birthdays: Jessica Lange (see more)

. Jessica Lange

Where her father worked as a traveling salesman. She obtained a scholarship to study art at the University of Minnesota, but instead went to Paris to study drama. She moved to New York, working as a model for many years, until producer Dino De Laurentiis cast her as the female lead in King Kong (1976)...
The film attracted much unfavorable comment and, as a result, Lange was off the screen for three years. She was given a small but showy part in Bob Fosse's Empieza el espectáculo (1979), before giving a memorable performance in Bob Rafelson's El cartero siempre llama dos veces (1981), as an adulterous waitress.

The following year, she won rave reviews for her exceptional portrayal of actress Frances Farmer in Frances (1982) and a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her work in Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982) (as a beautiful soap-opera actress). She was also outstanding as country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz's Dulces sueños (1985) and as a lawyer who defends her father and discovers his past in La caja de música (1989). Other important films include Martin Scorsese's El cabo del miedo (1991) (as a frightened housewife) and Tony Richardson's Las cosas que nuncan mueren (1994), for which she won a Best Actress Academy Award as the mentally unbalanced wife of a military officer. She made her Broadway debut in 1992, playing "Blanche" in Tennessee Williams "A Streetcar Named Desire".

In addition to acting, Lange is a photographer with two published works,and is a humanitarian, holding a position as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, specializing in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Congo and Russia.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Thanassis Agathos

Spouse

Francisco Paco Grande	(29 July 1970 - 1981) (divorced)

Francisco Paco Grande

(29 July 1970 - 1981) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Platinum blonde hair

Voluptuous figure

Deep sultry voice

Trivia

Born at 11:00am-CST

Had a long term relationship with actor Sam Shepard (1982-2009).

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#64).

She is a big supporter for rights of the Monks of Nepal.

Lived in Minnesota with Sam and their children for a few years, but now living in New York (2004).

Between modeling jobs, she waitressed at the Lion's Head in Greenwich Village.

In 1970s Manhattan, Lange was represented by Wilhelmina Models, the same agency that later discovered Gia Carangi.

Her interpretation of the pushed-to-the-limit Cora in the remake of El cartero siempre llama dos veces (1981) was partially inspired by the downbeat life of B-movie actress Barbara Payton. In a Rolling Stone interview, Lange mentioned how she thought her character might have first drifted to Hollywood as an aspiring starlet, and co-star Jack Nicholson gave her Payton's lurid, tell-all autobiography "I Am Not Ashamed" to look over on the set. Coincidentally, Lange and the blonde Payton were both born in Cloquet, Minnesota.

She is one of the elite ten thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year for their achievements in two different movies. The other nine are Fay Bainter, Teresa Wright, Cate Blanchett, Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Holly Hunter, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx.

Beat Meryl Streep for the role of Patsy Cline in Dulces sueños (1985), according to Streep. Streep said it was one of the few if not the only role she ever went after. Then later said that she couldn't however, imagine the movie without her (Lange).

She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2001 (2000 season) for Best Actress for her performance in "Long Day's Journey into Night" at the Lyric Theatre.

Attended the Guthrie Theater Drama School at the prestigious Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Received the Anton Chekhov Fine Arts Award.

Daughter Shura (Alexandra) Baryshnikov, whose father is Mikhail Baryshnikov, graduated from Marlboro College in Vermont, the same college that Chris Noth attended in the 1970s.

Jessica's grandparents were born in four different countries. Her paternal grandfather was German and her paternal grandmother was Dutch. Her maternal grandfather was Finnish and her maternal grandmother was born in Minnesota, to Finnish parents.

Her performance as Frances Farmer in Frances (1982) is ranked #85 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Parents: Dorothy (1913-1968) and Al (1911-1988).

Has two older sisters named Ann Lange and Jane Lange and a younger brother named George Lange who is a pilot.

She was one of the favorite actresses of Benazir Bhutto.

Had a fall at her home in Minnesota on March 17, 2009, breaking her collarbone and dislocating her arm. After an overnight stay in the hospital, she was released the next day.

Her only husband, Paco Grande, was a photographer. They met in 1968 and married two years later. He began losing his sight from retinitis pigmentosa in the early 1970s. They did not divorce until 1982, following a long separation, and she paid him alimony afterwards.

When starting out, Jessica once shared a Paris apartment with then fledgling models Jerry Hall and Grace Jones in the late 1970s.

Returned to work 3 months after giving birth to her daughter Hannah to begin filming Crímenes del corazón (1986).

Gave birth to her 3rd child at age 38, a son Samuel Walker Shepard on June 14, 1987. Child's father is her now ex-partner, Sam Shepard.

Gave birth to her 1st child at age 31, a daughter Aleksandra "Shura" Lange Baryshnikov in March 1981. Child's father is her now ex-partner, Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 36, a daughter Hannah Jane Shepard on January 13, 1986. Child's father is her now ex-partner, Sam Shepard.

Returned to work 4 months after giving birth to her daughter Aleksandra to begin filming Frances (1982).

Returned to work 4 months after giving birth to her son Samuel to begin filming Norte lejano (1988).

Has two granddaughters - Adah and Ilse Bryan - via daughter Aleksandra and her husband, Bruce Bryan.

Personal Quotes

It took Sydney Pollack a long time to get me to do Tootsie (1982). I asked myself if I wanted to play some frothy, ditzy character after I had just done Frances (1982). Obviously, I'm thrilled that I did.

All through life, I've harbored anger rather than expressed it at the moment. Once I started on Frances (1982), I discovered it was literally a bottomless well. It devastated me to maintain that for eighteen weeks, to be immersed in this state of rage for twelve to eighteen hours a day. It spilled all over, into other areas of my life. I was really hell to be around.

[on what counts in her career] Box office success has never meant anything. I couldn't get a film made if I paid for it myself. So I'm not 'box office' and never have been, and that's never entered into my kind of mind set. It is the kind of acknowledgment by other actors, really. That's really what is most meaningful.