Biography
One of Hollywood's more well-established and often underrated actresses, Dianne Wiest possesses a versatility that has allowed her to go from playing hookers to flamboyant stage actresses to some of the most memorable matriarchs this side of
Barbara Billingsley. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Wiest decided to forgo a ballet career in favor of the theatre while attending the University of Maryland. She made her off-Broadway debut in 1976's Ashes; three years later she won the coveted Obie and Theatre World awards for her work in The Art of Dining. She made her first film,
It's My Turn, in 1980, then returned to the stage, appearing with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival and on Broadway in 1982's
Frankenstein. In the mid-1980s, Wiest returned to films, where (except for the occasionally foray into live performing) she has remained ever since.
Often as not, Wiest has been cast in maternal roles, most memorably in
Footloose (1984),
The Lost Boys (1987),
Parenthood (1989),
Edward Scissorhands (1990) and
The Birdcage (1996). Some of her best screen work can be found in her neurotic, self-involved characterizations for director
Woody Allen. Beginning with a cameo as a hooker in
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), she has been generously featured in five Allen films, winning Academy Awards for her dazzling performances as unlucky-in-love Holly in
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and hyperbolic stage actress Helen Sinclair in
Bullets Over Broadway (1994).
Wiest could be seen playing another motherly figure in
Robert Redford's 1998 adaptation of
The Horse Whisperer; that same year, she appeared as one of
Sandra Bullock and
Nicole Kidman's otherworldly aunts (along with
Stockard Channing) in
Practical Magic. In 1999, she could be seen in the made-for-TV
The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn, starring alongside
Sidney Poitier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide