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Dianne Wiest




Dianne Wiest (born March 28 , 1948 in Kansas City, Missouri ) is two-time Academy Award -winning American Actress in stage, television, and film, and has received several awards in her career.

Wiest's original ambition was to be a Ballerina , but she began acting on Broadway , playing Desdemona to James Earl Jones ' Othello . She made her film debut in 1980 , but didn't make a name for herself until her performance as Emma, a Prostitute during the Great Depression , in Woody Allen 's '' The Purple Rose Of Cairo '' ( 1985 ).

Under Allen's direction, Wiest won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress , in '' Hannah And Her Sisters '' ( 1986 ). She followed her Academy Award success with performances in '' The Lost Boys '' ( 1987 ) and '' Bright Lights, Big City '' ( 1988 ) before starring with Steve Martin , Mary Steenburgen , Jason Robards , Keanu Reeves and Martha Plimpton in Ron Howard 's '' Parenthood '', for which she received her second Oscar nomination.

In 1990 , Wiest starred in '' Edward Scissorhands ''. She returned to Woody Allen in 1994 for '' Bullets Over Broadway '', a comedy set in 1920s New York City , winning her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Helen Sinclair, a boozy, glamorous, and Neurotic star of the stage.

She has recently appeared in the film '' Practical Magic '' ( 1998 ) and the Television Mini-series The 10th Kingdom ( 2000 ).

From 2000 to 2002 , Wiest portrayed District Attorney Nora Lewin in the long-running NBC crime drama '' Law & Order ''.

Wiest lives in New York City with her two Adopted daughters, Emily and Lily. Recently, her daughter Emily and two teenage classmates from The Beekman School, a High School located in an East Side townhouse, were accused of robbing and beating up a fourth student on a midtown sidewalk after getting into a shoving and pushing match on school property.


SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY



  Title Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress
  Years 1986<br>'''for '' Hannah And Her Sisters '' '''
  Before Anjelica Huston <br>for '' Prizzi's Honor ''
  After Olympia Dukakis <br>for '' Moonstruck ''


  Title Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
  Years 1994<br>'''for '' Bullets Over Broadway '' '''
  Before Anna Paquin <br>for '' The Piano ''
  After Mira Sorvino <br>for '' Mighty Aphrodite ''



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