Jessica Phyllis Lange (/læŋ/; born April 20, 1949) is an American actress who has received worldwide acclaim for her work in film, theater, and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, one Tony Award, three Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, and three Dorian Awards; in 1998, Entertainment Weekly listed Lange among the 25 Greatest Actresses of the 1990s. In 2016, Lange became the twenty-second thespian in history to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.
Lange was discovered by producer Dino De Laurentiis while modeling part-time for the Wilhelmina modelling agency. She made her professional film debut in his 1976 remake of the 1933 action-adventure classic King Kong, for which she won her first Golden Globe Award. In 1982, she became the first performer in 40 years to receive two Oscar nominations within the same year; she won her second Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in Tootsie, and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the troubled actress Frances Farmer, in Frances. Lange received three more nominations for Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985) and Music Box (1989), before winning her third Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive housewife in Blue Sky (1994). In 1995, Lange became the second actress in Oscar history to win Best Actress after winning Best Supporting Actress; an achievement that was not repeated until nearly 20 years later.