
Annette Bening
Biography
Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. With a career spanning over four decades, she is known for her versatile work across screen and stage. Bening has received numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for five Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, making her one of the few artists nominated for the Triple Crown of Acting without winning.
A graduate of San Francisco State University and the American Conservatory Theater, Bening started her career on stage with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival company in 1980, and played Lady Macbeth in 1984 at the American Conservatory Theater. She made her Broadway debut in the Tina Howe play Coastal Disturbances (1987), for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Making her film debut in 1988, she gained further recognition for her role in The Grifters (1990), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination. This acclaim continued throughout the 1990s and 2000s with further Oscar-nominated performances in the comedy-dramas American Beauty (1999) and Being Julia (2004), which respectively won her the BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Actress. Bening's performance as the title character in the British television film Mrs. Harris (2005) earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.
In the following decades, Bening received two additional Oscar nominations for her leading roles as a lesbian mother in The Kids Are All Right (2010) and swimmer Diana Nyad in the Netflix biographical film Nyad (2023), the former of which also won her a Golden Globe. She returned to Broadway in the revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons (2019), earning another Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play. Her other roles during this period include the films 20th Century Women (2016), Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017), Captain Marvel (2019), and Death on the Nile (2022), and the miniseries Apples Never Fall (2024).
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Known For
Acting History
2026
The Bride! as Dr. Euphronious
2025Heightened Scrutiny as Self
2024Poolman as Diane Espilnade
2024Apples Never Fall as Joy Delaney
2023Off Script with The Hollywood Reporter as Self
2023NYAD as Diana Nyad
2022Jerry & Marge Go Large as Marge Selbee
2022Death on the Nile as Euphemia Bouc
2021A Night at the Academy Museum as Self
2020Stars in the House as Self
2019Hope Gap as Grace
2019The Report as Dianne Feinstein
2019The Kelly Clarkson Show as Self - Guest
2019The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts as Narrator (voice)
2019Georgetown as Amanda Brecht
2019Captain Marvel as Supreme Intelligence / Dr. Wendy Lawson
2018Life Itself as Dr. Cait Morris
2018Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal as Self (archive footage)
2018The Seagull as Irina Arkadina
2017Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool as Gloria Grahame
201620th Century Women as Dorothea
2016Rules Don't Apply as Lucy Mabrey
2015Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter as Self
2015The Late Late Show with James Corden as Self
2015Danny Collins as Mary Sinclair
2014Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
2014The Search as Helen
2014Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
2014The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as Self - Guest
2014And the Oscar Goes To... as Self - Interviewee
2013The Face of Love as Nikki Lostorm
2012Ginger & Rosa as Bella
2012Girl Most Likely as Zelda
2012Ruby Sparks as Gertrude
2010The Kids Are All Right as Nic
2009Mother and Child as Karen
2009Miloš Forman: What Doesn't Kill You… as Self
2009PoliWood as Self
2008The Women as Sylvie Fowler
200714 Women as Narrator (voice)
2007The Graham Norton Show as Self - Guest
2006The Road to Damascus: The Reinvention of Bugsy Siegel as Self
2006Running with Scissors as Deirdre Burroughs
2006The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays as Holly Dancer (segment "Coastal Disturbances")
2006Mrs. Harris as Jean Harris
2006Who Needs Sleep? as Self
2004Being Julia as Julia Lambert
2004Sesame Street: Cookie Monster's Best Bites as Self (archive footage)
2004Beyond the 'Open Range' as Self
2003The Ellen DeGeneres Show as Self
2003Open Range as Sue Barlow
2002Liberty's Kids as Abigail Adams (voice)
2000American Beauty: Look Closer... as Self
2000The Directors: Milos Forman as Self
2000What Planet Are You From? as Susan Anderson
1999The Early Show as Self
1999American Beauty as Carolyn Burnham
1999In Dreams as Claire Cooper
1999The Sopranos as Annette Bening
1999Forever Hollywood as Self
1998The Siege as Elise Kraft / Sharon Bridger
1997The View as Self
1996Mars Attacks! as Barbara Land
1996The Daily Show as Self
1995Richard III as Queen Elizabeth
1995The American President as Sydney Ellen Wade
1994Love Affair as Terry McKay
1994Sesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! as Self (archive footage)
1992The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as Self - Guest
1991Bugsy as Virginia Hill
1991Regarding Henry as Sarah Turner
1991Guilty by Suspicion as Ruth Merrill
1990Postcards from the Edge as Evelyn Ames
1990The Grifters as Myra Langtry
1989Valmont as Merteuil
1988LIVE with Kelly and Mark as Self - Guest
1988The Great Outdoors as Kate Craig
1988Hostage as Jill
1987Wiseguy as Karen Leland / Maloy
1986Manhunt for Claude Dallas as Ann Tillman
1984Miami Vice as Vicky
1975Saturday Night Live as Self - Host
1974Spécial cinéma as Self
1953The Oscars as Self
1952Today as Self
—Behind the Lines as Narrator (voice)
—Turn of Mind as Dr. Jennifer White
—The Dutton Ranch as Beulah Jackson
—Lucky as Priscilla
—In Love









