Anjelica Huston Biography
Born: July 08, 1951
The daughter of director John_Huston and his fourth wife, ballerina Ricki Somma, Anjelica Huston spent a privileged but troubled childhood in Ireland. Although her father didn't really want her to be an actress, he gave her substantial roles in his films Sinful_Davy and A Walk With Love and Death (both 1969). The actress did little movie work during the '70s, choosing instead to pursue a successful, albeit short-term, career as a model before returning to films with a vengeance in the '80s, diligently studying with famed drama coach Peggy_Feury.
In 1985, Huston earned an Oscar for her performance as the vengeful girlfriend of hit man Jack_Nicholson in Prizzi's_Honor, making her the first third-generation Academy winner in history. Other worthwhile roles followed in her father's final directorial effort, The_Dead (1987), and Woody_Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). She was also rewardingly directed by her half-brother Danny_Huston in Mr._North (1988). Huston earned additional Oscar nominations for her outstanding dramatic work in Enemies:_A_Love_Story (1989) and The_Grifters (1990). On a lighter note, she was ideally cast as Morticia Addams in the two Addams_Family movies in the early '90s; neither was recognized by the Academy, although both earned her Golden Globe nominations. Despite her breakup with long-time companion Nicholson (she went on to marry Robert Graham in 1992), Huston still occasionally acted opposite him, most notably in Sean_Penn's The_Crossing_Guard (1995). Other notable roles for the actress during the late '90s included her turn as the wicked stepmother in Ever_After (1998) and a hilarious portrayal of a football-obsessed, dysfunctional mother in Buffalo_'66.
In addition to her work on film, Huston accumulated an impressive roster of television credits during the 1980s and '90s, including her powerful performances as frontier woman Clara Allen in the 1989 miniseries Lonesome_Dove and the beleaguered mother of an autistic child in the two-part Family_Pictures (1993). She also had a supporting role in the widely acclaimed 1993 production of And the Band Played On. In 1996, Huston made her directorial debut with Bastard out of Carolina, a praised adaptation of Dorothy_Allison's novel of the same name, and followed that up with another behind-the-camera effort, Agnes_Browne, in 1999. She played Gene_Hackman's estranged wife in the critically-acclaimed The_Royal_Tenenbaums in 2001. She appeared opposite Clint Eastwood in his police drama Blood Work. She continued to appear in a wide variety of films including an officious antagonist in Daddy Day Care. In 2004 she reteamed with Wes Anderson for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and played in the made for cable historical drama Iron Jawed Angels. In 2006 Huston took on a small role in Terry Zwigoff's Art School Confidential, and appeared in Martha Coolidge's Material Girls opposite Hilary and Haylie Duff. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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