best Supporting Actress as a soap opera star in the comedy Tootsie (1982) and her second for Best Actress playing bipolar housewife in Blue Sky (1994). Her other Oscar-nominated roles were for Frances (1982), Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985) and Music Box (1989). Her other film roles include in All That Jazz (1979), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Crimes of the Heart (1986), Cape Fear (1991), and Rob Roy (1995).

As her screen career started to decline, Lange transitioned into television starring in O Pioneers! (1992), A Streetcar Named Desire (1995) and Normal (2003). In 2010, Lange won her first Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal Big Edie in HBO's Grey Gardens (2009). Lange then gained new recognition by starring in FX's horror anthology, American Horror Story (2011–2015, 2018), which earned her two additional Primetime Emmys for its first and third seasons. She received her ninth Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Joan Crawford in the miniseries Feud (2017). In 2016, Lange won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Broadway revival of Long Day's Journey into Night.

Lange is also a photographer with five 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.

Lange was married to photographer Francisco "Paco" Grande from 1970 to 1982.[116][117] Though they separated not long after moving to Europe during the mid-1970s, they did not divorce until the early 1980s, after which Lange paid him an undisclosed sum in alimony.[118][13] According to biographer Anthony Uzarowski, the former couple "remain close friends."[119]

From 1976 to 1982, she was partnered with renowned Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, with whom she had her first child, Aleksandra Lange "Shura" Baryshnikov (born 1981).[120] During that time, she was also sporadically linked with Bob Fosse, with whom she remained friends until his death.[13]

In 1982, she met and entered a relationship with playwright Sam Shepard. They had two children: daughter Hannah Jane Shepard (born 1986) and son Samuel Walker Shepard (born 1987). They lived together in Virginia, New Mexico, Minnesota, and eventually New York City, before separating in 2009.[121]