Jeannie Berlin

Jeannie Berlin (born Jeannie Brette May; November 1, 1949) is an American actress. She is the daughter of Elaine May. She is best known for her role in the 1972 comedy film The Heartbreak Kid, for which she received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress. She later played the leading role in Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York, and has acted in films such as Margaret (2011), Inherent Vice (2014), Café Society (2016), The Fabelmans (2022), and You Hurt My Feelings (2023). She also acted in the HBO miniseries The Night Of (2016), the Amazon Prime series Hunters (2020), and the HBO series Succession (2019–2023).

Early life Born in Los Angeles, California, Berlin is the daughter of actress, comedienne, screenwriter, and director Elaine May (née Berlin) and inventor Marvin May. Elaine May Berlin directed The Heartbreak Kid, in 1972, featuring Berlin, whose performance earned her Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Berlin chose to use her mother's maiden name for her stage name.

In 1972, Berlin's performance in the comedy film The Heartbreak Kid, directed by her mother and with a screenplay by Neil Simon, garnered her Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. The film was not well received by critics: Stanley Eichelbaum from San Francisco Examiner noted that "Jeannie is cold and hasn't the inner glow the appeal and magnetism that an actress needs to carry a film." The following year, she had a leading role in "Old Fashioned Murder", an episode of the NBC detective drama series Columbo. Berlin did not act on film or television again until 1990, when she appeared in and co-wrote the screenplay for the comedy-drama film In the Spirit starring her mother alongside Marlo Thomas and Olympia Dukakis.

Berlin appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions in 1990s. She made her Broadway theatre debut in May's play After the Night and the Music in 2005. In 2012, she appeared in the play Other Desert Cities at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. After an extended absence of more than a decade from acting in films, in 2011 she co-starred in Margaret, a psychological drama film starring Anna Paquin. She received positive reviews from film critics and was nominated for the National Society of Film Critics and Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. She later appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's crime film Inherent Vice (2014) and Woody Allen's romantic comedy-drama Café Society (2016).

In 2016, Berlin received positive reviews for her performance as prosecutor Helen Weiss in the HBO miniseries The Night Of. She was named a contender for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nomination, which did not come to fruition. In 2018 she played the President of the United States in the Hulu drama series The First, and the following year was cast as Cyd Peach, the head of the Roys' Fox News–esque TV station in the HBO drama series Succession. In 2020, she had a recurring role in the Amazon Prime Video drama series Hunters playing the grandmother of the lead character. In 2022, she starred in the coming-of-age drama film The Fabelmans directed by Steven Spielberg.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre Year Title Role Notes 2005 After the Night and the Music Joanne/Gail Biltmore Theatre, Broadway 2012 Other Desert Cities Silda Mark Taper Forum

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryProductionResult 1972 National Society of Film Critics Award Best Supporting Actress The Heartbreak Kid New York Film Critics Circle Award Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Academy Award Best Supporting Actress 2011 Village Voice Film Poll Best Supporting Actress Margaret Boston Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actress National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actress Indiewire Award Best Supporting Performance 2023 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture The Fabelmans