Laura Linney: biography, personal life, roles and films, photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Laura Linney is an American theater, film and television actress, singer and producer. She is best known to the general public for her roles in The Truman Show, Mystic River, Kinsey, Love Actually and Miracle on the Hudson. She is also known as the lead actress in the TV series That Scary R and The Ozarks. Three times nominated for "Oscar", winner of "Emmy" and "Golden Globe".

Childhood and youth

Laura Linney was born February 5, 1964 in New York City, on the island of Manhattan. Father - the famous playwright and writer Romulus Linney. Mother is a nurse. Laura grew up in modest conditions, after her parents divorced, she was forced to live with her mother in a one-room apartment.

However, Laura Linney graduated from the elite Northfield Mount Herman School. After graduation, shewas able to enter the prestigious Northwestern University, after a while she transferred to Brown University. She studied acting and was one of the chairmen of the student theater. After graduating from the university, Laura Linney entered the Juilliard Academy, where she studied for another four years.

Career start

Laura Linney's first movie experience was "Lorenzo's Oil". In the George Miller family drama, the young actress played an unnamed teacher. A year later, she appeared in Ivan Reitman's political comedy Dave in a more prominent role.

In 1995, the actress starred in the sci-fi action movie "Congo", and a year later she appeared on the screen in the thriller "Primal Fear" along with Richard Gere and Edward Norton.

Big Breakthrough

The real breakthrough in the filmography of Laura Linney was the sci-fi film "The Truman Show". For this work, she received positive reviews from critics, and the film itself became a box office hit and was nominated for several prestigious awards.

The actress continued to act actively, mostly in independent films. In 2000, Linney starred in the directorial debut of acclaimed screenwriter and playwright Kenneth Lonergan, You Can Count on Me. For this work, she was first nominated for an Oscar, but Julia Roberts won the award for Erin Brockovich.

Career blossoming

2003 was one of the most fruitful in the creative biography of Laura Linney, three major projects with the participation of the actress came out at once. She appeared in supporting roles in the Clint Eastwood thriller Mystic River, the courtroom drama The Life of David Gale, and the romantic comedy Love Actually. All three films performed well at the box office and earned the love of the audience.

A year later, Linney appeared in the biopic "Kinsey" as the wife of the famous scientist Alfred Kinsey, played by Liam Neeson. The picture was positively received by critics and at the end of the calendar year was included in many lists of the best films. Laura Linney received her second Oscar nomination, this time as a supporting actress. At the end of the ceremony, the statuette went to Cate Blanchett for her role as the famous actress Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's film "The Aviator".

The following year, Laura starred in Noah Baumbach's family drama The Squid and the Whale, for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Drama Actress. Laura Linney took part in several films a year later, but without much success.

She later earned her third Oscar nomination. In Tamara Jenkins' family tragicomedy The Savages, Linney played the sister of Philip Seymour Hoffman's character. However, this time the actress was not destined to win, the award went to Marion Cotillard for the role of Edith Piaf in the biopic "Life inpink".

In subsequent years, Laura Linney's films were not as successful as they used to be. In 2012, she played the role of the wife of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, played by Bill Murray, in the tragicomedy Hyde Park on the Hudson. As you can see from the photo, Laura Linney bears a clear resemblance to the wife of the President Margaret Suckley, and she also perfectly got used to the role, but the weak script and slurred direction made the film one of the biggest disappointments of the year.

A year later, the actress appeared in the thriller "The Fifth Estate", which was also considered one of the most anticipated projects of the year, but in the end received negative reviews from critics and performed poorly at the box office.

Television work

In 1993, a mini-series based on the famous book series "City Stories" with Laura Linney in the title role was released. The project became a real hit and helped the young actress get more offers for feature films.

However, even after successful Hollywood projects, Linney returned to the project in 1998. She also took part in the filming of the three-episode continuation of the series three years later.

In 2001, Laura Linney starred in the TV movie Iris the Wild, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.

From 2004 to 2006, she played the role of the protagonist's ex-wife in the sitcom Frasier. In total, the actress appeared in sixseries. The performance earned Laura her second Emmy Award, this time for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

In 2008, the HBO cable channel released a mini-series "John Adams", based on the biography of the second US president. Laura Linney played the lead character's wife, played by Paul Giamatti, a role that won her a third Emmy, again for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, and a Golden Globe Award in the same category.

In 2010, Linnie began starring in the tragicomedy series That Scary R, where she played a teacher with terminal cancer. For this role, she again received the Golden Globe in 2011 and was nominated for an Emmy. The series was canceled after the fourth season.

Theatrical roles

From the very beginning of her acting career, Laura Linney has been actively working in the theater. She participated in Broadway productions of such famous plays as "Six Degrees of Separation", "The Seagull", "Uncle Vanya" and others.

For her theatrical work, the actress has been nominated for four Tony Awards and won a Drama Desk Award in 2017.

Recent work

In 2015, the actress appeared in the detective drama "Mr. Holmes", again working with director Bill Condon, with whom Linney had already starred in "Kinsey" and "The Fifth Estate".

A year later, Laura Linney could be seen in fourmajor Hollywood projects. She played a small role as the mother of the main character in Tom Ford's psychological drama Night Animals. She played the role of the protagonist's wife in the biographical drama "Sally". She played the wife of the hero Colin Firth in Clint Eastwood's drama "Genius". Introduced the image of a minor character in the sequel to the blockbuster Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

In 2017, Laura played one of the main roles in the drama "Dinner" along with Richard Gere, Rebecca Hall and Steve Coogan. This is her last feature film at the moment.

Since 2017, Laura Linney has been starring in the Netflix series Ozark. She portrays the wife of the protagonist, Marty Bird, Wendy. In the story, Marty is involved in money laundering for a Mexican drug cartel and is forced to move to the Lake of the Ozarks when his partner decides to scam their employers. The series received mixed reviews from critics, but became a real hit among ordinary viewers. Jason Bateman was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on the project, while Laura Linney was bypassed by TV academics this time.

Future projects

The next mini-series from the "Urban Stories" series with Laura in the title role is due out soon. She will also play one of the central characters in the series Sink Sank Sunk.

Full-length films with Linnie are not planned in the near future. The actress is busy filming the third season of the Ozark series.

Private life

In 1995, Laura Linney married actor and playwright David Adkins, mostly known for his work in the theater and roles in television series. The couple divorced five years later.

For some time she met with actor Eric Stolz, known for the films "The Mask" and "Pulp Fiction", it was he who gave the actress the script for the film "The Squid and the Whale".

In 2009, Laura remarried real estate agent Mark Schrouer after a two-year engagement. In January 2014, Laura Linney gave birth for the first time, at the age of forty-nine. This made her the oldest Oscar nominee to give birth naturally. The couple named their son Bennett Amistad. Six months after giving birth, Laura returned to work.

The actress is friends with director Bill Condon and actors Ian McKellen and Liam Neeson, the latter even walked Linney down the aisle during their second wedding.

Actively involved in charity work, also a member of the board of trustees of educational institutions where she received her education.