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Laura Linney

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Laura Linney
Spouse(s)David Adkins
(1995-2000) (divorced)

Laura Leggett Linney[1][2] (born February 5, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning American actress, active in movies, television, and theatre.

Biography

Personal life

Linney was born in New York City, the daughter of Ann Perse (née Leggett), a nurse who worked at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and Romulus Linney, a well-known playwright and professor.[2][3] Linney's paternal great-great-grandfather was Republican U.S. Congressman Romulus Zachariah Linney.[4] She has a half-sister, Susan, from her father's second marriage. Linney graduated from the Northfield Mount Hermon School in 1982. She then attended Northwestern University before transferring to Brown University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986. After attending Brown University, Linney went on to study acting at the Juilliard School.

Linney married David Adkins in 1995. They divorced in 2000. As of 2007, she is engaged to Marc Schauer.[5]

Career

Linney appeared in minor roles in a few early 1990s films, including Dave in 1993 before coming to prominence in the public television mini-series Tales of the City. She was then cast in a series of high-profile thrillers, including Congo, Primal Fear and Absolute Power. Her breakthrough into the mainstream came in 1998 when she was cast as Jim Carey's wife in The Truman Show, for which she received much critical acclaim. In 2000, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the lower-budget film You Can Count on Me. In 2003, Linney appeared in several notable films, including Mystic River, Love Actually and The Life of David Gale. Her 2004 performance in Kinsey, as the title character's wife, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2005, Linney starred in The Exorcism of Emily Rose (a horror movie and courtroom drama), and the very well-reviewed comedy-drama, The Squid and the Whale, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy". 2006 saw Linney appearing in the Robin Williams political satire Man of the Year and the comedy Driving Lessons (starring Rupert Grint of Harry Potter fame). In 2007, Linney appeared in the spy thriller Breach, The Nanny Diaries, opposite Scarlett Johansson and based on the book by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus,[6] and The Savages, where Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman played siblings.[7]

Her important television roles include "Mary Ann Singleton" in the television adaptations of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City books (1993, 1998, and 2001). She won her first Emmy Award in 2002 for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie" for Wild Iris. In 2004, she won her second Emmy Award as "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series", for her recurring role as the final love interest of Frasier Crane in the television series Frasier. Her extensive stage credits on Broadway and elsewhere include Hedda Gabler (for which she won a 1994 Joe A. Callaway Award), Holiday (based on the movie starring Katharine Hepburn), and she was nominated for a Tony Award in 2002 as Best Actress (Play) for The Crucible, and again in 2005 for Sight Unseen.

Linney also appears on the Sandra Boynton's children's CD, Philadelphia Chickens, on which she sings "Please Can I Keep It?"

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1992 Lorenzo's Oil Young Teacher
1993 Dave Randi
1993 Tales of the City Mary Ann Singleton
1994 A Simple Twist of Fate Nancy Lambert Newland
1995 Congo Dr. Karen Ross
1996 Primal Fear Janet Venable
1997 Absolute Power Kate Whitney
1998 The Truman Show Meryl Burbank/Hannah Gill
2000 The House of Mirth Bertha Dorset
You Can Count on Me Samantha 'Sammy' Prescott Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
Maze Callie
Running Mates Lauren Hartman
2001 Wild Iris Iris
2002 The Mothman Prophecies Connie Mills
2002 The Laramie Project Sherry Johnson
2003 Love Actually Sarah
Mystic River Annabeth Markum
The Life of David Gale Constance Harraway
2004 Kinsey Clara McMillen Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
P.S. Louise Harrington
2005 The Exorcism of Emily Rose Erin Bruner
The Squid and the Whale Joan Berkman
2006 Jindabyne Claire
Driving Lessons Laura Marshall
Man of the Year Eleanor Green
2007 Breach Kate Burroughs
The Savages Wendy Savage Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
The Nanny Diaries Mrs. X
2008 The City of Your Final Destination Caroline completed
John Adams Abigail Adams completed; miniseries
Template:S-awards
Preceded by NYFCC Award for Best Actress
2000
for You Can Count On Me
Succeeded by

Awards and nominations

  • Academy Award
  • * Best Actress
  • Golden Globe Award
  • * Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
  • National Film Critics
  • * Best Actress
  • New York Film Critics
  • * Best Actress
  • Online Film Critics
  • * Best Actress
  • Academy Award
  • * Best Supporting Actress
  • Golden Globe Award
  • * Best Supporting Actress
  • National Board of Review
  • * Best Supporting Actress
  • Online Film Critics
  • * Best Supporting Actress
  • Golden Globe Award
  • * Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
  • Gotham Awards
  • * Best Cast
  • Independent Spirit Awards
  • * Best Actress

References