Jane Alexander was born on October 28, 1939.

She is a Tony Award winner, two-time Emmy Award winner, and four time Oscar Award nominee.

Alexander made her Broadway debut in 1968 in The Great White Hope, for which she won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Other Broadway credits include, 6 Rms Riv Vu (1972), The Night of the Iguana (1988), The Sisters Rosensweig (1993) and Honour (1998). She has received a total of seven Tony Award nominations and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.

She starred in the film version of The Great White Hope in 1970, which garnered the first of four Oscar nominations for her performance. Her subsequent Oscar nominations were for All the President’s Men (1976), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and Testament (1983).

An eight-time Emmy nominee, she received her first nomination for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in Eleanor and Franklin (1976), a role that required her to age from 18 to 60. She has won two Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Playing for Time (1980) and Warm Springs (2005).

Alexander’s distinguished acting career includes her Tony Award-winning performance in “The Great White Hope” directed by Ed Sherin (who later became her husband) and Tony-nominated roles in “Honour,” “The Sisters Rosensweig”, “The Visit,” “First Monday in October,” “Find Your Way Home,” and “6 Rms RivVu,” all on Broadway.

 

In addition, she received a Drama Desk and Theatre World Award for “The Great White Hope,” and an Obie for “The Sisters Rosensweig.”

She also appeared in “Shadowlands” opposite Nigel Hawthorne, both on Broadway and in London’s West End. Her regional theatre work includes performances at Arena Stage and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., as well as at the Mark Taper Forum, Alliance Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre, and American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Connecticut. She has appeared in over 100 stage roles in all throughout her career, the most recent being her portrayal of Djuna Barnes in her one-woman show, “What of the Night.”

 

A four-time Oscar nominee for the films “Testament,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “All The President’s Men,” and “The Great White Hope,” she has also appeared in over 50 screen roles; among them being “Brubaker,” “City Heat” and “The Cider House Rules.” Alexander was also seen in the feature films: “Fur” with Nicole Kidman, directed by Steven Shainberg, “The Ring”, and John Sayles “The Sunshine State”.

 

On television, Jane won an Emmy Award for the movie “Playing for Time” and a Television Critic’s Circle Award for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in “Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years.” She was in the tele-film “Jenifer” on CBS, which was directed by her son, Jace Alexander. Jane received a Daytime Emmy nomination for her cameo role in Showtime’s film “Carry Me Home” also directed by Jace Alexander. Ms. Alexander received the Emmy Award for “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie” for her portrayal of “Sara Roosevelt” in HBO’s “Warm Springs”.

 

Alexander is the author of “Command Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics,” documenting her tenure as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1993-1997. She continues her political career as a Commissioner of Parks, the Taconic Region, for New York State.

 

Alexander co-stars in Robert Benton’s film “Feast of Love” opposite Morgan Freeman, which was released in theaters in September 2007.  She also co-stars in the new HBO series “Tell Me You Love Me” which was picked up for a second season to air in 2008.

 

 

Oscar Nominations: 4

1969: Best Actress, The Great White Hope

1976: Supporting Actress, All the President’s Men

1979: Supporting Actress, Kramer Vs. Kramer

1983:  Best Actress, Testament

Oscar Awards: None