Jessica Lange

While living in Paris, Lange worked as a model before making her film debut in King Kong (1976), winning the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. She appeared in All That Jazz (1979) and How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980), followed by leading roles in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Frances (1982), and Tootsie (1982), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Tootsie. She produced and starred in Country (1984) and made her television debut in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984). She starred in Sweet Dreams (1985), Crimes of the Heart (1986), Far North (1988), Everybody’s All-American (1989), and Music Box (1989).

Her 1990s work included Men Don’t Leave (1990), Cape Fear (1991), Night and the City (1992), O Pioneers! (1992, TV), her Broadway debut in A Streetcar Named Desire (1992), Blue Sky (1994), winning the Academy Award for Best Actress, Losing Isaiah (1995), Rob Roy (1995), A Streetcar Named Desire (1995, TV), A Thousand Acres (1997), Cousin Bette (1998), Hush (1998), and Titus (1999).

In the 2000s, she appeared in Long Day’s Journey into Night (London stage, 2000; Olivier nomination), Prozac Nation (2001), Normal (2003, HBO), Masked and Anonymous (2003), Big Fish (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), Don’t Come Knocking (2005), The Glass Menagerie (Broadway), Sybil (2007), and starred in HBO’s Grey Gardens (2009), winning a Primetime Emmy Award.

She joined American Horror Story (2011–2014), appearing in Murder House (2011), Asylum (2012), Coven (2013), and Freak Show (2014), winning multiple Emmy Awards. She also appeared in The Vow (2012), In Secret (2013), The Gambler (2014), and Wild Oats (2016).

Later projects include Horace and Pete (2016), the Broadway revival of Long Day’s Journey into Night (2016; Tony Award for Best Actress), Feud: Bette and Joan (2017), The Politician (2018), American Horror Story: Apocalypse (2018), Marlowe (2022), the Broadway play Mother Play (2024; Tony nomination), HBO film The Great Lillian Hall (2024), and Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024). She is attached to upcoming projects including a film adaptation of Long Day’s Journey into Night, a Marlene Dietrich biopic, The Search for Dare Wright, and The Year of Magical Thinking, and will reprise Mother Play in London (2026) and return for Season 13 of American Horror Story.