The preternatural poise exuded by versatile, attractive performer Annette Bening is a byproduct of her years of successful stage work in regional theater that culminated with a 1987 Tony-nominated portrayal in Tina Howe's "Coastal Disturbances". Although her feature debut as the sexually frustrated wife of Dan Aykroyd in the lackluster comedy "The Great Outdoors" (1988) may have disappointed, audiences soon took note of her streamlined carriage and superb vocal instrument when she etched an aptly uneasy portrait of wickedness as the Marquise de Merteuil in Milos Forman's "Valmont" (1989). The cool subtlety of her performance caught the attention of Stephen Frears, who ironically had directed his own version of the same tale, "Dangerous Liaisons", six months earlier. (Bening had, in fact, auditioned for Michelle Pfeiffer's role in that film).

Frears cast Bening alongside John Cusack and Anjelica Huston in his classy film noir, "The Grifters" (1990), adapted from the novel by Jim Thompson. Although it was her nude scenes in the film which generated the most publicity, Bening injected considerable verve and authority into her portrayal of a tough young hustler who coolly uses her body as one of the tools of her trade--a performance intentionally modeled after Gloria Grahame's in Fritz Lang's landmark noir "The Big Heat" (1953). The role earned Bening a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, propelled her into the front rank of Hollywood leading ladies and prompted references to her as the "thinking man's sex symbol." She went on to demonstrate her versatility by portraying nurturing, supportive wives in "Guilty By Suspicion" and "Regarding Henry" (both 1991) before returning to a more seductive role opposite future husband Warren Beatty in "Bugsy" (1991), surprising everyone by winning the heart of the Playboy of the Hollywood World.

After a three year hiatus to marry and start a family, Bening and Beatty again co-starred, this time in "Love Affair" (1994), the second remake of a 1939 film of the same title. They played two people engaged to others who fall in love after an accidental meeting. While many hoped to draw comparisons between the couple's real-life romance and their film characters, the pair vehemently denied any connections and the on screen results were less than stellar. Juggling motherhood and a career, Bening has made sacrifices, relinquishing the coveted Catwoman role in "Batman Returns" (1992) when the stork first flew into her life and dropping out of "Disclosure" (1994) due to her second pregnancy. She won acclaim for her deft comic turn as a lobbyist romanced by "The American President" (Michael Douglas) and as Queen Elizabeth in Ian McKellen's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Richard III" (both 1995).

After appearing in Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks!" (1996), Bening starred alongside Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington in "The Siege" (1998) and teamed with Aidan Quinn as a psychic with telepathic connections to a killer in Neil Jordan's "In Dreams" (1999). She followed with what many felt was her best work in years, playing the domineering real estate broker wife of a man undergoing a mid-life crisis in the acclaimed "American Beauty" (also 1999). For her performance, she netted a Best Actress Academy Award nomination. Bening followed with a comic turn opposite Garry Shandling in the Mike Nichols-directed comedy "What Planet Are You From?" (2000). After a lengthy hiatus from the screen, Bening—who dropped out of the Disney comedy remake "Freaky Friday" shortly after filming began—took on the role of actor/director Kevin Costner's spirited and refreshingly age-appropriate love interest Sue Barlow in the under-appreciated Western revival "Open Range" (2003).

The actress then accumulated some of the best reviews of her career when she starred as a diva stage actress caught up in a May-December romance with a young social climber only to end up plotting a delicious revenge in "Being Julia" (2004), a bravura turn that ultimately earned her a Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Hot off the heels of her Golden Globe win, Bening grabbed an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role and was considered a heavy favorite going into the awards. She received continued critical adulation for her performance in “Running with Scissors” (2006), an adaptation of Augusten Burrough’s best-selling memoir about his growing up in the home of his mother’s therapist (Brian Cox). Bening played Burrough’s delusional mother, an unpublished poet dealing with a messy divorce with her son’s alcoholic father (Alec Baldwin), which earned the actress a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical. She earned a second Golden Globe nod for Best Actress in 2006 for her performance in the made-for-television movie “Mrs. Harris” (2006), playing the emotionally disturbed headmistress of The Madeira School for girls who made national headlines when she shot and killed her lover Dr. Herman Tarnower (Ben Kingsley), the famed cardiologist and creator of the Scarsdale Diet.

• Born:
  May 29, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Dancer, Cook, Secretary, Teacher

Family

• Daughter: Ella Corinne Beatty. born on April 8, 2000; father, Warren Beatty
• Daughter: Isabel Ira Ashley Beatty. born on January 11, 1997; father, Warren Beatty
• Daughter: Kathlyn Elizabeth Bening Beatty. born on January 8, 1992 by Caesarean section; father, Warren Beatty
• Father: A Grant Bening.
• Mother: Shirley Bening.
• Sister-in-law: Shirley MacLaine.
• Son: Benjamin Beatty. born on August 23, 1994; father, Warren Beatty

Significant Others

• Companion: Andrew Lack. worked at NBC News; dated; no longer together
• Companion: Ed Begley. dated briefly
• Companion: Ned Bellamy. dated in college; co-founder of the Actors' Gang

Education

• San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, theater, BA
• Patrick Henry High School, San Diego, California
• San Diego Mesa College, San Diego, California
• American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, California

Milestones

• --- Cast as the abandoned wife (Norma Shearer's role in the original), in the remake of the 1939 comedy "The Women" (2005)
• 1980 Performed with Colorado Shakespeare Festival
• 1985 Performed with Denver Center Theater Company, starring in "Pygmalion" and "The Cherry Orchard"
• 1986 Moved to New York City
• 1986 Off-Broadway stage debut as Holly Dancer in "Coastal Disturbances" (November)
• 1986 TV-movie debut in "Manhunt for Claude Dallas" (CBS)
• 1987 "Coastal Disturbances" moved to Broadway; Bening received Tony nomination
• 1987 Landed guest spots on episodes of "Miami Vice" (NBC) and "Wiseguy" (CBS)
• 1988 Feature film debut as Dan Aykroyd's onscreen wife in "The Great Outdoors"
• 1988 Played small role Central Park Zookeeper in Off-Broadway production of Michael Weller's "Spoils of War"
• 1989 Portrayed the manipulative, seductive Marquise de Merteuil in Milos Forman's "Valmont"; first starring role
• 1990 Delivered brilliant portrayal as the bubbly, treacherous con-artist Myra Langtry in Stephen Frears' "The Grifters"; earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress
• 1990 Offered a strong turn as a ditsy wanna-be actress in Mike Nichols' "Postcards From the Edge"
• 1991 Garnered further acclaim in "Regarding Henry" (reteaming her with Nichols), "Guilty By Suspicion" and "Bugsy", the movie which paired her with future husband Warren Beatty
• 1994 Starred with Beatty in "Love Affair", a pallid remake of "An Affair to Remember" (1957) and "Love Affair" (1939)
• 1995 Played Elizabeth to Ian McKellen's modern dress "Richard III"; also received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her work opposite Michael Douglas in Rob Reiner's "The American President"
• 1996 Appeared in Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks!"
• 1997 Received second annual Peter J Owens Award at 40th San Francisco International Film Festival
• 1998 Starred with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis in Edward Zwick's "The Siege"
• 1999 Acted the role of a woman who discovers she and a serial killer share the same psychic vision in Neil Jordan's "In Dreams"
• 1999 Played the shrewish, status-seeking wife of a man undergoing a mid-life crisis in the acclaimed "American Beauty"; received Best Actress Oscar nomination
• 2000 Co-starred with Garry Shandling in "What Planet Are You From?"
• 2002 Voiced Abigail Adams on the short lived PBS animated series "Liberty's Kids"
• 2003 Starred opposite Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall in the western epic "Open Range," directed by Kevin Costner
• 2004 Stared as a successful actress who escapes from her loveless marriage to her theatrical producer (Jeremy Irons) in "Being Julia," based on the novel "Theatre," by W. Somerset Maugham; received SAG and Oscar nominations for Best Actress
• 2006 Played an unstable mother in the film adaptation of the Augusten Burroughs book, "Running With Scissors"; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical
• 2006 Starred in the HBO film, "Mrs. Harris" which is based on the story of Jean Harris, a headmistress of a prestigious girls academy, who murdered her rich Jewish boyfriend; earned Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Movie
• Apprenticed with the American Conservatory Theater, where she performed as a pregnant Lady Macbeth, Titania in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Laurel in "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" and Emily in "Our Town"
• Family moved to San Diego, California in the mid-1960s
• First show business job as a dancer in "The Green Show" presented outside San Diego's famed Old Globe Theatre
• Passion for scuba-diving led her to work as a cook on a charter scuba-diving boat at age 17 before college
• Pregnancy forced her to give up the coveted catwoman role to Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman Returns" (1992) and to drop out of "Disclosure" (1994)
• Raised in Wichita, Kansas until the age of seven
• Returned to the stage after a decade as "Hedda Gabler" in an L.A. production
• Went to Hollywood where she appeared in pilot for TV series, "It Had to Be You"
• Worked as a secretary for her father beginning at age 14