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Diane Venora
Diane Venora
Education	Boston Conservatory; Juilliard School (BFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1979–present
Spouse	Andrzej Bartkowiak; (m. 1980; div. 1989)
Children	1

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 (1988). 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.^[1] 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.^[2] At Juilliard she was a member of the drama department's Group 6 (1973–1977),^[3] which included Kelsey Grammer, Harriet Sansom Harris and Robin Williams.^[4]

Career

After graduation, Venora performed extensively on the stage, particularly in Shakespearean plays.^[5] 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,^{[citation needed]} 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 and Robert De Niro in Heat, earning high regard from critics and audiences for her portrayal of Justine Hanna, the Pacino character's troubled wife.^[5] Her other performances include Gloria Capulet [Juliet Capulet’s mother] in Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Jackal (1997), The 13th Warrior (1999), The Insider (1999), and All Good Things (2010).

Personal life

Venora married cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak in 1980; they divorced in 1989. That year, she took time off from show business to spend more time with her daughter Madzia, then eight. During her hiatus, Venora lived in New York City, teaching disadvantaged children and acting in an occasional play. In 1994, she and her daughter moved to Los Angeles.^[2]

Stage credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Penguin Touquet	Other (Same) Woman
1981	Miss Julie
1982	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hippolyta
1982	Hamlet^[6]	Prince Hamlet
1983	Uncle Vanya	Yelyna
1984	Peer Gynt	Green Woman
1984	Messiah	Rachel
1985	Tomorrow's Monday	Dora Allen
1986	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
2000	The Seagull		As director
2000	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth
2001	Celebration
2001	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

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	All That Jazz	Extra	Uncredited
1980	Getting There	Melanie	Short film
1981	Wolfen	Rebecca Neff
1984	The Cotton Club	Gloria Swanson
1985	Terminal Choice	Anna Lang
1986	F/X	Ellen Keith
1987	Ironweed	Margaret 'Peg' Phelan
1988	Bird	Chan Parker	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actress Nominated- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress– Motion Picture Nominated- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
1995	Three Wishes	Joyce
1995	Heat	Justine Hanna	Nominated- Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
1996	The Substitute	Jane Hetzko
	Surviving Picasso	Jacqueline Roque
	Romeo + Juliet	Gloria Capulet
1997	Seed: A Love Story	Julia	Short film
1997	The Jackal	Maj. Valentina Koslova
1999	True Crime	Barbara Everett
	The 13th Warrior	Queen Weilew
	The Joyriders	Celeste
	The Young Girl and the Monsoon	Giovanna
	The Insider	Liane Wigand
2000	Hamlet	Gertrude
2000	Looking for an Echo	Joanne Delgado
2001	Megiddo: The Omega Code 2	Gabriella Francini
2002	Heartbreak Hospital	Sunday Tyler / Andrea Harmon
2004	Stateside	Mrs. Hengen
2005	Self Medicated	Louise Eriksen	Phoenix Film Festival Copper Wing Award for Best Acting Ensemble
2005	Touched	Carole Davis
2008	Stiletto	Sylvia Vadalos
2008	Childless	Mary
2009	Follow the Prophet	Red
	Little Hercules in 3-D	Hera
	The Ministers	Gina Santana
2010	All Good Things	Janice Rizzo
2021	Star-Crossed: The Film	House Mother / School Administrator / Demonstrator
2022	First Love	Aunt Irene

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Nurse	Ellen Brill	Episode: "Rivals"
1982	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hippolyta	TV movie
1983	Cook & Peary: The Race to the Pole	Marie Fidele Hunt	TV movie
1985	A.D.	Corinna	TV movie
1990	Great Performances	Ophelia	Episode: "Hamlet"
1993	Law & Order	Mara Feder	Episode: "Night & Fog"
1994	Thunder Alley	Bobbi Turner	Recurring role
1994–95	Chicago Hope	Dr. Geri Infante	Recurring role
1996	Special Report: Journey to Mars	Lt. Tanya Sadavoy	TV movie
2000	Race Against Time	Dr. Helen Steele	TV movie
2000	The Practice	Margaret Wakefield	Episode: "Appeal and Denial"
2004	Class Actions	Justine Harrison	TV movie
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Marilyn Nesbit	Episode: "Home"
2005	Threshold	Andrea Hatten / Angela Hatten	4 episodes
2005	C.S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia	Joy Gresham	TV movie
2006	Criminal Minds	Doris	Episode: "The Fisher King: Part 1"
2007	Medium	Sarah Jane Levitt	Episode: "Very Merry Maggie"
2008	Eleventh Hour	Lea Muller	Episode: "Resurrection"
2009	Private Practice	Sharon	Episode: "Second Chances"
2009	NCIS	Shada Shakarji	Episode: "Outlaws and In-Laws"
2010	Grey's Anatomy	Audrey Taylor	Episode: "Push"
2010	The Wish List	Brenda	TV movie
2016	The Victorians	Mary Rutherford	TV movie