Diane Venora

Diane Venora is an American stage, television and film actress. She graduated from the Juilliard School in 1977 and made her film debut in 1981 opposite Albert Finney in Wolfen. She won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for Bird. Her other films include The Cotton Club (1984), Ironweed (1987), Heat (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Jackal (1997), The Insider (1999) and Hamlet (2000).

Early life Venora is one of six children of Marie (née Brooks) and Robert P. Venora, who owned a dry cleaning business. She graduated from East Hartford High School (class of 1970), where she was active in musicals and plays. She studied at Boston Conservatory of Music and two years later won a scholarship to Juilliard School in New York City, where she graduated in 1977. At Juilliard she was a member of the drama department's Group 6 (1973–1977), which included Kelsey Grammer, Harriet Sansom Harris and Robin Williams.

Career After graduation, Venora performed extensively on the stage, particularly in Shakespearean plays. She made her film debut alongside Albert Finney and Gregory Hines in Wolfen (1981). In 1983, she starred in Joseph Papp's production of Hamlet at the New York Shakespeare Festival in the lead role, the first woman to play the role at the prestigious showcase. She has a long history with Hamlet, having played the title role, as well as Ophelia opposite Kevin Kline, and Gertrude onscreen opposite Ethan Hawke.

In 1994, after taking five years off to care for her daughter, Venora landed a starring role in the TV series Thunder Alley, followed by a recurring role as plastic surgeon Geri Infante in the TV series Chicago Hope.

In 1995 she starred opposite Al Pacino in Heat, earning high regard from critics and audiences for her portrayal of Justine Hanna, the Pacino character's troubled wife. |Prince Hamlet 1983 Uncle Vanya|Yelyna

Peer Gynt|Green Woman Messiah|Rachel 1985 Tomorrow's Monday|Dora Allen

Largo Desolato Lucy A Man for All Seasons|Lady Margaret More The School for Scandal|Lady Teazle 1989 The Winter's Tale|Hermione 1990 Hamlet|Ophelia 1998 Tongue of a Bird|Mother 1999-2000 Hamlet|Gertrude

The Seagull| As director Macbeth Lady Macbeth

Celebration The Room 2001-02 Necessary Targets|Zlata 2002 God of Vengeance|Sara 2003 The Burning Deck| 2012 As You Like It|Jaques 2016 110 Stories'' Filmography

Film

Television