Glenn Close
Glenn Close earned her first Oscar nomination with her 1982 film debut in The World According to Garp. In 1987 she became a cultural lightning rod as the obsessive Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, one of the year's biggest hits.
Connecticut and Theater
Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, she spent part of her childhood abroad and built a strong stage career first. Her film debut came at age 35 in The World According to Garp.
Fatal Attraction
A run of acclaimed 1980s roles culminated in Fatal Attraction, whose villain became a pop-culture touchstone. She earned five Oscar nominations in that decade alone.
Most Nominated
Across decades she gathered a record eight Oscar nominations without a win. She balanced film with award-winning work on Broadway and in the TV drama Damages.
Career Timeline
- 1982Film debut and first Oscar nod in Garp
- 1983Second Oscar nomination for The Big Chill
- 1984Third Oscar nod for The Natural
- 1987Fatal Attraction earns fourth Oscar nod
- 1988Dangerous Liaisons brings fifth nomination
- 1996Plays Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians
- 2007Stars in legal drama Damages on TV
- 2011Sixth Oscar nod for Albert Nobbs
- 2017Seventh Oscar nomination for The Wife
- 2020Eighth Oscar nod for Hillbilly Elegy
Biggest Hits
- She holds the record for most Academy Award acting nominations without a win, with eight, tied with Peter O'Toole.
- She has also won three Tony Awards and three Primetime Emmy Awards, making her a major stage and television star too.
Portrait: MingleMediaTVNetwork · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons