Glenne Headly

Capable lead and supporting player of TV and film since the 1980s who also did impressive work in Chicago and NY theater. After studying drama in NYC, Headly attended the American College of Switzerland on a scholarship. Returning to the US, she moved to Chicago and joined David Mamet's New Works Ensemble. Headly acted opposite future husband John Malkovich in Sam Shepard's "The Curse of the Starving Class" before joining the famed Steppenwolf Theater Company, where Malkovich was also a member.

Headly is often cast as devoted mothers, wives and friends in upper middle-brow dramatic fare, thoughtful comedies, and the occasional odd film. Headly was the concerned mother of a lonely dreamy girl in the outstanding fantasy "Paperhouse", worthy foil to conmen Michael Caine and Steve Martin in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (both 1988), Tess Trueheart in "Dick Tracy" (1990), and the feisty wife of Bruce Willis in "Mortal Thoughts" (1991). On TV, Headly appeared with Robin Williams in an acclaimed "Great Performances" presentation of Saul Bellow's "Seize the Day" (PBS, 1987) and earned an Emmy nod for her work in the Western epic "Lonesome Dove" (CBS, 1989). Subsequent credits include the direct-to-video children's drama "Ordinary Magic" and, back on the big screen, "Getting Even With Dad" (both 1994), with Macaulay Culkin and Ted Danson and Stephen Herek's "Mr. Holland's Opus" (1995), as Richard Dreyfuss' wife. Headly had a banner year in 1996 with roles in the ensemble Tarantino-noir style "2 Days in the Valley;" the Anjelica Huston-directed Southern drama "Bastard Out of Carolina;" and as Steve Martin's love interest in the misguided film remake of the TV classic "Sgt. Bilko."

The actress then spent the 1996-1997 season playing Dr. Abby Keaton on NBC's hit medical drama "ER" before being cast on Nathan Lane's ill-fated sitcom "Encore! Encore!" (NBC, 1998) playing the sister of Lane's opera tenor (her subsequent TV highlights included a turn opposite Stanley Tucci's Walter Winchell in the above-average 1998 HBO biopic "Winchell;" the 2001 miniseries "A Girl Thing;" and the Jane Fonda role in a 2001 TV remake of "On Golden Pond" directed by the original screenwriter Ernest Thompson).

Back on the big screen, Headly appeared in such varied fare as Mike Figgis' experimental, multi-screen drama "Timecode" (2000),

• Also Credited As:
  Glenn Headly
• Born:
  March 13, 1955 in New London, Connecticut
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Theater director

Education

• American College of Switzerland, Switzerland

Milestones

• 1981 Made feature film debut in "Four Friends", directed by Arthur Penn
• 1986 First played a leading role in the feature, "Seize the Day", which aired on PBS's "Great Performances" and was also released theatrically
• 1987 Earliest TV work included supplying a voice for the CBS animated children's special, "Santabear's Highflying Adventure"
• 1988 Played female lead in the feature, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"
• 1989 Acted on the CBS Western miniseries, "Lonesome Dove"
• 1993 Cast in the HBO movie "And the Band Played On" the story of the discovery of the AIDS virus. From the early days in 1978 when numerous San Francisco gays began dying from unknown causes
• 1996 Joined cast of NBC's hit medical drama "ER" in the recurring role of Dr. Abby Keaton
• 1998 Cast as Nathan Lane's sister in the NBC sitcom "Encore! Encore!"
• 1999 Made London stage debut alongside Miranda Richardson in "Aunt Dan and Lemon"
• 2000 Cast as a psychiatrist in "Time Code", Mike Figgis' experimental feature utilizing a four-camera technique
• 2001 Starred in "A Girl Thing," a mini-series that revolves around a New York city street, a coffee house and a shrinks office
• 2002 Cast in the Lindsay Lohan teen comedy "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen"
• 2002 Co-starred with Alan Arkin and Lauren Holly in "Counting Sheep"
• 2004 Cast opposite Josh Lucas and Michael Caine in "Around the Bend"
• 2004 Starred in the black comedy "Eulogy"
• 2006 Co-starred in "The Amateurs," an independent comedy about a sleepy town that comes together to film a porno
• 2007 Reteamed with Arkin and Holly to star in director Neal Miller's character-driven comedy drama, "Raising Flagg"
• Acted with John Malkovich in the Chicago production of Sam Shephard's "The Curse of the Starving Class"; subsequently married him
• Attended the High School for the Performing Arts in NYC
• Joined Chicago's acclaimed Steppenwolf Ensemble
• Joined St. Nicholas New Works Ensemble in Chicago
• Received a scholarship to attend the American College of Switzerland
• Studied drama at the Herbert Berghof Studios in NYC