Laura Linney
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Laura Leggett Linney was born in New York City on February 5, 1964,
into a theatre family. Her father was prominent playwright
Romulus Linney, whose own
great-grandfather was a congressman from North Carolina. Her mother,
Miriam Anderson (Leggett), is a nurse. Although she did not live in her
father's house (her parents having divorced when she was an infant),
Linney's world revolved, in part, around his profession from the
earliest age. She graduated from Brown University in 1986 and studied
acting at Juilliard and the Arts Theatre School in Moscow and,
thereafter, embarked on a career on the Broadway stage receiving
favorable notices for her work in such plays as "Hedda Gabler" and "Six
Degrees of Separation".
Linney's film career began in the early 1990s with small roles in
Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and
Dave (1993). She landed the role of Mary
Anne Singleton in the PBS film adaptations of
Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City"
series, playing her in
Tales of the City (1993),
More Tales of the City (1998)
and
Further Tales of the City (2001).
Linney's first substantial big-screen role was as the ex-girlfriend of
Richard Gere's character in
Primal Fear (1996) and her superb
performance brought her praise and a better selection of roles.
Clint Eastwood chose Linney to
play his daughter, another prominent role, in 1997's
Absolute Power (1997), followed by
another second billing in the following year's
The Truman Show (1998).
Always a strong performer, Linney truly came into her own after 2000,
starting the decade auspiciously with her widely-praised, arguably
flawless performance in
You Can Count on Me (2000).
She found herself nominated for an Academy Award for this, her first
lead role, for which her salary had been $10,000. Linney won numerous
critics' awards for her role as Sammy, a single mother whose life is
complicated by a new boss and the arrival in town of her aimless
brother. On the heels of this success came her marvelous turn as Bertha
Dorset in
The House of Mirth (2000),
clearly the best performance in a film of strong performances. Since
then, Linney has frequently been offered challenging dramatic roles,
and always rises to the occasion, such as in
Mystic River (2003) and Kinsey (2004), for which she received
another Academy Award nomination.
into a theatre family. Her father was prominent playwright
Romulus Linney, whose own
great-grandfather was a congressman from North Carolina. Her mother,
Miriam Anderson (Leggett), is a nurse. Although she did not live in her
father's house (her parents having divorced when she was an infant),
Linney's world revolved, in part, around his profession from the
earliest age. She graduated from Brown University in 1986 and studied
acting at Juilliard and the Arts Theatre School in Moscow and,
thereafter, embarked on a career on the Broadway stage receiving
favorable notices for her work in such plays as "Hedda Gabler" and "Six
Degrees of Separation".
Linney's film career began in the early 1990s with small roles in
Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and
Dave (1993). She landed the role of Mary
Anne Singleton in the PBS film adaptations of
Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City"
series, playing her in
Tales of the City (1993),
More Tales of the City (1998)
and
Further Tales of the City (2001).
Linney's first substantial big-screen role was as the ex-girlfriend of
Richard Gere's character in
Primal Fear (1996) and her superb
performance brought her praise and a better selection of roles.
Clint Eastwood chose Linney to
play his daughter, another prominent role, in 1997's
Absolute Power (1997), followed by
another second billing in the following year's
The Truman Show (1998).
Always a strong performer, Linney truly came into her own after 2000,
starting the decade auspiciously with her widely-praised, arguably
flawless performance in
You Can Count on Me (2000).
She found herself nominated for an Academy Award for this, her first
lead role, for which her salary had been $10,000. Linney won numerous
critics' awards for her role as Sammy, a single mother whose life is
complicated by a new boss and the arrival in town of her aimless
brother. On the heels of this success came her marvelous turn as Bertha
Dorset in
The House of Mirth (2000),
clearly the best performance in a film of strong performances. Since
then, Linney has frequently been offered challenging dramatic roles,
and always rises to the occasion, such as in
Mystic River (2003) and Kinsey (2004), for which she received
another Academy Award nomination.
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