Jane Adams (actress)
Encyclopedia
Jane Adams is an American film, television and theatre actress.
, the daughter of Janice, an administrative assistant, and William Adams, an engineer. She has a younger brother, Jonathan, and was raised in Wheaton, Illinois
and Bellevue, Washington
. Adams attended the University of Washington
, where she studied political science
, and the Cornish College of the Arts
, where she took theater. In 1989, she graduated from the Juilliard school with a degree
in drama
.
with Whoopi Goldberg
for the opportunity to work with Arthur Miller
onstage.
She then worked along with Steve Martin
and Diane Keaton
in the sequel to Father of the Bride
, where she received rave reviews from her fellow cast members. She went back to the stage and won the 1995 Tony Award
for best performance by a featured actress in a play for the Broadway revival of An Inspector Calls
. She also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best featured actress in a play in the Broadway production of Paul Rudnick
's I Hate Hamlet.
In 1998, she starred in Happiness with Philip Seymour Hoffman
playing the role of Joy, a sensitive single woman who is struggling with life. She and the cast won many ensemble awards. The next year, Adams got a recurring role on the hit comedy series Frasier
from 1999 to 2000. She played Dr. Mel Karnofsky, who became Niles Crane
's second wife. She also had a role in the film Mumford.
In 2001, she was in the independent film titled Songcatcher
, with Janet McTeer
. She and the cast won a Sundance
Special Jury Prize.
In 2007, she appeared in The Sensation of Sight
and The Brave One
opposite Jodie Foster
, Naveen Andrews
, Terrence Howard
, and Mary Steenburgen
.
She is currently co-starring in the HBO series Hung
opposite Thomas Jane
.
Early life
Adams was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the daughter of Janice, an administrative assistant, and William Adams, an engineer. She has a younger brother, Jonathan, and was raised in Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...
and Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
. Adams attended the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, where she studied political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, and the Cornish College of the Arts
Cornish College of the Arts
-Library:The library at Cornish College specializes in art, dance, design, music, performance production, and theatre. As of 2011 it holds 4700 CDs, 40,000 books, has 2,200 videos, and subscribes to 154 periodicals...
, where she took theater. In 1989, she graduated from the Juilliard school with a degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
.
Career
Adams then performed theatre at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. She turned down the chance to work in Sister ActSister Act
Sister Act is a 1992 American comedy film released by Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Emile Ardolino, it features musical arrangements by Marc Shaiman and stars Whoopi Goldberg as a Reno lounge singer who has been put under protective custody in a San Francisco convent and has to pretend to be a...
with Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
for the opportunity to work with Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
onstage.
She then worked along with Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
and Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
in the sequel to Father of the Bride
Father of the Bride
Father of the Bride may refer to the following:*Father of the Bride , starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor*Father of the Bride , remake of the 1950 film, starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Martin Short...
, where she received rave reviews from her fellow cast members. She went back to the stage and won the 1995 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for best performance by a featured actress in a play for the Broadway revival of An Inspector Calls
An Inspector Calls
An Inspector Calls is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in 1945 in the Soviet Union and 1946 in the UK. It is considered to be one of Priestley's best known works for the stage and one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre...
. She also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best featured actress in a play in the Broadway production of Paul Rudnick
Paul Rudnick
Paul M. Rudnick is an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. His plays include I Hate Hamlet, Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla and The New Century. He also wrote for Premiere magazine under the pseudonym Libby Gelman-Waxner, and for Spy.Rudnick grew up in Piscataway...
's I Hate Hamlet.
In 1998, she starred in Happiness with Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
playing the role of Joy, a sensitive single woman who is struggling with life. She and the cast won many ensemble awards. The next year, Adams got a recurring role on the hit comedy series Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
from 1999 to 2000. She played Dr. Mel Karnofsky, who became Niles Crane
Niles Crane
Niles Crane, M.D., Ph.D., A.P.A. is a fictional character on the American sitcom Frasier, a spin-off of the popular show Cheers. He was portrayed by David Hyde Pierce. Niles is the younger brother of Dr. Frasier Crane, the son of Det. Martin Crane and Dr. Hester Crane, husband of Daphne Moon,...
's second wife. She also had a role in the film Mumford.
In 2001, she was in the independent film titled Songcatcher
Songcatcher
The film's score was written by David Mansfield, who also assembled a roster of female country music artists to perform mostly traditional mountain ballads. Some of the songs are contemporary arrangements, and some are played in the traditional Appalachian music style. The artists include Rosanne...
, with Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
. She and the cast won a Sundance
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
Special Jury Prize.
In 2007, she appeared in The Sensation of Sight
The Sensation of Sight
The Sensation of Sight is a feature film produced by independent film company Either/Or Films. Shot in 2005 and completed in 2006, it was written and directed by Aaron Wiederspahn and stars David Strathairn, Ian Somerhalder, Daniel Gillies, Jane Adams, Ann Cusack, Elisabeth Waterston, Joseph...
and The Brave One
The Brave One
The Brave One can refer to:* The Brave One , a 1956 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper* The Brave One , a 2007 crime-drama/psychological thriller film directed by Neil Jordan...
opposite Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....
, Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
, Terrence Howard
Terrence Howard
Terrence Dashon Howard is an American actor. Having his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television...
, and Mary Steenburgen
Mary Steenburgen
Mary Nell Steenburgen is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Lynda Dummar in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, which earned her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.-Early life:...
.
She is currently co-starring in the HBO series Hung
Hung (TV series)
Hung is a comedy-drama series, which premiered on HBO on June 28, 2009. The series was created by Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson and stars Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a struggling suburban Detroit high school baseball coach who resorts to male prostitution. The second season premiered on June 27,...
opposite Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
.
Recurring TV roles
- Family TiesFamily TiesFamily Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
.... Marty Brodie (1988–1989) - RelativityRelativity (TV series)Relativity is an American drama television series which followed a twenty-something couple, Isabel Lukens and Leo Roth , and the lives and loves of their friends and siblings...
.... Karen Lukens (1996–1997) - FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
.... Dr. Melinda "Mel" Karnofsky (1999–2000) - HungHung (TV series)Hung is a comedy-drama series, which premiered on HBO on June 28, 2009. The series was created by Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson and stars Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a struggling suburban Detroit high school baseball coach who resorts to male prostitution. The second season premiered on June 27,...
... Tanya (2009–present)
Filmography
- Vital Signs (1990)
- Light SleeperLight SleeperLight Sleeper is an US-american drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader in 1992. It stars Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany....
(1992) - I Love Trouble (1994)
- Mrs. Parker and the Vicious CircleMrs. Parker and the Vicious CircleMrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is a 1994 film scripted by writer/director Alan Rudolph and former Washington Star reporter Randy Sue Coburn...
(1994) - Father of the Bride Part IIFather of the Bride Part IIFather of the Bride Part II is a 1995 comedy film starring Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Martin Short. The movie is a sequel to Father of the Bride and a re-make of the sequel to the original version, Father's Little Dividend.-Synopsis:...
(1995) - Happiness (1998)
- You've Got MailYou've Got MailYou've Got Mail is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It was written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the play Parfumerie by Miklós László. The film is about two letter-writing lovers who are completely unaware that their sweetheart is in...
(1998) - Music from Another Room (1998)
- MumfordMumford (film)Mumford is a 1999 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. It is set in a small town where a new psychologist gives offbeat advice to the neurotic residents...
(1999) - SongcatcherSongcatcherThe film's score was written by David Mansfield, who also assembled a roster of female country music artists to perform mostly traditional mountain ballads. Some of the songs are contemporary arrangements, and some are played in the traditional Appalachian music style. The artists include Rosanne...
(2000) - Wonder BoysWonder Boys (film)Wonder Boys is a dark comedy film based on the 1995 novel of the same title by Michael Chabon. Directed by Curtis Hanson, it stars Michael Douglas as professor Grady Tripp, a novelist who teaches creative writing at an unnamed Pittsburgh university...
(2000) - The Anniversary PartyThe Anniversary PartyThe Anniversary Party is a 2001 American comedy-drama film written, directed, produced by, and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming.-Plot:...
(2001) - Orange CountyOrange County (film)Orange County is a 2002 American comedy film starring Colin Hanks and Jack Black. It was released on January 11, 2002. The movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by MTV Films and Scott Rudin. The movie was directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Mike White.-Plot:Shaun Brumder is a...
(2002) - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate EventsLemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate EventsLemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling. It is an adaptation of the The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window, being the first three books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket...
(2004) - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindEternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic science fiction film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by the French director, Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction, psychological...
(2004) - Stone ColdStone ColdStone Cold may refer to:* Stone Cold Steve Austin , an American actor and retired professional wrestler* Stone Cold , an action film starring Brian Bosworth...
(2005) - Last Holiday (2006)
- Little ChildrenLittle Children (film)Little Children is a 2006 American drama film directed by Todd Field. It is based on the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta, who along with Field wrote the screenplay. It stars Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley, Noah Emmerich, Gregg Edelman, Phyllis Somerville...
(2006) - The Sensation of SightThe Sensation of SightThe Sensation of Sight is a feature film produced by independent film company Either/Or Films. Shot in 2005 and completed in 2006, it was written and directed by Aaron Wiederspahn and stars David Strathairn, Ian Somerhalder, Daniel Gillies, Jane Adams, Ann Cusack, Elisabeth Waterston, Joseph...
(2006) - The Brave OneThe Brave One (2007 film)The Brave One is a 2007 crime-drama/psychological thriller film directed by Neil Jordan, produced by Joel Silver, and starring Jodie Foster. It was released in the United States on September 14, 2007...
(2007) - The WacknessThe WacknessThe Wackness is a 2008 American coming of age drama film by Jonathan Levine and starring Ben Kingsley, Josh Peck, Famke Janssen, and Olivia Thirlby. The film is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics and was released in the U.S. on July 3, 2008.-Plot:...
(2008) - Wherever You Are (2008)
- In Plain SightIn Plain SightIn Plain Sight is an American dramatic television series on USA Network. The series revolves around Mary Shannon , a Deputy United States Marshal attached to the Albuquerque, New Mexico office of the Federal Witness Security Program , more commonly known as the Federal Witness Protection Program...
(2008) - Alexander the Last (2009)
- RestlessRestless (2011 film)Restless is a 2011 British-American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Jason Lew. It stars Henry Hopper and Mia Wasikowska. Shot in Portland, Oregon, United States, and produced by Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer for Columbia Pictures and Imagine Entertainment, it...
(2011)
Awards
- Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series, Made for Television Movie, or Miniseries for HungHung (TV series)Hung is a comedy-drama series, which premiered on HBO on June 28, 2009. The series was created by Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson and stars Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a struggling suburban Detroit high school baseball coach who resorts to male prostitution. The second season premiered on June 27,...
(nomination) - Tony Award for best performance by a featured actress in a play for the BroadwayBroadway theatreBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
play, An Inspector Calls. - Drama Desk Award for Featured Actress for her performance in An Inspector Calls
- Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actress for her role in I Hate Hamlet.
- Sundance Award Jury Prize Award