Annette Bening

Biography

Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. With a career spanning over four decades, she is known for her versatile work across screen and stage. Bening has received numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for five Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, making her one of the few artists nominated for the Triple Crown of Acting without winning. A graduate of San Francisco State University and the American Conservatory Theater, Bening started her career on stage with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival company in 1980, and played Lady Macbeth in 1984 at the American Conservatory Theater. She made her Broadway debut in the Tina Howe play Coastal Disturbances (1987), for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Making her film debut in 1988, she gained further recognition for her role in The Grifters (1990), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination. This acclaim continued throughout the 1990s and 2000s with further Oscar-nominated performances in the comedy-dramas American Beauty (1999) and Being Julia (2004), which respectively won her the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Actress. Bening's performance as the title character in the British television film Mrs. Harris (2005) earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. In the following decades, Bening received two additional Oscar nominations for her leading roles as a lesbian mother in The Kids Are All Right (2010) and swimmer Diana Nyad in the Netflix biographical film Nyad (2023), the former of which also won her a Golden Globe. She returned to Broadway in the revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons (2019), earning another Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play. Her other roles during this period include the films 20th Century Women (2016), Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017), Captain Marvel (2019), and Death on the Nile (2022), and the miniseries Apples Never Fall (2024). Description above from the Wikipedia article Annette Bening, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Carolyn Burnham

American Beauty

Barbara Land

Mars Attacks!

Sue Barlow

Open Range

Virginia Hill

Bugsy

Kate Craig

The Great Outdoors

Susan Anderson

What Planet Are You From?

Sarah Turner

Regarding Henry

Self

A Night at the Academy Museum

Evelyn Ames

Postcards from the Edge

Ruth Merrill

Guilty by Suspicion

Deirdre Burroughs

Running with Scissors

Queen Elizabeth

Richard III

Sydney Ellen Wade

The American President

Elise Kraft / Sharon Bridger

The Siege

Claire Cooper

In Dreams

Sylvie Fowler

The Women

Karen

Mother and Child

Narrator (voice)

Behind the Lines

Merteuil

Valmont

Terry McKay

Love Affair

Nic

The Kids Are All Right

Myra Langtry

The Grifters

Julia Lambert

Being Julia

Diana Nyad

NYAD

Zelda

Girl Most Likely

Jean Harris

Mrs. Harris

Gertrude

Ruby Sparks

Bella

Ginger & Rosa

Narrator (voice)

14 Women

Nikki Lostorm

The Face of Love

Diane Espilnade

Poolman

Helen

The Search

Mary Sinclair

Danny Collins

Self - Interviewee

And the Oscar Goes To...

Lucy Mabrey

Rules Don't Apply

Dr. Euphronious

The Bride!

Irina Arkadina

The Seagull

Self

Beyond the 'Open Range'

Dorothea

20th Century Women

Gloria Grahame

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Ann Tillman

Manhunt for Claude Dallas

Dr. Cait Morris

Life Itself

Jill

Hostage

Amanda Brecht

Georgetown

Self

Who Needs Sleep?

Self

Miloš Forman: Co tě nezabije…

Grace

Hope Gap

Self (archive footage)

Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal

Self

PoliWood

Holly Dancer (segment "Coastal Disturbances")

The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays

Supreme Intelligence / Dr. Wendy Lawson

Captain Marvel

Dianne Feinstein

The Report

Self

Forever Hollywood

Narrator (voice)

The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts

Euphemia Bouc

Death on the Nile

Self

American Beauty: Look Closer...

Self

The Road to Damascus: The Reinvention of Bugsy Siegel

Dr. Jennifer White

Turn of Mind

Marge Selbee

Jerry & Marge Go Large

Self (archive footage)

Sesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!

Self

Heightened Scrutiny

Self (archive footage)

Sesame Street: Cookie Monster's Best Bites

Self

The Directors: Milos Forman

In Love

Self

Rob Reiner – Scenes from a Life