Jane Anderson facts for kids

Jane Anderson was born around 1954 in California. She is an American actress, a writer for plays and movies, and a director. She is known for writing and directing the movie The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005). She also wrote the movie It Could Happen to You (1994), which starred Nicolas Cage. Jane won an Emmy Award for writing the TV miniseries Olive Kitteridge in 2014.

Jane Anderson's Career

Jane Anderson started her career as an actress. Later, she got her first writing job helping with the TV show The Facts of Life. She had also acted on this show. After that, she created a TV show called Raising Miranda, but it only lasted for one season. She then worked on several other TV series and wrote her first play, The Baby Dance, in 1989.

Early Film and TV Work

Jane's first big film project was writing the 1993 HBO movie The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom. This movie starred Holly Hunter and was highly praised by critics. TV experts even called it one of the greatest American TV movies ever made.

She went on to write and direct other popular TV movies. These include The Baby Dance (1998), which was based on her own play and starred Stockard Channing and Laura Dern. She also directed When Billie Beat Bobby (2001), starring Holly Hunter and Ron Silver, and Normal (2003), which was based on her play Looking for Normal and featured Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson.

Jane also wrote a part of the 2000 HBO film If These Walls Could Talk 2. This segment, called "1961", earned Vanessa Redgrave an Emmy Award for her acting.

Later Projects

In 2008, Jane became a writer for the AMC TV drama Mad Men during its second season. Her work on the show led to a nomination for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series.

In 2015, Anderson wrote a documentary called Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson. This film was about her great-aunt, Edith Lake Wilkinson, who was an artist. Jane has said that her great-aunt's art inspires her own drawing.

In 2017, Jane Anderson wrote the movie The Wife, which starred Glenn Close.

Jane Anderson's Work

As a Writer and Director

As a Producer

As an Actress

Other Work

Plays Written by Jane Anderson

• The Baby Dance (1989)
• Looking for Normal (2001)
• Defying Gravity
• The Quality of Life (2007)
• The Escort: An Explicit Play for Discriminating People (2011)
• The Baby Dance: Mixed (2018; a new version of The Baby Dance)

Awards and Nominations

Jane Anderson has received many awards and nominations for her work:

• Emmy Award for writing The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993)
• Emmy Award nominations for writing and directing The Baby Dance (1998)
• Emmy Award nomination for writing Normal (2003)
• Emmy Award nomination for writing If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) (for the episode "1961")
• Women in Film Lucy Award (2000) for her excellent work on If These Walls Could Talk 2, which helped improve how women are seen on television.
• Directors Guild of America Award nomination for directing Normal (2003)
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series for her work on the second season of Mad Men (2008)
• Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award (2008) for Outstanding World Premiere Play for writing The Quality of Life
• Two Ovation Awards (2008) for writing The Quality of Life
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Long Form Adapted Series for writing Olive Kitteridge (2015)
• Emmy Award for writing Olive Kitteridge (2015)

See also

• List of female film and television directors