Dianne Wiest

Born March 28, 1948 in Kansas City, Missouri. A dancer since childhood, Dianne Wiest switched to acting while attending the University of Maryland. One of her first professional stage performance was in 1976's Ashes. Three years later, she won the coveted Obie and Theatre World awards for her work in The Art of Dining. After making her first film, It's My Turn, in 1980, she returned to Broadway for 1982's Frankenstein.

Wiest has become known among mainstream audiences for her numerous maternal roles in such films as The Lost Boys (1987), Parenthood (1989) and The Birdcage (1996). She has also turned in memorable performances in five Woody Allen pictures, winning Best Supporting Actress Academy Awards for both Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Bullets Over Broadway (1994).

In the late 1990s, Wiest appeared in Robert Redford's 1998 adaptation of The Horse Whisperer and Practical Magic alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. She will be lending her voice for the upcoming CGI cartoon project Robots slated for 2005. Wiest lives in New York City with her two adopted daughters, Emily and Lily.

-A&E Television Networks