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Jessica Lange, Born in Cloquet, Minnesota on the 20th of April is an American actress who has worked in film, theater and television. She's worn two Oscars, two Emmy's, five Golden Globes and one SAG Award, she's one of the most celebrated actresses of the modern era.
She was discovered by producer Dino De Laurentiis while modeling part time and made her professional debut in his 1976 re - make of the 1933 action classic King Kong. In 1982 she became the fist performer in 40 years to receive two Oscar nomination within 40 years.
Lange lived quite a chaotic lifestyle as a child, and due to her father's profession, hard - drinking habits and "extreme personality" her family moved a dozen times to various towns and cities throughout Minnesota before finally settling back down in her hometown and graduating from Cloquet High School.
In 1967 she received an art scholarship to study art and photography at the University of Minnesota where she met Spanish photographer Paco Grande. After the two married in 1970 she left college to pursue a more bohemian lifestyle, opting to travel throughout the United States and Mexico together. When the couple moved to Paris they drifted apart and while there Lange studied mime theater under the famed instructor Etienne Decroux and joined the Opera - Comique as a dancer.
While working as a waitress in New York and sharing an apartment with Jerry Hall and Grace Jones she was discovered by fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez and began working part time as a model for the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency, which as a result (and brings us back to) was discovered by Hollywood producer Dino De Laurentiis.
After her debut role in King Kong Lange went on to lead a successful career in show business that has lasted almost 50 years. In 2011 Lange joined joined the cast of FX's anthology series American Horror Story. In the first season AHS co - creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck originally wrote the part of her character Constance Langdon as a supporting role, but after Lange acquired the part they expanded it considerable. Murphy, a longtime admirer of Lange's stated that he chose her because he wanted to expose her work and style of acting to a new generation of viewers.
The show was a huge success not only for the network and creators but also for Lange who received a resurgence in her popularity with a rave of reviews and several rewards for her controversial role.
She returned as the star for the second installment of AHS titled American Horror Story: Asylum to which she once again won several awards and a rave reviews. She is currently playing another leading role in third AHS installment titled American Horror Story: Coven.
Though she does not follow any set religion she periodically practices Buddhism. She once admitted "It has been a discipline that makes sense more than anything because it's like a science. I've never been a religious person. I've always looked for some kind of spiritual meaning. I didn't grow up going to church, my mother's side were Atheists and my father's side were confused."
Lange has also revealed that she suffers from severe bouts of depression, once admitting "I have never been a believer in psychoanalysis or therepy or anything like that. I've never done that." She confessed "Thhough my darkside is dorment right now it continues to play a big role in whatever capacity I have to be creative. That's the well I'm able to tap into, where all the anguish, rage and sadness is stored."
Lange is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nation's Children Fund (UNICEF) specializing in the AID/HIV epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo and of spreading awareness of the disease in Russia. She has also been a fervent human rights supporter for the Buddhist Monks of Nepal.
She has also been a respected public critic of former US president George W. Bush, once calling his administration" a self - serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence".
In the early 1990's she fostered a child with disabilities from Romania.
