Jane Anderson (born 1954 in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

) is an American actress,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and director. She wrote and directed the feature film '' The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio'' (2005), and wrote the Nicolas Cage film '' It Could Happen to You'' (1994). She won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for writing the screenplay for the miniseries '' Olive Kitteridge'' (2014).

Career

Jane Anderson got her start as an actress, before getting her first writing job as a writer and consultant on the sitcom '' The Facts of Life'' (on which she had also appeared). She followed this up by creating the short-lived sitcom '' Raising Miranda'', which was cancelled in its first season. She then had several other TV series gigs, and wrote her first play, ''The Baby Dance'' (1989). Her first film experience was writing the 1993 HBO film '' The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom'', starring

Holly Hunter Holly Patricia Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an American actress. For her performance as Ada McGrath in the 1993 drama film '' The Piano'', Hunter won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She earned three additional Academy Award nominations for ...

; the film was critically acclaimed, and TV critics

Matt Zoller Seitz Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and film-maker. Career Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for ''New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as w ...

and

Alan Sepinwall Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He ...

in their 2016 book ''

TV (The Book) ''TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time'' is a collection of essays written by television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz. It was published in 2016. The main purpose of the book was to provide a can ...

'' named it the 2nd greatest American TV movie of all time, behind

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

's ''

Duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and ...

''. She later wrote and directed several other critically acclaimed television movies, including '' The Baby Dance'' (1998), based on her play and starring

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and

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and act ...

; '' When Billie Beat Bobby'' (2001) starring

and

Ron Silver Ronald Arthur Silver (July 2, 1946 – March 15, 2009) was an American actor/activist, director, producer, and radio host. As an actor, he portrayed Henry Kissinger, Alan Dershowitz and Angelo Dundee. He was awarded a Tony in 1988 for Best Acto ...

; and '' Normal'' (2003), based on her play ''Looking for Normal'' and starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson. She also wrote the segment "1961" of the 2000 HBO film ''

If These Walls Could Talk 2 ''If These Walls Could Talk 2'' is a 2000 television film in the United States, broadcast on HBO. It is a sequel to the 1996 HBO film ''If These Walls Could Talk'', and like the earlier film is a female-centered anthology film, with three separat ...

'', which won

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...

for her portrayal of an elderly lesbian prevented from hospital visitation with her dying long-time companion. She became a writer for the AMC television drama ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...

'' for the show's second season in 2008. She was nominated for a

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility ...

for Best Dramatic Series for her work on the second season. In 2015, Anderson wrote the documentary '' Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson'' about her great aunt, Edith Lake Wilkinson, a lesbian and painter who was institutionalized in the 1920s and spent the rest of her life in an asylum for the mentally ill. Anderson cites Wilkinson as an inspiration for own drawing. In 2017, Anderson wrote the Glenn Close-starring '' The Wife''.

Filmography

As writer / director

As producer

As actress

Other work

Plays

* ''The Baby Dance'' (1989) * ''Looking for Normal'' (2001) * ''The Quality of Life'' (2007) * ''The Escort: An Explicit Play for Discriminating People'' (2011) * ''The Baby Dance: Mixed'' (2018; revised version of ''The Baby Dance'')

Awards and nominations

for writing '' The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom'' (1993) *

nominations for writing and directing '' The Baby Dance'' (1998) *

nomination for writing '' Normal'' (2003) *

nomination for writing ''

'' (2000) (For episode "1961") * Women in Film Lucy Award (2000) in recognition of excellence and innovation in a writing a creative work (''

'') that has enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television *

Directors Guild of America Award The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. The first DGA Award was an "Honorary Life Member" award issued in 1938 to D. W. Griffith. The statues are made by New York firm, Society Awards. Catego ...

nomination for directing '' Normal'' (2003) *

for Best Dramatic Series for her work on the second season of ''

'' (2008) * Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award (2008) for Outstanding World Premiere Play for writing ''The Quality of Life'' * Two

Ovation Award The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...

s (2008) for writing ''The Quality of Life'' *

for Best Long Form Adapted Series for writing '' Olive Kitteridge'' (2015) *

for writing '' Olive Kitteridge'' (2015)

References

External links

* *
Profile at Curve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Jane 1950s births Living people 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American women writers American film directors American television actresses American television directors American television producers American television writers American lesbian writers American LGBT dramatists and playwrights American LGBT screenwriters American women dramatists and playwrights American women film directors American women screenwriters Lesbian artists LGBT film directors Lesbian dramatists and playwrights Lesbian screenwriters American women television directors American women television producers American women television writers Actresses from New Jersey Artists from New Jersey Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from New Jersey Primetime Emmy Award winners Writers Guild of America Award winners 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers