Revered by film directors for her ability to take characters into deep, unexpected, emotional places,... (Learn more)
Top Projects: Liberty's Kids, American Beauty, Bugsy (View All)
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Annette Bening’s Milestones
| Apprenticed with the American Conservatory Theater | |
| Family moved to San Diego, California in the mid-1960s | |
| First professional job as a dancer in "The Green Show" at San Diego's famed Old Globe Theatre | |
| Moved to Los Angeles | |
| Raised in Wichita, Kansas until the age of seven | |
| Spent a year working as a cook on a charter scuba-diving boat at age 17 before college and scuba diving for recreation | |
| 1980 | Performed with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival |
| 1985 - 1986 | Performed with Denver Center Theater Company |
| 1986 | Moved to New York City |
| 1986 | Off-Broadway stage debut as Holly Dancer in Tina Howe's widely acclaimed "Coastal Disturbances" |
| 1986 | TV-movie debut in "Manhunt for Claude Dallas" (CBS) |
| 1987 | Landed guest spots on episodes of "Miami Vice" (NBC) and "Wiseguy" (CBS) |
| 1987 | Received a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in "Coastal Disturbances" |
| 1988 | Feature film debut as Dan Aykroyd's onscreen wife in "The Great Outdoors" |
| 1988 | Played a Central Park Zookeeper in the Off-Broadway production of Michael Weller's "Spoils of War" |
| 1989 | First leading role as the manipulative, seductive Marquise de Merteuil in Milos Forman's "Valmont" |
| 1990 | Delivered brilliant portrayal as the bubbly, treacherous con-artist Myra Langtry in Stephen Frears's "The Grifters"; received Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination |
| 1990 | Offered a strong turn as a ditsy wanna-be actress in Mike Nichols' "Postcards From the Edge" |
| 1991 | Garnered further acclaim in "Regarding Henry" (re-teaming her with director Mike Nichols) |
| 1991 | Met future husband, Warren Beatty co-starring in Barry Levinson's "Bugsy" |
| 1994 | Re-teamed with Beatty for "Love Affair," a pallid remake of "An Affair to Remember" (1957) and "Love Affair" (1939) |
| 1995 | Co-starred with Michael Douglas in Rob Reiner's "The American President"; received a Golden Globe nomination for Actress in a Musical/Comedy |
| 1996 | Played Jack Nicholson's wife in Tim Burton's blockbuster spoof "Mars Attacks!" |
| 1998 | Appeared with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis in Edward Zwick's "The Siege" |
| 1998 | Returned to the stage after a decade as Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" at the Geffen Playhouse |
| 1999 | Played the shrewish, status-seeking wife of a man undergoing a mid-life crisis in "American Beauty"; was the feature film debut for writer Alan Ball and director Sam Mendes; received Best Actress Academy Award nomination |
| 2000 | Co-starred with Garry Shandling in Mike Nichols' "What Planet Are You From?" (third collaboration with Nichols) |
| 2002 | Voiced Abigail Adams on the short lived PBS animated series "Liberty's Kids" |
| 2003 | Starred opposite Kevin Costner (also directed) and Robert Duvall in the western epic "Open Range" |
| 2004 | Portrayed an aging British actress in the 1930s in "Being Julia"; based on the novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham; received Best Actress SAG and Academy Award nominations |
| 2006 | Played an unstable mother in the film adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' "Running With Scissors"; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy |
| 2006 | Portrayed the title role in "Mrs. Harris" (HBO); received Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for Best Actress |
| 2008 | Played the editor of a prominent fashion magazine in Diane English's female ensemble "The Women," a remake of the 1936 play by Clare Boothe Luce |
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