Tuesday 26 February 2013

Jane Alexander biography

Jane Alexander biography


  • MAIDEN NAME: Jane Quigley
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Scorpio

Synopsis

Jane Alexander was born on October 28, 1939, in Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1960s, she made her Broadway debut inThe Great White Hope. During the 1970s, she continued to perform on stage, TV and in films. She received her first Emmy Award in 1980 for Playing for Time. In 1992 she became chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts. She won her second Emmy for the 2005 TV film Warm Springs.

Early Career

Actress Jane Alenaxder was born Jane Quigley on October 28, 1939, in Boston, Massachusetts. A talented stage, film and television actress, Alexander has been nominated for or won nearly every major award in her field. The daughter of a doctor, she grew up in an affluent home with lots of exposure to culture and the arts. Alexander discovered her love of acting while attending Sarah Lawrence College in the late 1950s.
Alexander’s career really took off in the late 1960s with her Broadway debut in the original drama The Great White Hope co-starring James Earl Jones. The play explored life of black boxer Jack Jefferson (played by Jones) and the racial issues surrounding his relationship with a white woman, Eleanor Bachman, played by Alexander. She won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress in 1970, after reprising her role for the film version.

Career Highlights

During the 1970s, Jane Alexander continued to turn in stellar performances on stage and in films. She was nominated twice for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was first up for 1976’s Watergate scandal film All the President’s Men with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as famed journalists Bob Woodwardand Carl Bernstein, respectively. Alexander played a bookkeeper who helped out the pair on their quest for the truth. She scored her second supporting actress nomination in the divorce drama Kramer vs. Kramer with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.
On Broadway, Jane Alexander wowed audiences and critics alike, earning Tony Award nominations for her roles in 1973’s 6 Rms Riv Vu, 1974’s Find Your Way Home and 1978’s First Monday in October. Alexander also won raves for her stunning portrayal ofEleanor Roosevelt in two miniseries - Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977) for ABC, garnering an Emmy nomination for each production.
Jane Alexander found more success in the 1980s and 1990s. She received her first Emmy Award for the 1980 Holocaust dramaPlaying for Time, winning in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special category. Continuing to tackle challenging roles, Alexander was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Testament (1983), in which she played Carol Wetherly, a wife and mother, trying to look after her family during the catastrophe that followed nuclear war. Returning to Broadway, she won a Drama Desk Award and received a Tony Award nomination for her work on Wendy Wasserstein’s play, The Sisters Rosensweig, in 1993. 

Personal Life

Outside of acting, Jane Alexander assumed an important advocacy role in 1992 when she became chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts. She took the reins of the agency at a difficult time - by the mid-1990s there was political pressure to cut funding to the organization. Leaving the NEA in 1997, Alexander wrote about her experience in the book Command Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics (2000).
Most recently, Jane Alexander has tackled some interesting real-life characters. She won her second Emmy Award for playing Sara Delano Roosevelt in the cable television film Warm Springs. On the big screen, Alexander played the mother of famed photographer Diane Arbus in 2006’s Fur.

Jason Alexander biography

Jason Alexander biography

Synopsis

Jason Alexander was born on September 23, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey. In 1989, he was awarded a Tony for Jerome Robbins' Broadway. After winning his Tony, he moved to Los Angeles, where he co-starred as George Costanza in Seinfeld. After Seinfeld signed off in 1998, Alexander tackled a variety of projects, including starring in a Los Angeles production of the musical The Producers in 2003.

Early Life

Jason Scott Greenspan was born to Ruth and Alex Greenspan on September 23, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey, and was raised in Livingston, New Jersey. As a youth with an eye always toward the stage, Alexander connived his parents into giving him voice lessons so that he could "train for his bar mitzvah." His first tentative acting steps were taken in school plays, and by age 15 he had adopted his professional name: Jason Alexander.
Despite being granted a full scholarship to the School of Fine Arts at Boston University, he left after two years to act in a "B" film, The Burning (1981), and a made-for-TV movie, Senior Trip. His big break, however, came when he landed the lead role in the Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical, Merrily We Roll Along. Unfortunately for Alexander, the play closed after just two weeks, but it gave him important visibility.
Alexander's stage reputation grew as he portrayed Tevye in a Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof and Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In 1989, his proudest moment came when he was awarded a Tony for Best Performance as a Leading Actor in a Musical for Jerome Robbins' Broadway.

Career Breakthrough

In films, Alexander played supporting roles in Peter Weir's Mosquito Coast (1986), in Adrian Lyne's chilling Jacob's Ladder (1990)and in the Julia Roberts star vehicle, Pretty Woman (1990). On TV, he had small parts in a few ill-fated sitcoms and in an NBC mini-series,Favorite Son (1988). He also sang and danced the praises of McDLT sandwiches in a 1985 McDonald's commercial.
After winning his Tony, Alexander moved to Los Angeles, where he co-starred in a sitcom pilot, Seinfeld Chronicles, featuring a relatively unknown comedian, Jerry Seinfeld. The show, renamedSeinfeld, started slowly but soon gained a cult following. Eventually the series became a ratings powerhouse and critical success, with numerous Emmys to its credit.

Seinfeld Fame

Sometimes called "the show about nothing," Seinfeld followed the day-to-day misadventures of a stand-up comedian (Seinfeld) and his friends. Alexander played Seinfeld's longtime pal, George Constanza, who was terribly neurotic, esteem-deprived and often cheap. Despite this list of unappealing attributes, his character won over audiences with his humor, humanity and oddball schemes. For seven years in a row, Alexander was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

Later Career

While working on Seinfeld, Alexander pursued a sideline as a voice-over actor, lending his voice to the ABC puppet show, Dinosaurs(1991); as Duckman in the animated show on the USA cable network(1994); as Abis Mal in the TV series, Aladdin (1993); and as Hugo in the animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame(1996). After Seinfeld signed off in 1998, Alexander tackled a variety of projects. He had two sitcoms—Bob Patterson in 2001 and Listen Up from 2004 to 2005—and made guest appearances on such shows as Monk and Curb Your Enthusiasm featuring Seinfeld alum Larry David.
On the big screen, Alexander has appeared in a number of comedies, including 2001's Shallow Hal withJack Black. Much of his energy, however, has been devoted to theatrical projects. Alexander co-starred with Martin Short in the Los Angeles production of the hit musical The Producers in 2003. Currently, he serves as the creative director for the Reprise Theatre Company in Los Angeles. He has appeared in and directed several of the company's productions.

Personal Life

Outside of acting, Alexander is a supporter of many charities, including the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Autism Speaks, and Aid for AIDS. He is married to screenwriter Daena E. Title. The couple has two children: Gabriel, born in 1991, and Noah, born in 1996.