Laura Leggett Linney, (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for the Academy Award three times and once for the BAFTA Award. She will star in the upcoming Showtime original series, The Big C with Oliver Platt and Gabourey Sidibe.
Personal life
Linney was born in New York City. Her mother, Miriam Anderson "Ann" Perse (née Leggett), is a nurse who worked at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and her father, Romulus Linney, is a well-known playwright and professor.Linney's paternal great-great-grandfather was Republican U.S. Congressman Romulus Zachariah Linney. Despite her pedigree, Linney grew up living with her mother in a small one-bedroom apartment in modest circumstances after her parents' divorce. She has a half-sister, Susan, from her father's second marriage. Linney graduated from the Northfield Mount Hermon School in 1982. She then attended Northwestern University before transferring to Brown University, where she studied acting with Jim Barnhill and John Emigh, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986. Linney then went on to study acting at the Juilliard School. She feels that it was necessary for her art to attend graduate school.
Linney married David Adkins in 1995. They divorced in 2000. In 2007, she became engaged to Marc Schauer (not to be confused with Michigan Congressman Mark Schauer), a real estate agent from Telluride, Colorado.
Linney was a guest and presenter at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2009.
Career
Film
Linney at the Chicago International Film Festival, 2007
Linney appeared in minor roles in a few early 1990s films, including Dave in 1993, before coming to prominence in the public television mini-series Tales of the City. She was then cast in a series of high-profile thrillers, including Congo, Primal Fear and Absolute Power. She made her Hollywood breakthrough in 1998 when she played Jim Carrey's on-screen wife in The Truman Show, for which she received critical acclaim.
In 2000, Linney was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the lower-budget film You Can Count on Me. The same year, she also appeared in the role of an artist's model in the low-budget, critically praised film Maze with Rob Morrow. In 2003, Linney appeared in several notable films, including Mystic River, Love Actually and The Life of David Gale. Her 2004 performance in Kinsey, as the title character's wife, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 2005, Linney starred in horror film The Exorcism of Emily Rose and the comedy-drama The Squid and the Whale; for the latter role, she received a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy". In 2006, Linney appeared in the political satire Man of the Year, the comedy Driving Lessons (starring Rupert Grint of Harry Potter fame), and the Australian drama Jindabyne by Ray Lawrence. Jindabyne was based on Raymond Carver's short novel So Much Water so Close to Home.
In 2007, Linney appeared in the spy thriller Breach, The Nanny Diaries, opposite Scarlett Johansson and based on the book by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus,[ and The Savages, where Linney starred with Philip Seymour Hoffman She received her third Academy Award nomination for this film - this time as Best Actress. Columnist Liz Smith commented in the New York Post that Linney is "very hot, reputation wise", due to her Oscar nomination for The Savages.
Recently, Linney starred in The Other Man, with Antonio Banderas and Liam Neeson, the latter whom she had starred with in Kinsey and Love Actually.
Television
Linney starred as Mary Ann Singleton in the television adaptations of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City books (1993, 1998, and 2001). She won her first Emmy Award in 2002 for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie" for Wild Iris. In 2004, she had won her second Emmy Award as "Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series," for her recurring role as the final love interest of Frasier Crane in the television series Frasier. In 2008, Linney won an Emmy Award in the category Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her portrayal of Abigail Adams, wife of the second president of the United States, in the HBO mini-series John Adams. She also received a Golden Globe and SAG award for Best Performance by an Actress In a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television in 2009 for this role.
In 1994 Linney guest-starred in an episode of Law & Order (episode "Blue Bamboo") as "Martha Bowen". She played a Blonde American singer who successfully claimed "Battered Woman Syndrome" as a defense to the murder of a Japanese businessman.
Laura Linney returns to series television as actress and executive producer in Showtime's half-hour series about cancer, The Big C, which debuts in Summer 2010. She stars as a suburban wife and mother who explores the emotional ups and downs of a cancer battle, and the changes it brings to her life and her sense of who she is.
Theater/other
Linney's extensive stage credits on Broadway and elsewhere include Hedda Gabler (for which she won a 1994 Joe A. Callaway Award), Holiday (based on the 1938 movie starring Katharine Hepburn), and her Best Actress Tony Award-nominated 2002 role in The Crucible (where she appeared alongside future The Exorcism Of Emily Rose co-star Jennifer Carpenter). She was nominated again in 2005 for Sight Unseen.
Linney also appeared on Sandra Boynton's children's CD, Philadelphia Chickens, on which she sings "Please Can I Keep It?", and played La Marquise de Merteuil in a revival of Christopher Hampton's play Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
Linney recently finished a three month run on Broadway in the drama Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies. She received glowing reviews for her performance opposite Alicia Silverstone and Brian d'Arcy James. She was nominated for a 2010 Tony award for Best Leading Actress in a Play. It was announced on May 5, 2010 that Time Stands Still will return to Broadway with most of the cast from the Manhattan Theatre Club run intact.
Laura Linney was parodied on an episode of "Family Guy" (Ocean's Three and a Half): Quagmire wanted to use Carter's money to make a movie. The Cutaway shows Jeff Bridges and Linney starring in 'Danger in Cincinnati' with a voice over by Don LaFontaine.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1992 Lorenzo's Oil Young Teacher
1993 Dave Randi
Class of '61 Lily Magraw TV film
Tales of the City Mary Ann Singleton TV mini-series
Searching for Bobby Fischer School Teacher
Blind Spot Phoebe
1994 Law & Order (Episode "Blue Bamboo") Martha Bowen
A Simple Twist of Fate Nancy Lambert Newland
1995 Congo Dr. Karen Ross
1996 Primal Fear Janet Venable
1997 Absolute Power Kate Whitney
1998 The Truman Show Meryl Burbank/Hannah Gill Nominated — Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress - Drama
More Tales of the City Mary Ann Singleton TV mini-series
1999 Love Letters Melisa Gardner Cobb TV film
Lush Rachel Van Dyke
2000 The House of Mirth Bertha Dorset
You Can Count on Me Samantha 'Sammy' Prescott Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
Maze Callie
Running Mates Lauren Hartman TV film
2001 Wild Iris Iris Bravard Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
Further Tales of the City Mary Ann Singleton TV mini-series
2002 The Mothman Prophecies Officer Connie Mills
The Laramie Project Sherry Johnson
2003 The Life of David Gale Constance Harraway
Mystic River Annabeth Markum Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Love Actually Sarah Nominated — Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Frasier Mindy (1 episode, voice)
Charlotte (5 episodes) Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
2004 Kinsey Clara McMillen Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture
P.S. Louise Harrington Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
2005 The Exorcism of Emily Rose Erin Bruner Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
The Squid and the Whale Joan Berkman Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Drama
Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female
Nominated — St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association for Best Actress
2006 Jindabyne Claire Nominated — Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role
Driving Lessons Laura Marshall
Man of the Year Eleanor Green
The Hottest State Jesse
2007 Breach Kate Burroughs
The Savages Wendy Savage Jury Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
Nominated — Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
The Nanny Diaries Mrs. X
2008 John Adams Abigail Adams Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or TV Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
The City of Your Final Destination Caroline
The Other Man Lisa
2009 Morning
Sympathy for Delicious Nina Hogue
2010 The Details Lila forthcoming film
The Sum of All Fears Elizabeth Elliot forthcoming film
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