Contributor

Glenn Close

Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award winning actress

Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award winning actress Glenn Close headlines her first television series as high-stakes litigator Patty Hewes in the Sony Pictures Television critically acclaimed original legal thriller Damages for FX, which began its second season on January 7, 2009. She won last year’s Emmy Award as “Best Actress in a Drama Series,” a Golden Globe (and was nominated for a SAG Award) as “Best Actress in a TV Drama” for her riveting performance on that show. Prior to Damages, Close won rave reviews and an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Captain Monica Rawling in a season-long story arc on FX’s Emmy winning series The Shield.

Glenn Close made her feature film debut in George Roy Hill's The World According to Garp. Her performance in the film earned her awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review as well as an Academy Award nomination. She was subsequently Oscar-nominated for her performances in Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill; Barry Levinson's The Natural; Adrian Lyne's smash Fatal Attraction; and Stephen Frears' Dangerous Liaisons (for which she was also a BAFTA Award nominee).

Close's other films include Richard Marquand's Jagged Edge; Barbet Schroeder's Reversal of Fortune; Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet; István Szabó's Meeting Venus; Ron Howard's The Paper; Stephen Herek's 101 Dalmatians; Kevin Lima's 102 Dalmatians; Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One; Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune; Rose Troche's The Safety of Objects; Merchant Ivory's Le Divorce; Chris Terrio's Heights; Rodrigo García's Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her and Nine Lives; and Lajos Koltai’s Evening.

She has been nominated eight other times for a Golden Globe Award, winning for her performance in Andrei Konchalovsky's television adaptation of The Lion in Winter (which also earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award).

The latter is among the television projects that have brought her ten Emmy Award nominations, with a win for her portrayal of real-life hero Margarethe Cammermeyer in Jeff Bleckner's Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story, which Close executive produced.

Her other notable films for television include Jack Hofsiss' taped staging of The Elephant Man; Randa Haines' Something About Amelia; Jack Gold's Stones for Ibarra; Christopher Reeve's In the Gloaming (for which she won a CableACE Award) and Richard Pearce's musical remake of South Pacific, in which she starred and sang as Nellie Forbush, and which she executive-produced. She executive produced and starred thrice opposite Christopher Walken in the Sarah, Plain and Tall trilogy, directed, alternately, by Glenn Jordan and Joseph Sargent. She likewise executive produced and starred in The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, directed by Jeremy Kagan.

Glenn Close made her professional theater, and Broadway, debut in Harold Prince's revival of Love for Love. Other early stage credits include Paul Giovanni's The Crucifer of Blood and Simone Benmussa's adaptation of The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs, for which she won an Obie Award. Close's first Tony Award nomination came for her role in Joe Layton's musical Barnum and she subsequently won Tony Awards for her performances in The Real Thing and Death and the Maiden, both directed by Mike Nichols.

For her portrayal of Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Sunset Boulevard, Close won a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and a Dramalogue Award. She would later reteam with the show's director, Trevor Nunn, in London for his Royal National Theatre revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

She has been honored with a Crystal Award from Women in Film; a GLAAD Media Award; a People's Choice Award; the National Association of Theatre Owners' Female Star of the Year award at ShoWest and a Gotham Award for her contributions to the New York independent filmmaking community.

Close is a trustee emeritus of The Sundance Institute, with which she has been associated for more than 17 years. She is also a trustee of The Wildlife Conservation Society and volunteers at Fountain House in New York City, a facility dedicated to the recovery of men and women who suffer with mental illness.