birth date	December 21, 1937
birth name	Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda
birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
occupation	Actress, writer, activist
years active	1959–present
spouse	Roger Vadim(1965–1973, divorced)Tom Hayden(1973–1989, divorced)Ted Turner(1991–2001, divorced)
children	Vanessa VadimTroy Garity
parents	Henry FondaFrances Ford Seymour
relatives	Peter Fonda (brother)Bridget Fonda (niece)}}

Jane Fonda (born Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda; December 21, 1937) is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as ''Barbarella'' and ''Cat Ballou''. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an actress. After 15 years of retirement, she returned to film in 2005 with ''Monster in Law'', followed by ''Georgia Rule'' two years later. She also produced and starred in over 20 exercise videos released between 1982 and 1995, and once again in 2010.

Fonda has been an activist for many political causes; her opposition to the Vietnam War and associated activities were controversial. She has also protested the Iraq War and violence against women. She describes herself as a liberal and a feminist. In 2005 Fonda worked alongside Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem to co-found the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership training, and the creation of original content. Fonda currently serves on the board of the organization. Since 2001, Fonda has been a Christian. She published an autobiography in 2005, and in 2011, she published a second memoir, ''Prime Time''.

Family background

Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Henry Fonda and the Canadian-born socialite Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw. Fonda's surname originates from her patrilineal Dutch ancestry; she is also of English descent. She was named after the third wife of English king Henry VIII, Lady Jane Seymour, to whom she is distantly related on her mother's side. Her brother, Peter Fonda (born 1940), and his daughter Bridget Fonda, also are actors. Fonda had a maternal half-sister, Frances, who died in 2008. In 1950, when Fonda was 12, her mother committed suicide while under treatment at a psychiatric hospital. Later that year Fonda's father married socialite Susan Blanchard (born 1928), only nine years his daughter's senior; this marriage would end in divorce.

At age 15, Fonda taught dance at Fire Island Pines, New York. She attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, but dropped out to become a fashion model. She was twice featured on the cover of ''Vogue''.

Acting career

Fonda became interested in acting in 1954, while appearing with her father in a charity performance of ''The Country Girl'', at the Omaha Community Playhouse. When she was five, she and her brother, Peter, used to act out Western stories similar to those their father played in the movies. While at Vassar, she went to Paris for two years to study art. Upon returning to the states, in 1958 she met Lee Strasberg, and started studying acting with him. Fonda said, "I went to the Actors Studio and Lee Strasberg told me I had talent. Real talent. It was the first time that anyone, except my father—who had to say so—told me I was good. At anything. It was a turning point in my life. I went to bed thinking about acting. I woke up thinking about acting. It was like the roof had come off my life!"

1960s

Her stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for her film career in the 1960s. She averaged almost two movies a year throughout the decade, starting in 1960 with ''Tall Story'', in which she recreated one of her Broadway roles as a college cheerleader pursuing a basketball star, played by Anthony Perkins. ''Period of Adjustment'' and ''Walk on the Wild Side'' followed in 1962. In ''Walk on the Wild Side'' Fonda played a prostitute, and earned a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

In 1963, she appeared in ''Sunday in New York''. ''Newsday'' called her "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses". However, she also had her detractors—in the same year, the ''Harvard Lampoon'' named her the "Year's Worst Actress". Fonda's career breakthrough came with ''Cat Ballou'' (1965), in which she played a schoolmarm turned outlaw. This comedy Western received five Oscar nominations and was one of the year's top ten films at the box office. It was considered by many to have been the film that brought Fonda to stardom at the age of twenty-eight. After this came the comedies ''Any Wednesday'' (1966) and ''Barefoot in the Park'' (1967), the latter co-starring Robert Redford.

In 1968, she played the lead role in the science fiction spoof ''Barbarella'', directed by her French film director husband Roger Vadim, which established her status as a sex symbol. In contrast, the tragedy ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' (1969) won her critical acclaim, and she earned her first Oscar nomination for the role. Fonda was very selective by the end of the 1960s, turning down lead roles in ''Rosemary's Baby'' and ''Bonnie and Clyde''.

1970s

Fonda won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1971, playing a high-class call girl, Bree Daniels, in the murder mystery ''Klute''. She won her second Oscar in 1978 for ''Coming Home'', as a Marine officer's wife who volunteers at a veterans' hospital and becomes involved with a disabled Vietnam War veteran (played by Jon Voight).

Between ''Klute'' in 1971 and ''Fun With Dick and Jane'' in 1977, Fonda did not have a major film success. She appeared in ''A Doll's House'' (1973), ''Steelyard Blues'' and ''The Blue Bird'' (1976). At one point, she suggested her politics had worked against her: "I can't say I was blacklisted, but I was greylisted." However, in her 2005 autobiography, ''My Life So Far'', she rejected such simplification. "The suggestion is that because of my actions against the war my career had been destroyed ... But the truth is that my career, far from being destroyed after the war, flourished with a vigor it had not previously enjoyed." She reduced acting because of her political activism providing a new focus in her life. Her return to acting in a series of 'issue-driven' films reflected this new focus.

In 1972, Fonda starred as a reporter alongside Yves Montand in Jean-Luc Godard's and Jean-Pierre Gorin's film ''Tout va bien''. The film's directors made ''Letter to Jane'', in which the two spent nearly an hour discussing a news photograph of Fonda.

Through her production company, IPC Films, she produced films that helped return her to star status. The 1977 comedy film ''Fun With Dick and Jane'' is generally considered her "comeback" picture. She also received positive reviews, BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress, and an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the playwright Lillian Hellman in the 1977 film ''Julia''. During this period, Fonda announced that she would make only films that focused on important issues, and she generally stuck to her word. She turned down ''An Unmarried Woman'' because she felt the part was not relevant. She followed with popular and successful films such as ''The China Syndrome'' (1979), about a cover-up of an accident in a nuclear power plant; and ''The Electric Horseman'' (1979) with her previous co-star, Robert Redford.

1980s

In 1980, Fonda starred in ''Nine to Five'' with Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. The film was a critical and box office success. Fonda had long wanted to work with her father, hoping it would help their strained relationship. She achieved this goal when she purchased the screen rights to the play ''On Golden Pond,'' specifically for her father and her. ''On Golden Pond'', which also starred Katharine Hepburn, brought Henry Fonda his only Academy Award for Best Actor, which Jane accepted on his behalf, as he was ill and could not leave home. He died five months later.

Fonda continued appearing in feature films throughout the 1980s, most notably in the role of Dr. Martha Livingston in ''Agnes of God''. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of an alcoholic murder suspect in the 1986 thriller ''The Morning After''. She ended the decade by appearing in ''Old Gringo''. This was followed by the romantic drama ''Stanley & Iris'' (1990), which was her final film for 15 years.

Exercise videos

For many years Fonda took ballet class to keep fit, but after fracturing her foot while filming ''The China Syndrome'', she was no longer able to participate. To compensate, she began participating in aerobics and strengthening exercises under the direction of Leni Cazden. The ''Leni Workout'' became the ''Jane Fonda Workout,'' which began a second career for her, which continued for many years. This was considered one of the influences that started the fitness craze among baby boomers, then approaching middle age.

In 1982, Fonda released her first exercise video, titled ''Jane Fonda's Workout'', inspired by her best-selling book, ''Jane Fonda's Workout Book''. The ''Jane Fonda's Workout'' video eventually sold 17 million copies: more than any other home video. The video's release led many people to buy the then-new VCR in order to watch and perform the workout at home. Fonda subsequently released 23 workout videos, five workout books and thirteen audio programs, through 1995. After a fifteen-year hiatus, she released two new fitness videos on DVD in 2010, aiming at an older audience.

Retirement and return

In 1991 after three decades in film, Fonda announced her retirement from the film industry. In May 2005, she returned to the screen with the box office success ''Monster-in-Law''. In July 2005 the British tabloid ''The Sun'' reported that when asked if she would appear in a sequel to her 1980 hit ''Nine to Five'', Fonda replied, "I'd love to". Fonda appeared in the 2007 Garry Marshall-directed ''Georgia Rule'', starring with Felicity Huffman and Lindsay Lohan.

In 2009, Fonda returned to theater with her first Broadway performance since 1963, playing Katherine Brandt in Moisés Kaufman's ''33 Variations''. The role earned her a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

She will star alongside Catherine Keener in the upcoming indie film, ''Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding'', to be released in 2011. She made a return to French cinema, shooting ''Et Si On Vivait Tous Ensemble'' (''And If We All Lived Together'') mid-2010.

In July 2011, Fonda's planned appearance on the QVC shopping network to promote her latest book, ''Prime Time: Making the Most of Your Life'', was cancelled on short notice. Fonda said the cancellation was a response to viewer complaints about her activities during the Vietnam War. Fonda said that she had "never done anything to hurt my country or the men and women who have fought and continue to fight for us" and blamed QVC's actions on "pressure by some well-funded and organized political extremist groups".

Political activism

During the 1960s, Fonda engaged in political activism in support of the Civil Rights Movement, and in opposition to the Vietnam War. Fonda's visits to France brought her into contact with leftist French intellectuals who were opposed to war, an experience that she later characterized as "small-c communism".

Along with other celebrities, she supported the Alcatraz Island occupation by American Indians in 1969, which was intended to call attention to failures of the government in treaty rights and the movement for greater Indian sovereignty.

She likewise supported Huey Newton and the Black Panthers in the early 1970s, stating "Revolution is an act of love; we are the children of revolution, born to be rebels. It runs in our blood." She called the Black Panthers "our revolutionary vanguard", and said "we must support them with love, money, propaganda and risk."

Fonda has also been involved in the feminist movement since the 1970s, which dovetails with her activism in support of civil rights.

Opposition to Vietnam War

In April 1970, Fred Gardner, Fonda and Donald Sutherland formed the FTA tour ("Free The Army", a play on the troop expression "Fuck The Army"), an anti-war road show designed as an answer to Bob Hope's USO tour. The tour, referred to as "political vaudeville" by Fonda, visited military towns along the West Coast, with the goal of establishing a dialogue with soldiers about their upcoming deployments to Vietnam. The dialogue was made into a movie (''F.T.A.'') that contained strong, frank criticism of the war by service men and women. It was released in 1972.

On May 4, 1970, Fonda appeared before an assembly at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, to speak on GI rights and issues. The end of her presentation was met with a discomforting silence. The quiet was broken when Beat poet, Gregory Corso staggered onto the stage. Drunk, Corso challenged Fonda, using a four-letter expletive: Why hadn't she addressed the shooting of four students at Kent State by the Ohio National Guard, which had just taken place? Fonda in her autobiography revisited the incident: "I was shocked by the news and felt like a fool." On the same day, she then immediately joined a protest march on the home of university president Ferrel Heady. The protestors called themselves "They Shoot Students, Don't They?"—a reference to Fonda's film, ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'', which had just had a run in Albuquerque.

In the same year, Fonda spoke out against the war at a rally organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She offered to help raise funds for VVAW, and, for her efforts, was rewarded with the title of Honorary National Coordinator. On November 3, 1970, Fonda started a tour of college campuses on which she raised funds for the organization. As noted by ''The New York Times'', Fonda was a "major patron" of the VVAW.

"Hanoi Jane" controversy

Fonda visited Hanoi in July 1972. Among other statements, she said the United States had been deliberately targeting the dike system along the Red River. The columnist Joseph Kraft, who was also touring North Vietnam, said he believed the damage to the dikes was incidental and was being used as propaganda by Hanoi, and if the U.S. Air Force were "truly going after the dikes, it would do so in a methodical, not a harum-scarum way".

In North Vietnam, Fonda was photographed seated on an anti-aircraft battery; the controversial photo outraged a number of Americans. In her 2005 autobiography, she writes that she was manipulated into sitting on the battery; she had been horrified at the implications of the pictures and regretted they were taken. In a recent entry at her official website, Fonda explained:

It happened on my last day in Hanoi. I was exhausted and an emotional wreck after the 2-week visit ... The translator told me that the soldiers wanted to sing me a song. He translated as they sung. It was a song about the day 'Uncle Ho' declared their country's independence in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square. I heard these words: "All men are created equal; they are given certain rights; among these are life, Liberty and Happiness." These are the words Ho pronounced at the historic ceremony. I began to cry and clap. ''These young men should not be our enemy. They celebrate the same words Americans do.'' The soldiers asked me to sing for them in return ... I memorized a song called ''Day Ma Di'', written by anti-war South Vietnamese students. I knew I was slaughtering it, but everyone seemed delighted that I was making the attempt. I finished. Everyone was laughing and clapping, including me ... Here is my best, honest recollection of what happened: someone (I don't remember who) led me towards the gun, and I sat down, still laughing, still applauding. It all had nothing to do with where I was sitting. I hardly even thought about where I was sitting. The cameras flashed ... It is possible that it was a set up, that the Vietnamese had it all planned. I will never know. But if they did I can't blame them. The buck stops here. If I was used, I allowed it to happen ... a two-minute lapse of sanity that will haunt me forever ... But the photo exists, delivering its message regardless of what I was doing or feeling. I carry this heavy in my heart. I have apologized numerous times for any pain I may have caused servicemen and their families because of this photograph. It was never my intention to cause harm.

During her trip, Fonda made ten radio broadcasts in which she denounced American political and military leaders as "war criminals". Fonda has defended her decision to travel to North Vietnam and her radio broadcasts. Also during the course of her visit, Fonda visited American prisoners of war (POWs), and brought back messages from them to their families. When cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars". She added, "These were not men who had been tortured. These were not men who had been starved. These were not men who had been brainwashed." Later, on the subject of torture used during the Vietnam War, Fonda told ''The New York Times'' in 1973, "I'm quite sure that there were incidents of torture ... but the pilots who were saying it was the policy of the Vietnamese and that it was systematic, I believe that's a lie." Fonda said the POWs were "military careerists and professional killers" who are "trying to make themselves look self-righteous, but they are war criminals according to the law".

Her visits to the POW camp led to persistent and exaggerated rumors repeated widely in the press, and decades later have continued to circulate on the Internet. Fonda has personally denied the rumors. Interviews with two of the alleged victims specifically named in the emails found these allegations to be false as they had never met Fonda.

In 1972, Fonda helped fund and organize the Indochina Peace Campaign. It continued to mobilize antiwar activists across the nation after the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement, through 1975, when the United States withdrew from Vietnam.

Because of her time in North Vietnam, the ensuing circulated rumors regarding the visit, and statements made following her return, resentment against her among veterans and those currently serving in the U.S. military still exists. For example, at the U.S. Naval Academy, when a plebe shouts out "Goodnight, Jane Fonda!", the entire company will reply "Goodnight, bitch!" In 2005, Michael A. Smith, a U.S. Navy veteran, was arrested for disorderly conduct in Kansas City after he spit chewing tobacco in Fonda's face during a book signing event for her autobiography ''My Life So Far''. He told reporters that he "consider[s] it a debt of honor" and further stated, "she spit in our faces for 37 years. It was absolutely worth it. There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did."

Regrets

In a 1988 interview with Barbara Walters, Fonda expressed regret for some of her comments and actions, stating:

I would like to say something, not just to Vietnam veterans in New England, but to men who were in Vietnam, who I hurt, or whose pain I caused to deepen because of things that I said or did. I was trying to help end the killing and the war, but there were times when I was thoughtless and careless about it and I'm very sorry that I hurt them. And I want to apologize to them and their families. [...] I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft gun, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes. It hurt so many soldiers. It galvanized such hostility. It was the most horrible thing I could possibly have done. It was just thoughtless.

Critics pointed out that her apology came at a time when a group of New England Veterans had launched a campaign to disrupt a film project she was working on, leading to the charge that her apology was motivated at least partially by self-interest.

In a ''60 Minutes'' interview on March 31, 2005, Fonda reiterated that she had no regrets about her trip to North Vietnam in 1972, with the exception of the anti-aircraft gun photo. She stated that the incident was a "betrayal" of American forces and of the "country that gave me privilege". Fonda said, "The image of Jane Fonda, Barbarella, Henry Fonda's daughter ... sitting on an enemy aircraft gun was a betrayal ... the largest lapse of judgment that I can even imagine." She later distinguished between regret over the use of her image as propaganda and pride for her anti-war activism: "There are hundreds of American delegations that had met with the POWs. Both sides were using the POWs for propaganda... It's not something that I will apologize for." Fonda said she had no regrets about the broadcasts she made on Radio Hanoi, something she asked the North Vietnamese to do: "Our government was lying to us and men were dying because of it, and I felt I had to do anything that I could to expose the lies and help end the war."

Feminist causes

Fonda has been a longtime supporter of feminist causes, including V-Day, a movement to stop violence against women, inspired by the off-Broadway hit ''The Vagina Monologues'', of which she is an honorary chairperson. She was present at their first summit in 2002, bringing together founder Eve Ensler, Afghan women oppressed by the Taliban, and a Kenyan activist campaigning to save girls from genital mutilation.

In 2001, Fonda established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; the goal of the center is to prevent adolescent pregnancy through training and program development.

On February 16, 2004, Fonda led a march through Ciudad Juárez, with Sally Field, Eve Ensler, and other women, urging Mexico to provide sufficient resources to newly appointed officials helping investigate the murders of hundreds of women in the rough border city.

In 2004, she served as a mentor to the first ever all-transsexual cast of ''The Vagina Monologues''.

In the days before the Swedish election on September 17, 2006, Fonda went to Sweden to support the new political party Feministiskt initiativ in their election campaign.

In ''My Life So Far'' Fonda says that she considers patriarchy to be harmful to men as well as women. She also states that for many years, she feared to call herself a feminist, because she believed that all feminists were "anti-male". But now, with her increased understanding of patriarchy, she feels that feminism is beneficial to both men and women, and states that she "still loves men". She states that when she divorced Ted Turner, she felt like she had also divorced the world of patriarchy, and was very happy to have done so.

Native Americans

Fonda went to Seattle, Washington, in 1970 to support a group of Native Americans who were led by Bernie Whitebear. The group had occupied part of the grounds of Fort Lawton, which was in the process of being surplussed by the United States Army and turned into a park. The group was attempting to secure a land base where they could establish services for the sizable local urban Indian population, protesting that "Indians had a right to part of the land that was originally all theirs." The endeavor succeeded and the Daybreak Star Cultural Center was constructed in the city's Discovery Park.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

In December 2002, Fonda visited Israel and the West Bank as part of a tour focusing on stopping violence against women. She demonstrated with Women in Black against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip outside the residence of Israel's Prime Minister. She later visited Jewish and Arab doctors and patients at a Jerusalem hospital, followed by visits to Ramallah to see a physical rehabilitation center, and a Palestinian refugee camp. Fonda was criticized by right-wing Israelis, and was heckled by members of Women for Israel's Tomorrow as she arrived for a meeting with leading Israeli feminists.

In September 2009, Fonda was one of over fifty signatories to a letter protesting the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival's presentation of ten films about the Israeli city Tel Aviv. The protest letter said that the spotlight on Tel Aviv was part of "the Israeli propaganda machine" because it was supported in part by funding from the Israeli government and had been described by the Israeli Consul General Amir Gissin as being part of a Brand Israel campaign intended to draw attention away from Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. Other signers included actor Danny Glover, musician David Byrne, journalist John Pilger, and authors Alice Walker, Naomi Klein, and Howard Zinn.

Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that "People who support letters like this are people who do not support a two-state solution. By calling into question the legitimacy of Tel Aviv, they are supporting a one-state solution, which means the destruction of the State of Israel." Hier continued, saying that "it is clear that the script [the protesters] are reading from might as well have been written by Hamas."

Fonda, in a posting on ''The Huffington Post'', said that she regretted some of the language used in the original protest letter and how it "was perhaps too easily misunderstood. It certainly has been wildly distorted. Contrary to the lies that have been circulated, the protest letter was not demonizing Israeli films and filmmakers." She continued, writing "the greatest 're-branding' of Israel would be to celebrate that country's long standing, courageous and robust peace movement by helping to end the blockade of Gaza through negotiations with all parties to the conflict, and by stopping the expansion of West Bank settlements. That's the way to show Israel's commitment to peace, not a PR campaign. There will be no two-state solution unless this happens." Fonda emphasized that she, "in no way, support[s] the destruction of Israel. I am for the two-state solution. I have been to Israel many times and love the country and its people." Several prominent Atlanta Jews subsequently signed a letter to ''The Huffington Post'' rejecting the vilification of Fonda, who they described as "a strong supporter and friend of Israel".

Opposition to the Iraq War

Fonda has argued that the military campaign in Iraq will turn people all over the world against America, and has asserted that a global hatred of America will result in more terrorist attacks in the aftermath of the war. In July 2005, Fonda announced plans to make an anti-war bus tour in March 2006 with her daughter and several families of military veterans, saying that some of the war veterans she had met while on her book tour had urged her to speak out against the Iraq War. She later canceled the tour, due to concerns that she would distract attention from Cindy Sheehan's activism.

In September 2005, Fonda was scheduled to join British politician and anti-war activist George Galloway at two stops on his U.S. book tour, Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago. She canceled her appearances at the last minute, citing instructions from her doctors to avoid travel following recent hip surgery

On January 27, 2007, Fonda participated in an anti-war rally and march held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., declaring that "silence is no longer an option". Fonda also spoke at an anti-war rally earlier in the day at the Navy Memorial, where members of the organization Free Republic picketed in a counter protest.

Fonda and Kerry

In the 2004 presidential election, her name was used as a disparaging epithet against John Kerry, the former VVAW leader, who was then the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie called Kerry a "Jane Fonda Democrat". In addition, Kerry's opponents circulated a photograph showing Fonda and Kerry in the same large crowd at a 1970 anti-war rally, although they were sitting several rows apart. A faked composite photograph, which gave the false impression that the two had shared a speaker's platform, was also circulated.

Religion

In 2001, Fonda announced that she had become a Christian. She stated that she strongly opposed bigotry, discrimination and dogma, which she believes are promoted by a small minority of Christians. Her announcement came shortly after her divorce from Ted Turner. Fonda stated publicly on ''Charlie Rose'' in April 2006 that her Christianity may have played a part in the divorce, as Turner was known to be critical of religion.

Fonda has in the past practiced Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and more recently has engaged in meditation at the Upaya Institute and Zen Center.

Writing

On April 5, 2005, Random House released Fonda's autobiography ''My Life So Far''. The book describes her life as a series of three acts, each thirty years long, and declares that her third "act" will be her most significant, due in part to her commitment to the Christian religion, and that it will determine the things for which she will be remembered.

Fonda's autobiography was well received by book critics, and was noted to be "as beguiling and as maddening as Jane Fonda herself" in its ''Washington Post'' review, pronouncing her a "beautiful bundle of contradictions". ''The New York Times'' called the book "achingly poignant".

In January 2009, Fonda started chronicling her Broadway return in a blog, with posts ranging from her Pilates class to her fears and excitement about her new play. She also uses Twitter and has a Facebook page.

In 2011 Fonda published a new book: ''Prime Time: Love, health, sex, fitness, friendship, spirit--making the most of all of your life''. The book offers stories from her own life as well as from the lives of others, giving her perspective on how to better live what she calls "the critical years from 45 and 50, and especially from 60 and beyond".

Honors

In 1981, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.

In 1994, the United Nations Population Fund made Fonda a Goodwill Ambassador.

In 2004 Fonda was awarded the Women's eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century award as one of Seven Who Change Their Worlds

In 2007, Fonda was awarded an Honorary Palme d'Or by Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob for career achievement. Only three others had received such an award – Jeanne Moreau, Alain Resnais, and Gerard Oury.

In December 2008, Fonda was inducted into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

In December 2009, Fonda was given the New York Women's Agenda Lifetime Achievement Award.

Personal life

Fonda married her first husband Roger Vadim in 1965. The couple had a daughter, Vanessa, born in 1968 and named for actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave.

In 1973, shortly after her divorce from Vadim, Fonda married activist Tom Hayden. Their son, Troy O'Donovan Garity (born 1973), was given his paternal grandmother's surname, Garity, since the names "Fonda and Hayden carried too much baggage", and "Troy", an Americanization of the Vietnamese name "Troi". Fonda and Hayden unofficially adopted an African-American teenager, Mary Luana Williams (known as Lulu), who was the daughter of members of the Black Panthers. Fonda and Hayden divorced in 1989.

Fonda married her third husband, cable-television tycoon and CNN founder Ted Turner, in 1991. The pair divorced in 2001.

Having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, Fonda underwent a lumpectomy in November 2010, and has recovered.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1960	''Tall Story''	June Ryder
1961	''A String of Beads''		made for television
		Kitty Twist
''The Chapman Report''	Kathleen Barclay
	Isabel Haverstick	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
		Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
	''In the Cool of the Day''	Christine Bonner
''Sunday in New York''	Eileen Tyler
	''Les Félins'' (Joy House, The Love Cage)	Melinda
	Sophie
1965	''Cat Ballou''	Catherine 'Cat' Ballou	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
		Anna Reeves
''La Curée'' (The Game Is Over)	Renee Saccard
''Any Wednesday''	Ellen Gordon	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
		Julie Ann Warren
	Corie Bratter
	''Spirits of the Dead''	Contessa Frederica
	Barbarella
1969		Gloria Beatty	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated—Academy Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1971	''Klute''	Bree Daniels	Academy Award for Best ActressFotogramas de Plata for Best Foreign Movie PerformerGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
	''Tout va bien''	Suzanne
''F.T.A.''	Herself
	''Steelyard Blues''	Iris Caine
	Nora Helmer
1976		The Night
		Jane Harper
	Lillian Hellman
		Sally Hyde	Academy Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
''Comes a Horseman''	Ella Connors
	Hannah Warren
	''The China Syndrome''	Kimberly Wells
''The Electric Horseman''	Alice 'Hallie' Martin
1980	''Nine to Five''	Judy Bernly
		Chelsea Thayer Wayne
	Lee Winters
	''The Dollmaker''	Gertie Nevels
''Terror in the Aisles''		archival footage
1985		Dr. Martha Livingston
1986		Alex Sternbergen	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
1989	''Old Gringo''	Harriet Winslow
1990	''Stanley & Iris''	Iris Estelle King
2002	''Searching for Debra Winger''	Herself
2003	''V-Day: Until the Violence Stops''	Herself
2005	''Monster-in-Law''	Viola Fields
2007	''Georgia Rule''	Georgia Randall
	''Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding''	Grace
''...And If We All Lived Together''	Jeanne
2012		Leona Lansing
2012	''Oprah Presents Master Class''	Herself	Aired January 8, 2011 on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

Exercise videos

Starting in 1982, Fonda released a series of exercise videos: ;1980s

1982: ''Jane Fonda's Workout'' (aka ''Workout Starring Jane Fonda'')

1983: ''Jane Fonda's Pregnancy, Birth and Recovery Workout''

1983: ''Jane Fonda's Workout Challenge''

1984: ''Jane Fonda's Prime Time Workout'' (re-released as ''Jane Fonda's Easy Going Workout'')

1985: ''Jane Fonda's New Workout''

1986: ''Jane Fonda's Low Impact Aerobic Workout''

1987: ''Jane Fonda's Start Up'' (aka ''Start Up with Jane Fonda'')

1987: ''Jane Fonda's Sports Aid''

1987: ''Jane Fonda's Workout with Weights'' (re-released as ''Jane Fonda's Toning and Shaping'')

1988: ''Jane Fonda's Complete Workout''

1989: ''Jane Fonda's Light Aerobics and Stress Reduction Program'' (re-released as ''Jane Fonda's Stress Reduction Program'')

;1990s:

1990: ''Jane Fonda's Lean Routine Workout''

1990: ''Jane Fonda's Workout Presents Fun House Fitness: The Swamp Stomp''

1990: ''Jane Fonda's Workout Presents Fun House Fitness: The Fun House Funk''

1991: ''Jane Fonda's Lower Body Solution''

1992: ''Jane Fonda's Step Aerobic and Abdominal Workout''

1993: ''Jane Fonda's Favorite Fat Burners''

1993: ''Jane Fonda's Yoga Exercise Workout''

1994: ''Jane Fonda's Step and Stretch Workout''

1995: ''Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Low Impact Aerobics & Stretch''

1995: ''Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Total Body Sculpting''

1995: ''Jane Fonda's Personal Trainer Series: Abs, Buns & Thighs''

;2010s

2010: ''Jane Fonda's Prime Time: Fit and Strong''

2010: ''Jane Fonda's Prime Time: Walkout''

2011: ''Jane Fonda's Prime Time: Trim, Tone & Flex''

2011: ''Jane Fonda's Prime Time: Firm & Burn''

References

Bibliography

Andersen, Christopher. ''Citizen Jane''. 1990: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-0959-0.

Davidson, Bill. ''Jane Fonda: An Intimate Biography''. 1991: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-17028-8.

Fine, Carla and Jane Fonda. ''Strong, Smart, and Bold: Empowering Girls for Life''. 2001: Collins. ISBN 0-06-019771-4.

Fonda, Jane. ''My Life So Far''. 2005: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50710-8.

Fonda, Jane. ''Jane Fonda's Workout Book''. 1986: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 0-517-40908-9.

Fonda, Jane, with Mignon McCarthy. ''Women Coming of Age''. 1987: Random House Value Publishing. ISBN 5-550-36643-6.

Fox, Mary Virginia and Mary Molina. ''Jane Fonda: Something to Fight for''. 1980: Dillon Press. ISBN 0-87518-189-9.

Freedland, Michael. ''Jane Fonda: The Many Lives of One of Hollywood's Greatest Stars''. 1989: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-637390-9.

French, Sean. ''Jane Fonda: A Biography''. 1998: Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 1-85793-658-2.

Gilmore, John. ''Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip''. Amok Books, 1997. ISBN 1-878923-08-0.

Hershberger, Mary. Peace work, war myths: Jane Fonda and the antiwar movement. ''Peace & Change'', Vol. 29, No. 3&4, July 2004.

Hershberger, Mary. ''Jane Fonda's War: A Political Biography of an Antiwar Icon''. 2005: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-988-4.

Kiernan, Thomas. ''Jane: an intimate biography of Jane Fonda''. 1973: Putnam. ISBN 0-399-11207-3.

External links

Official Web Site

Jane Fonda Profile at Turner Classic Movies

Spotlight on Jane Fonda

About.com article about Fonda's Vietnam era activities

Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem discuss The Women's Media Center, their non-profit media organization. (video)

Fonda Family Genealogy

Text of Jane Fonda Hanoi Radio Broadcast

Category:1937 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from New York Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American anti–Iraq War activists Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists Category:American Christians Category:American exercise instructors Category:American female models Category:American film actors Category:American people of Dutch descent Category:Art Students League of New York alumni Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Breast cancer survivors Category:California Democrats Category:Converts to Christianity from atheism or agnosticism Category:Emma Willard School alumni Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Feminist artists Category:Living people Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Fire Island, New York Category:Spouses of California politicians Category:Transcendental Meditation practitioners Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Women in war

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birth name	Mary Louise Streep
birth date	June 22, 1949
birth place	Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
spouse	Don Gummer(m.1978–present; 4 children)
children	4 (including Mamie Gummer and Grace Gummer)
lover	John Cazale(1976–78, his death)
occupation	Actress
years active	1971–present }}

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress and singer who has worked in theatre, television, and film. From the 1970s until the present, she has been widely regarded as the most talented and respected film actress of her era.

Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's ''The Playboy of Seville'', before her screen debut in the television movie ''The Deadliest Season'' in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with ''Julia''. Both critical and commercial success came quickly with roles in ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978) and ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' (1979), the former giving Streep her first Oscar nomination and the latter her first win. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in ''Sophie's Choice'' (1982) and ''The Iron Lady'' (2011).

Streep has received 17 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and 26 Golden Globe nominations, winning eight, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, five New York Film Critics Circle Awards, two BAFTA awards, an Australian Film Institute Award, five Grammy Award nominations, and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004.

Early life and background

Streep was born Mary Louise Streep in Summit, New Jersey. Her mother, Mary Wolf (née Wilkinson; 1915 - 2001), was a commercial artist and former art editor, and her father, Harry William Streep, Jr. (1910 - 2003), was a pharmaceutical executive. She has two brothers, Dana David and Harry William III. Her patrilineal ancestry originates in Loffenau, Germany, from where her second great-grandfather, Gottfried Streeb, emigrated to the United States, and where one of her ancestors served as mayor. Another line of her father's family was from Giswil, a small town in Switzerland. Her maternal ancestry originates in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, and partly traces back to 17th century immigrants from England. Her eighth great-grandfather, Lawrence Wilkinson, was one of the first Europeans to settle Rhode Island. Streep is also a distant relative of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and records show that her family were among the first purchasers of land in the state.

She was raised a Presbyterian, and grew up in Bernardsville, New Jersey, where she attended Bernards High School. She had many school friends who were Catholic, and regularly attended Mass because she loved its rituals. She received her B.A., in Drama at Vassar College in 1971 (where she briefly received instruction from actress Jean Arthur), but also enrolled as an exchange student at Dartmouth College for a quarter before it became coeducational. She subsequently earned an M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. While at Yale, she played a variety of roles onstage, from the glamorous Helena in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' to an eighty-year old woman in a wheelchair in a comedy written by then-unknown playwrights Christopher Durang and Albert Innaurato.

Career

Early career

Streep performed in several theater productions in New York and New Jersey after graduating from Yale School of Drama, including the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of ''Henry V'', ''The Taming of the Shrew'' with Raúl Juliá, and ''Measure for Measure'' opposite Sam Waterston and John Cazale, who became her lover and with whom she lived for three years. She starred on Broadway in the Brecht/Weill musical ''Happy End'', and won an Obie for her performance in the all-sung off-Broadway production of ''Alice at the Palace''.

Streep began auditioning for film roles, and later recalled an unsuccessful audition for Dino De Laurentiis for the leading role in ''King Kong''. De Laurentiis commented to his son in Italian, "She's ugly. Why did you bring me this thing?" and was shocked when Streep replied in fluent Italian. Streep's first feature film was ''Julia'' (1977), in which she played a small but pivotal role during a flashback scene. Streep was living in New York City with her lover, Cazale, who had been diagnosed with bone cancer. He was cast in ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), and Streep was delighted to secure a small role because it allowed her to remain with Cazale for the duration of filming. She was not specifically interested in the part, commenting, "They needed a girl between the two guys and I was it."

She played a leading role in the television miniseries ''Holocaust'' (1978) as a German woman married to a Jewish artist in Nazi era Germany. She later explained that she had considered the material to be "unrelentingly noble", and had taken the role only because she had needed money. Streep travelled to Germany and Austria for filming while Cazale remained in New York. Upon her return, Streep found that Cazale's illness had progressed, and she nursed him until his death on March 12, 1978. She spoke of her grief and her hope that work would provide a diversion; she accepted a role in ''The Seduction of Joe Tynan'' (1979) with Alan Alda, later commenting that she played it on "automatic pilot", and performed the role of Katherine in ''The Taming of the Shrew'' for Shakespeare in the Park. With an estimated audience of 109 million, ''Holocaust'' brought a degree of public recognition to Streep, who was described in August 1978 as "on the verge of national visibility". She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance.

''The Deer Hunter'' (1978) was released a month later, and Streep was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Streep played a supporting role in ''Manhattan'' (1979) for Woody Allen, later stating that she had not seen a complete script and was given only the six pages of her own scenes, and that she had not been permitted to improvise a word of her dialogue. Asked to comment on the script for ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' (1979), in a meeting with the producer Stan Jaffee, director Robert Benton and star Dustin Hoffman, Streep insisted that the female character was not representative of many real women who faced marriage breakdown and child custody battles, and was written as "too evil". Jaffee, Benton and Hoffman agreed with Streep, and the script was revised. In preparing for the part, Streep spoke to her own mother about her life as a mother and housewife with a career, and frequented the Upper East Side neighborhood in which the film was set. Benton allowed Streep to write her dialogue in two of her key scenes, despite some objection from Hoffman. Jaffee and Hoffman later spoke of Streep's tirelessness, with Hoffman commenting, "She's extraordinarily hardworking, to the extent that she's obsessive. I think that she thinks about nothing else but what she's doing."

Streep drew critical acclaim for her performance in each of her three films released in 1979: the romantic comedy ''Manhattan'', the political drama ''The Seduction of Joe Tynan'' and the family drama, ''Kramer vs. Kramer''. She was awarded the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her collective work in the three films. Among the awards won for ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' were the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

1980s

After prominent supporting roles in two of the 1970s' most successful films, the consecutive winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture, ''The Deer Hunter'' and ''Kramer vs. Kramer'', and praise for her versatility in several supporting roles, Streep progressed to leading roles. Her first was ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' (1981). A story within a story drama, the film paired Streep with Jeremy Irons as contemporary actors, telling their modern story as well as the Victorian era drama they were performing. A ''New York Magazine'' article commented that while many female stars of the past had cultivated a singular identity in their films, Streep was a "chameleon", willing to play any type of role. Streep was awarded a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work.

Her next film, the psychological thriller, ''Still of the Night'' (1982) reunited her with Robert Benton, the director of ''Kramer vs. Kramer'', and co-starred Roy Scheider and Jessica Tandy. Vincent Canby, writing for ''The New York Times'', noted that the film was an homage to the works of Alfred Hitchcock, but that one of its main weaknesses was a lack of chemistry between Streep and Scheider, concluding that Streep "is stunning, but she's not on screen anywhere near long enough".

As the Polish holocaust survivor in ''Sophie's Choice'' (1982), Streep's emotional dramatic performance and her apparent mastery of a Polish accent drew praise. William Styron wrote the novel with Ursula Andress in mind for the part of Sophie, but Streep was very determined to get the role. After she obtained a pirated copy of the script, she went to Alan J. Pakula and threw herself on the ground begging him to give her the part. Streep filmed the "choice" scene in one take and refused to do it again, as she found shooting the scene extremely painful and emotionally exhausting. Among several notable acting awards, Streep won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Roger Ebert said of her performance, "Streep plays the Brooklyn scenes with an enchanting Polish-American accent (she has the first accent I've ever wanted to hug), and she plays the flashbacks in subtitled German and Polish. There is hardly an emotion that Streep doesn't touch in this movie, and yet we're never aware of her straining. This is one of the most astonishing and yet one of the most unaffected and natural performances I can imagine."

She followed this success with a biographical film, ''Silkwood'' (1983), in which she played her first real-life character, the union activist Karen Silkwood. She discussed her preparation for the role in an interview with Roger Ebert and said that she had met with people close to Silkwood to learn more about her, and in doing so realized that each person saw a different aspect of Silkwood. Streep concentrated on the events of Silkwood's life and concluded, "I didn't try to turn myself into Karen. I just tried to look at what she did. I put together every piece of information I could find about her... What I finally did was look at the events in her life, and try to understand her from the inside."

Her next films were a romantic drama, ''Falling in Love'' (1984) opposite Robert De Niro, and a British drama, ''Plenty'' (1985). Roger Ebert said of Streep's performance in ''Plenty'' that she conveyed "great subtlety; it is hard to play an unbalanced, neurotic, self-destructive woman, and do it with such gentleness and charm... Streep creates a whole character around a woman who could have simply been a catalogue of symptoms."

''Out of Africa'' (1985) starred Streep as the Danish writer Karen Blixen and co-starred Robert Redford. A significant critical success, the film received a 63% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Streep co-starred with Jack Nicholson in her next two films, the dramas ''Heartburn'' (1986) and ''Ironweed'' (1987), in which she sang onscreen for the first time since the television movie, ''Secret Service'', in 1977. In ''A Cry in the Dark'' (1988), she played the biographical role of Lindy Chamberlain, an Australian woman who had been convicted of the murder of her infant daughter in which Chamberlain claimed her baby had been taken by a dingo. Filmed in Australia, Streep won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for several other awards for her portrayal of Chamberlain.

In ''She-Devil'' (1989), Streep played her first comedic film role, opposite Roseanne Barr. Richard Corliss, writing for ''Time,'' commented that Streep was the "one reason" to see the film and observed that it marked a departure from the type of role for which she had been known, saying, "Surprise! Inside the Greer Garson roles Streep usually plays, a vixenish Carole Lombard is screaming to be cut loose."

1990s

From 1984 to 1990, Streep won six People's Choice Awards for Favorite Motion Picture Actress and, in 1990, was named World Favorite.

In the 1990s, Streep continued to choose a great variety of roles, including a drug-addicted movie actress in a screen adaptation of Carrie Fisher's novel ''Postcards from the Edge'', with Dennis Quaid and Shirley MacLaine. Streep and Goldie Hawn had established a friendship and were interested in making a film together. After considering various projects, they decided upon ''Thelma and Louise'', until Streep's pregnancy coincided with the filming schedule, and the producers decided to proceed with Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. They subsequently filmed the farcical black comedy, ''Death Becomes Her'', with Bruce Willis as their co-star. ''Time'''s Richard Corliss wrote approvingly of Streep's "wicked-witch routine" but dismissed the film as "''She-Devil'' with a make-over".

Biographer Karen Hollinger describes this period as a downturn in the popularity of Streep's films, which reached its nadir with the failure of ''Death Becomes Her'', attributing this partly to a critical perception that her comedies had been an attempt to convey a lighter image following several serious but commercially unsuccessful dramas, and more significantly to the lack of options available to an actress in her forties. Streep commented that she had limited her options by her preference to work in Los Angeles, close to her family, a situation that she had anticipated in a 1981 interview when she commented, "By the time an actress hits her mid-forties, no one's interested in her anymore. And if you want to fit a couple of babies into that schedule as well, you've got to pick your parts with great care."

Streep appeared with Glenn Close in the movie version of Isabel Allende's ''The House of the Spirits''; the screen adaptation of ''The Bridges of Madison County'' with Clint Eastwood; ''The River Wild''; ''Marvin's Room'' (with Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio); ''One True Thing''; and ''Music of the Heart'', in a role that required her to learn to play the violin, She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "The Bridges of Madison County", "Music of the Heart" (where she plays the role of Roberta Guaspari) and "One True Thing".

2000s

Streep entered the 2000s with Steven Spielberg's ''A.I. Artificial Intelligence'', a science fiction film about a child-like android, played by Haley Joel Osment, uniquely programmed with the ability to love, voicing the Blue Fairy. The same year, Streep co-hosted the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert with Liam Neeson in Oslo, Norway, and began work on Spike Jonze's comedy-drama ''Adaptation'' (2002), in which she portrayed real-life journalist Susan Orlean. Lauded by critics and viewers alike, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, and won Streep her fourth Golden Globe in the Best Supporting Actress category. Also in 2002, Streep appeared alongside Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore in Stephen Daldry's ''The Hours'', based on the 1999 novel of the same title by Michael Cunningham. Focusing on three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by the novel ''Mrs. Dalloway'' by Virginia Woolf, the film was generally well-received and won all three leading actresses a Silver Bear for Best Actress the following year.

thumb|right|upright|Streep in 2004 The following year, Streep had a cameo as herself in the Farrelly brothers comedy ''Stuck on You'' (2003) and reunited with Mike Nichols to star with Al Pacino and Emma Thompson in the HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner's six-hour play ''Angels in America'', the story of two couples whose relationships dissolve amidst the backdrop of Reagan Era politics. Streep, who was cast in four roles in the mini-series, received her second Emmy Award and fifth Golden Globe for her performance. In 2004, Streep was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award by the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute, and appeared in Jonathan Demme's moderately successful remake ''The Manchurian Candidate'', co-starring Denzel Washington, playing a U.S. senator and a manipulative, ruthless mother of a vice-presidential candidate. The same year, she played the supporting role of Aunt Josephine in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'' alongside Jim Carrey, based on the first three novels in Snicket's book series. The black comedy received generally favorable reviews from critics, and won the Academy Award for Best Makeup.

Streep was next cast in the 2005 comedy ''Prime'', directed by Ben Younger. In the film, she played Lisa Metzger, the Jewish psychoanalyst of a divorced and lonesome business-woman, played by Uma Thurman, who enters a relationship with Metzger's 23-year-old son (Bryan Greenberg). A modest mainstream success, it eventually grossed US$67.9 million internationally. In 2006, Streep, along with Lily Tomlin, portrayed the last two members of what was once a popular family country music act in Robert Altman's final film ''A Prairie Home Companion''. A comedic ensemble piece featuring Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline and Woody Harrelson, the film revolves around the behind-the-scenes activities at the long-running public radio show of the same name. The film grossed over US$26 million, the majority of which came from domestic markets. Commercially, Streep fared better with a role in ''The Devil Wears Prada'' (2006), a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. Portraying the powerful and demanding fashion magazine editor and boss of a recent college graduate (played by Anne Hathaway) Miranda Priestly, Streep's performance drew rave reviews from critics and later earned her many award nominations, including her record-setting 14th Oscar bid, as well as another Golden Globe. Upon its commercial release, the film became Streep's biggest commercial success yet, grossing more than US$326.5 million worldwide.

In 2007, Streep was cast in four films. She portrayed a wealthy university patron in Chen Shi-zheng's much-delayed feature drama ''Dark Matter'' (2007), a film about a Chinese science graduate student who becomes violent after dealing with academic politics at a U.S. university. Inspired by the events of the 1991 University of Iowa shooting, and initially scheduled for a 2007 release, producers and investors decided to shelve ''Dark Matter'' out of respect for the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007. The drama received negative to mixed reviews upon its limited 2008 release. Streep played a U.S. government official, who investigates an Egyptian foreign national in Washington, D.C., suspected of terrorism in the Middle East, in the political thriller ''Rendition'' (2007), directed by Gavin Hood. Keen to get involved into a thriller film, Streep welcomed the opportunity to star in a film genre for which she was not usually offered scripts and immediately signed on to the project. Upon its release, ''Rendition'' was less commercially successful, and received mixed reviews.

Also in 2007, Streep had a short role alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close and her eldest daughter Mamie Gummer in Lajos Koltai's drama film ''Evening'', based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Susan Minot. Switching between the present and the past, it tells the story of a bedridden woman, who remembers her tumultuous life in the mid-1950s. The film was released to lukewarm reactions by critics, who called it "beautifully filmed, but decidedly dull [and] a colossal waste of a talented cast." Streep's last film of 2007 was Robert Redfords ''Lions for Lambs'', a film about the connection between a platoon of United States soldiers in Afghanistan, a U.S. senator, a reporter, and a California college professor.

In 2008, Streep found major commercial success when she starred in Phyllida Lloyd's ''Mamma Mia!'', a film adaptation of the musical of the same name, based on the songs of Swedish pop group ABBA. Co-starring Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth, Streep played a single mother and a former backing singer, whose daughter (Seyfried), a bride-to-be who never met her father, invites three likely paternal candidates to her wedding on an idyllic Greek island. An instant box office success, ''Mamma Mia!'' became Streep's highest-grossing film to date, with box office receipts of US$602.6 million, also ranking it first among the highest-grossing musical films of all-time. Nominated for another Golden Globe, Streep's performance was generally well-received by critics, with Wesley Morris of the ''Boston Globe'' commenting "the greatest actor in American movies has finally become a movie star." Streep's other film of 2008 was ''Doubt'' featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. A drama revolving around the stern principal nun (Streep) of a Bronx Catholic school in 1964 who brings charges of pedophilia against a popular priest (Hoffman), the film became a moderate box office success, but was hailed by many critics as one of the best of 2008. The film received five Academy Awards nominations, for its four lead actors and for Shanley's script.

In 2009, Streep played chef Julia Child in Nora Ephron's ''Julie & Julia'', co-starring Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci. The first major motion picture based on a blog, it contrasts the life of Child in the early years of her culinary career with the life of young New Yorker Julie Powell (Adams), who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' in 365 days, a challenge she described on her popular blog, ''The Julie/Julia Project'', that would make her a published author. The same year, Streep also starred in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy ''It's Complicated'', with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. She also received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for both of these films and won the award for the former. Streep later received her 16th Oscar nomination for ''Julie & Julia''. She also lent her voice to Mrs. Felicity Fox in the stop-motion film ''Fantastic Mr. Fox''.

2010s

In July 2010, it was announced that Streep will star in an upcoming comedy entitled ''Mommy & Me'' alongside Tina Fey who will play her daughter. The film is being directed by Stanley Tucci. Streep portrayed Margaret Thatcher in ''The Iron Lady'', a look at the Prime Minister during the Falklands War and her years in retirement. For this role, Streep won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Accents and dialects

Streep is well known for her ability to imitate foreign and domestic accents, from Danish in ''Out of Africa'' (1985), to British RP in ''Plenty'' (also 1985), ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' and ''The Iron Lady'' (2011), to Italian in ''The Bridges of Madison County'' (1995), to a Midwestern dialect in ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (2006). In ''A Cry in the Dark'' (1988), most critics were impressed with Streep's performance and ability to master an Australian accent. For her role in the film ''Sophie's Choice'' (1982), she took a language course in Polish for four months, in order to accurately display a Polish accent. In ''The Iron Lady'', she reproduced the vocal style of Margaret Thatcher, from the time before she became Britain's Prime Minister, and after she had taken elocution lessons to change her pitch, pronunciation and delivery. Despite the accolades accorded to her, Streep has responded to praise with the assertion that adopting accents is an element that she simply considers an obvious part of her task in creating characters. When asked whether accents help her get into character, she responded, "I'm always baffled by this question... How could I play that part and talk like me?" When questioned as to how she reproduces different accents, Streep replied, "I listen."

Theatre

In New York City, she appeared in the 1976 Broadway double bill of Tennessee Williams' ''27 Wagons Full of Cotton'' and Arthur Miller's ''A Memory of Two Mondays''. For the former, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her other early Broadway credits include Anton Chekhov's ''The Cherry Orchard'' and the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical ''Happy End'' in which she originally appeared off-Broadway at the Chelsea Theater Center. She received Drama Desk Award nominations for both productions. Once Streep's film career flourished, she took a long break from stage acting.

In July 2001, Streep returned to the stage for the first time in more than twenty years, playing Arkadina in the Public Theater's revival of Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull''. The staging, directed by Mike Nichols, also featured Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden, and John Goodman.

In August and September 2006, she starred onstage at The Public Theater's production of ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. The Public Theater production was a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner (''Angels in America''), with songs in the Weill/Brecht style written by composer Jeanine Tesori (''Caroline, or Change''); veteran director George C. Wolfe was at the helm. Streep starred alongside Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton in this three-and-a-half-hour play in which she sang and appeared in almost every scene.

Music

After Streep appeared in ''Mamma Mia!'', her rendition of the song "Mamma Mia" rose to popularity in the Portuguese music charts, where it peaked at #8 in October 2008.

At the 35th People's Choice Awards, her version of ''Mamma Mia'' won an award for "Favorite Song From A Soundtrack". In 2008, Streep was nominated for a Grammy Award (her fifth nomination) for her work on the ''Mamma Mia!'' soundtrack.

Philanthropy

Streep is the spokesperson for the National Women's History Museum, to which she has donated a significant amount of money (including her fee for ''The Iron Lady'') and hosted numerous events.

Personal life

Streep lived with actor John Cazale for three years until his death in March 1978. Streep married sculptor Don Gummer on September 15, 1978. They have four children: Henry "Hank" Wolfe Gummer (born November 13, 1979), Mary Willa "Mamie" Gummer (born August 3, 1983), Grace Jane Gummer (born May 9, 1986), and Louisa Jacobson Gummer (born June 12, 1991). Both Mamie and Grace are actresses. Hank is a musician who performs under the name Henry Wolfe.

When asked if religion plays a part in her life, in an interview in 2009, Streep replied, "I follow no doctrine. I don't belong to a church or a temple or a synagogue or an ashram." Streep does not rule out the possibility that God exists, “I do have a sense of trying to make things better. Where does that come from?”

Awards

Streep holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations of any actor, having been nominated seventeen times since her first nomination in 1979 for ''The Deer Hunter'' (fourteen for Best Actress and three for Best Supporting Actress). Streep is also the most-nominated performer for a Golden Globe Award (with 26 nominations) and, with her overall eighth win for ''The Iron Lady'' in 2012, has won the most Golden Globes (excluding special awards).

In 1983, Yale - from which Streep had graduated in 1975 - was the first university to award her an honorary degree, a Doctorate of Fine Arts. In 1998, Women in Film awarded Streep with the Crystal Award for outstanding women who have helped expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.

In 2003, Streep was awarded an honorary César Award by the French ''Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.'' In 2004, at the Moscow International Film Festival, Streep was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school. Also in 2004, Streep received the AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2009, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Princeton University. In 2010, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts degree by Harvard University.

Streep received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998, and May 27, 2004 was proclaimed "Meryl Streep Day" by Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields.

In 2008, Streep was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

On December 4, 2011 (program aired on CBS-TV on December 27, 2011), Streep received the 2011 Kennedy Center Honor (along with Neil Diamond, Yo-Yo Ma, Sonny Rollins, and Barbara Cook).

On February 12, 2012, Streep received the 2012 BAFTA award for best actress for the movie ''The Iron Lady''.

On February 14, 2012, Streep received the Honorary Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. She previously won the Berlinale Camera at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival in 1999.

On February 26, 2012, Streep received the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performances as Margaret Thatcher in the British biopic film, ''The Iron Lady''.

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1978	''The Deer Hunter''	Linda
1979		Jill	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Kramer vs. Kramer)Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1979	''Kramer vs. Kramer''	Joanna Kramer	Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for Manhattan and The Seduction of Joe Tynan)National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (also for The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Manhattan)New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (and also The Seduction of Joe Tynan)Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1981		Sarah/Anna	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
1982		Sophie Zawistowski	Academy Award for Best ActressBoston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNational Board of Review Award for Best ActressNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1983	''Silkwood''	Karen Silkwood	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1985		Karen Blixen
1987		Helen Archer	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
1988	''A Cry in the Dark''		Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressBest Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1990		Suzanne Vale
1995		Francesca Johnson	Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1998	''One True Thing''	Kate Gulden	Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1999	''Music of the Heart''	Roberta Guaspari	Nominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2002		Susan Orlean	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureSatellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureSilver Bear for Best ActressSoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2002		Clarissa Vaughan	Silver Bear for Best Actress in Berlin International Film Festival (with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman)Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best CastNominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004		Eleanor Shaw	Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion PictureNominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
2006		Miranda Priestly	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyLondon Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActressOnline Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressSatellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - MTV Movie Award for Best VillainNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2008		Donna	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year
2008		Sister Aloysius Beauvier	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNational Board of Review Award for Best CastPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading RoleWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best CastNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009	''Julie & Julia''	Julia Child	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressPhoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressSatellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or ComedySoutheastern Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated -Academy Award for Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the YearNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
2009		Jane Adler	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2011		Margaret Thatcher	Academy Award for Best ActressAACTA International Award for Best ActressBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleDenver Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressGolden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNew York Film Critics Online Award for Best ActressLondon Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressUK's Annual Regional Film Awards for Best Actress Nominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best ActressNominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Actress Defying Age and AgeismNominated - Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Female Icon AwardNominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (runner-up) Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated - Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best ActresNominated - Iowa Film Critics Awards for Best ActressNominated - Irish Film & Television Award for Best International ActressNominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActressNominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActressNominated - Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture DramaNominated - St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated - Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActressNominated - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best ActressNominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

See also

List of people from New Jersey

List of American actresses

List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories

References

Bibliography

Napoleon, Davi (1991). ''Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater.'' Includes discussion of Streep's performance in Robert Kalfin's production of ''Happy End'' at the Chelsea Theater and on Broadway. Iowa State University Press. ISBN-0-8138-1713-7.

''Finding Herself: The Prime of Meryl Streep'' by Molly Haskell, ''Film Comment'', May/June 2008.

External links

Official web site

Meryl Streep at BAFTA forty-minute webcast, January 2009

Meryl Streep at Emmys.com

Category:1949 births Category:20th-century American people Category:20th-century women Category:21st-century American people Category:21st-century women Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:American film actors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Swiss descent Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actress Golden Globe winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:César Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Obie Award recipients Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Bernardsville, New Jersey Category:People from Summit, New Jersey Category:Vassar College alumni Category:Yale School of Drama alumni Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

af:Meryl Streep ar:ميريل ستريب an:Meryl Streep az:Meril Strip zh-min-nan:Meryl Streep be:Мэрыл Стрып be-x-old:Мэрыл Стрып bg:Мерил Стрийп bn:মেরিল স্ট্রিপ bs:Meryl Streep ca:Meryl Streep cs:Meryl Streepová cy:Meryl Streep da:Meryl Streep de:Meryl Streep et:Meryl Streep el:Μέριλ Στριπ es:Meryl Streep eo:Meryl Streep eu:Meryl Streep fa:مریل استریپ fo:Meryl Streep fr:Meryl Streep fy:Meryl Streep ga:Meryl Streep gl:Meryl Streep ko:메릴 스트립 hy:Մերիլ Սթրիփ hr:Meryl Streep id:Meryl Streep is:Meryl Streep it:Meryl Streep he:מריל סטריפ jv:Meryl Streep ka:მერილ სტრიპი kk:Мерил Стрип la:Maria Ludovica Streep lv:Merila Strīpa lt:Meryl Streep hu:Meryl Streep mk:Мерил Стрип mr:मेरिल स्ट्रीप nl:Meryl Streep ja:メリル・ストリープ no:Meryl Streep pms:Meryl Streep pl:Meryl Streep pt:Meryl Streep ro:Meryl Streep ru:Стрип, Мерил sq:Meryl Streep simple:Meryl Streep sk:Meryl Streepová sl:Meryl Streep sr:Мерил Стрип sh:Meryl Streep fi:Meryl Streep sv:Meryl Streep tl:Meryl Streep ta:மெரில் ஸ்ட்ரீப் th:เมอรีล สตรีป tg:Мерйл Стрийп tr:Meryl Streep uk:Меріл Стріп vi:Meryl Streep yo:Meryl Streep zh:梅麗·史翠普

name	Colin Towns
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Colin William Towns
born	May 13, 1948
died
years active	1970s to present
associated acts	Mask OrchestraIan Gillan BandGillan
website	colintowns.com
notable instruments	}}

Colin Towns is an English composer, born 13 May 1948 in London, specialising in soundtracks for film, television and commercials. Learning piano as a child, by the age of 13 he was earning money playing at weddings and birthdays in his neighbourhood of the East End of London. He went on to play in numerous dance bands, jazz ensembles and also became a session musician.

In 1976 he was recruited as keyboardist to replace Mickey Lee Soule in the Ian Gillan Band. Over time he developed an increasing interest in composing and Ian Gillan credits the Towns-penned 'Fighting Man' as pointing the direction in which Gillan should go. Gillan dissolved The Ian Gillan Band, with its jazz-rock leanings, and retained only Towns, putting together the rockier Gillan. Encouraged by Ian Gillan, Towns co-wrote many of the songs for the new band. Whilst with the band he used his free time to seek opportunities to compose music beyond the Heavy metal direction of Gillan, including releasing a solo album, ''Making Faces'', in 1982. He submitted a demo soundtrack for the Mia Farrow film ''Full Circle'' which received reviews praising the music.

In 1983 Ian Gillan dissolved the band, and Towns decided to pursue soundtrack composing full-time. In that year he won the commission to write the score for the film ''Slayground''. From then on he was in constant demand, particularly in British Television, where his body of work is prolific, and includes ''Dalziel and Pascoe'', ''Cadfael'', ''Capital City'', ''Pie in the Sky'', ''Between the Lines'', ''Doc Martin'', and ''Imogen's Face''. His film credits include ''The Puppet Masters'' (featuring Donald Sutherland), ''Space Truckers'' (featuring Dennis Hopper) and ''Captives'' (featuring Tim Roth).

Towns' principal musical passion is jazz and has released several albums in this genre and founding the Mask Orchestra.

External links

Official Site

behind-the-mask.co.uk (unofficial website)

discogs.com/artist

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:English composers Category:English film score composers Category:English television composers Category:People from London

de:Colin Towns fr:Colin Towns fi:Colin Towns

Honorific-prefix	The Honourable
Name	Julia Gillard
Honorific-suffix	MP
Office	27th Prime Minister of AustraliaElections: 2010
Deputy	Wayne Swan
Term start	24 June 2010
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor general	Quentin Bryce
Predecessor	Kevin Rudd
Office2	Leader of the Labor Party
Deputy2	Wayne Swan
Term start2	24 June 2010
Predecessor2	Kevin Rudd
Office3	13th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
Primeminister3	Kevin Rudd
Term start3	3 December 2007
Term end3	24 June 2010
Predecessor3	Mark Vaile
Successor3	Wayne Swan
Office4	19th Minister for Education
Primeminister4	Kevin Rudd
Term start4	3 December 2007
Term end4	28 June 2010
Predecessor4	Julie Bishop (Education, Science and Training)
Successor4	Simon Crean
Office5	Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Primeminister5	Kevin Rudd
Term start5	3 December 2007
Term end5	28 June 2010
Predecessor5	Joe Hockey
Successor5	Simon Crean
Office6	1st Minister for Social Inclusion
Primeminister6	Kevin Rudd
Term start6	3 December 2007
Term end6	28 June 2010
Predecessor6	Position established
Successor6	Simon Crean
Constituency mp7	Lalor
Parliament7	Australian
Term start7	3 October 1998
Predecessor7	Barry Jones
Birth date	September 29, 1961
Birth place	Barry, Wales, UK
Party	Australian Labor Party
Residence	The Lodge, Canberra
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Religion
Profession	Lawyer
Partner	Tim Mathieson
Signature	Julia Gillard Signature.svg
Website	Prime Minister's websiteParliamentary websiteALP website }}

Julia Eileen Gillard (, born 29 September 1961) is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.

Gillard was elected at the 1998 federal election to the House of Representatives seat of Lalor, Victoria for the Australian Labor Party. Following the 2001 federal election, Gillard was elected to the shadow cabinet with the portfolios of Population and Immigration. The Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs and the Health portfolios were added in 2003. In December 2006, Kevin Rudd was elected Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition, with Gillard as deputy leader.

Gillard became the Deputy Prime Minister upon Labor's victory in the 2007 federal election, also serving as Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. On , after Rudd lost the support of his party and stood aside, Gillard became federal leader of the Australian Labor Party and thus the Prime Minister, the first female holder of the office.

The 2010 federal election saw the incumbent Gillard Labor government elected to a second term over the Coalition opposition, led by Tony Abbott, and formed a minority government with support of an Australian Greens MP and three independent MPs.

Early life

Gillard was born in 1961 in Barry, Wales. After she suffered from bronchopneumonia as a child, her parents were advised it would aid her recovery if they were to live in a warmer climate. The family migrated to Australia in 1966, settling in Adelaide. Her parents, John and Moira, live in Pasadena, South Australia. She has a sister, Alison, who is three years older.

Gillard's father worked as a psychiatric nurse, while her mother worked at the local Salvation Army nursing home. She and her sister attended Mitcham Demonstration School, and Julia went on to attend Unley High School. She then studied at the University of Adelaide but cut short her courses in 1982 and moved to Melbourne to work with the Australian Union of Students. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees in 1986.

In 1987, Gillard joined the law firm Slater & Gordon at Werribee, Melbourne, working in industrial law. In 1990, at the age of 29, she was admitted as a partner.

Political provenance

Introduced to politics in her second year at the University of Adelaide by the daughter of a State Labor Minister, Gillard joined the Labor Club and became involved in a campaign to fight federal education budget cuts.

After moving to Melbourne, in 1983 Gillard became the second woman to lead the Australian Union of Students. She was also formerly the secretary of the left-wing organisation, Socialist Forum.

From 1996 to 1998, Gillard served as Chief of Staff to John Brumby, at that time the Victorian opposition leader. She was responsible for drafting the affirmative-action rules within the Labor Party in Victoria that set the target of preselecting women for 35 per cent of "winnable seats". She also played a role in the foundation of EMILY's List, the pro-choice fund-raising and support network for Labor women.

The Welsh Labour politician Aneurin "Nye" Bevan remains one of her political heroes.

Opposition member

Gillard was elected as Member for Lalor, a safe Labor seat near Melbourne, in the House of Representatives at the 1998 election, replacing Barry Jones, who had retired. She made her first speech to the house on 11 November 1998.

Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration: 2001–2003

After Labor's defeat at the 2001 election, Gillard was elected to the shadow cabinet, with the portfolio of population and immigration. In February 2003, she was given the additional portfolios of reconciliation and Indigenous affairs.

In the wake of the Tampa and Children Overboard affairs, which were partly credited with Labor's 2001 election loss, Gillard developed a new immigration policy for the Labor Party.

Shadow Minister for Health: 2003–06

Gillard was promoted to the position of Shadow Health Minister in July 2003. Shortly after this, the government moved Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott to the health portfolio. The rivalry between Abbott and Gillard often attracted attention from the media. She gained additional responsibility for managing opposition business in the House of Representatives.

In the aftermath of the Labor loss at the October 2004 election, it was speculated that Gillard might challenge Jenny Macklin for the deputy leadership, but she did not do so.

Gillard had been spoken of as a potential future leader of the party for some years but, until 2005, she stayed out of leadership contests. After Mark Latham resigned as leader in January 2005, however, she emerged as a possible successor along with Kim Beazley and Kevin Rudd.

After appearing on the ABC's ''Australian Story'' program in March 2006, an Ipsos Mackay poll in April 2006, conducted for Network Ten's ''Meet the Press'' program, found that respondents would prefer Gillard to be Labor leader. She polled 32% compared with Beazley's 25% and Kevin Rudd's 18%.

Although she had significant cross-factional support, she announced on 25 January 2005 that she would not contest the leadership, allowing Beazley to be elected unopposed.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition

On 1 December 2006, in a cross-factional political partnership with Kevin Rudd, Gillard launched a challenge for the deputy leadership of the ALP. Once Rudd was elected as leader, the incumbent deputy leader and Kim Beazley's deputy, Jenny Macklin, chose not to contest the position and on 4 December 2006 she was elected unopposed. In the frontbench reshuffle following the leadership change, Gillard was allocated the Employment, Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion portfolios.

Deputy Prime Minister: 2007–10

The Labor Party won the 2007 federal election and, on 3 December 2007, Gillard was sworn in as the first female Deputy Prime Minister of Australia.

In addition to the deputy prime ministership, Gillard was given responsibility for a so-called "super ministry", the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. She had three distinct portfolios: Minister for Education; Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; and Minister for Social Inclusion. In her role as Minister for Education, Gillard travelled to Washington, DC, where she signed a deal with the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to enourage improved policy collaboration in education reform between both countries.

On 11 December 2007 she became the first woman in Australia's history to be in the prime ministerial role, by assuming the role of acting prime minister while Kevin Rudd attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali. In the first year of government, she served as acting prime minister for 69 days during Rudd's overseas travel engagements.

Gillard is a highly regarded debater, and her performances during parliamentary question time have prompted Peter van Onselen to call her "the best parliamentary performer on the Labor side".

Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

Gillard removed the WorkChoices industrial relations regime introduced by the Howard government, and replaced it with the ''Fair Work Bill''. This established a single industrial relations bureaucracy called Fair Work Australia.

In 2009 Gillard oversaw the government's "Building the Education Revolution" program, which allocated $16 billion to build new school accommodation including classrooms, libraries and assembly halls.

Prime Minister

On 23 June 2010, after meetings throughout the evening between Gillard and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, as well as factional leaders, Rudd addressed the waiting media at 10:30 pm AEST and announced that Gillard had asked him to hold a leadership ballot in the 115-member caucus the following day to determine the leadership of the Labor Party and hence the prime ministership of Australia.

Rudd initially said he would challenge Gillard at the caucus. However, it soon became apparent that he didn't have enough support to fend off Gillard's challenge. Hours before the vote, he stood aside as leader and ended his candidacy, leaving Gillard to take the leadership unopposed. At the same caucus meeting, Treasurer Wayne Swan was elected unopposed to succeed Gillard as Labor's deputy leader, and hence Deputy Prime Minister.

Shortly afterward, Gillard was sworn in as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia by the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, and Wayne Swan was sworn in as her deputy. The other members of Kevin Rudd's ministry, except Rudd himself, became the remaining members of the First Gillard Ministry.

Later that day, in her first press conference as Prime Minister, she said that at times the Rudd Government "went off the tracks", and "I came to the view that a good Government was losing its way". She also said that she wouldn't move into The Lodge unless she was elected Prime Minister in her own right, preferring to divide her time between a flat in Canberra and her home in Altona, a western suburb of Melbourne. She eventually moved into The Lodge on 26 September 2010.

As well as being the first woman and the first who has never been married, Gillard is the first Prime Minister since Billy Hughes (1915–1923) to have been born overseas.

In the aftermath of the leadership challenge, Bill Shorten, former trade union leader, and key Parliamentary member of the ALP Right Faction, nominated the government's handling of the insulation program; the sudden announcement of change of policy on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme; and the way in which they had "introduced the debate" about the Resource Super Profits Tax as the key considerations which had led to a shift in support from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard as leader of the party.

Election 2010

On 17 July 2010, 23 days after becoming prime minister and after receiving the agreement of the Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Gillard announced the next federal election would be held on 21 August 2010. Gillard began campaigning with a speech utilising the slogan "moving forward". In the early stages of the campaign, a series of leaks were released by purported Labor Party sources, indicating apparent divisions within Cabinet over the replacement of Kevin Rudd by Gillard. Mid-way through the campaign, Gillard offered journalists a self-assessment of her campaign by saying that she had been paying too much attention to advisers in her strategy team, and she wanted to run a less "stage-managed" campaign:

Gillard met Opposition leader Tony Abbott for one official debate during the campaign. Studio audience surveys by Channel 9 and the Seven Network suggested a win to Gillard. Unable to agree on further debates, the leaders went on to appear separately on stage for questioning at community forums in Sydney and Brisbane. An audience exit poll of the Rooty Hill RSL audience indicated an Abbott victory. Gillard won the audience poll at the Broncos Leagues Club meeting in Brisbane on 18 August. Gillard also appeared on the ABC's Q&A; program on 9 August. On 7 August, Gillard was questioned by former Labor leader turned Channel Nine reporter Mark Latham.

Gillard officially "launched" Labor's campaign in Brisbane five days before polling day, outlining Labor policies and utilising the slogan: "Yes we will move forward together".

Labor and the Coalition each won 72 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, four short of the requirement for majority government, resulting in the first hung parliament since the 1940 election. Both major party leaders sought to form a minority government.

Six crossbench MPs held the balance of power. Four crossbench MPs, Greens Adam Bandt and independents Andrew Wilkie, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor declared their support for Labor on confidence and supply, allowing Gillard and Labor to remain in power with a 76–74 minority government. Governor-General Bryce swore in the Second Gillard Ministry on 14 September 2010.

Foreign affairs

During her first major international tour as Prime Minister, Julia Gillard told ABC TV's ''7.30 Report'':

Following her 2010 election victory, Gillard selected her former leader Kevin Rudd (a career diplomat) as Foreign Minister. Gillard travelled to the United States in March 2011 to mark the 60th Anniversary of the ANZUS Alliance and was invited to address the United States Congress.

In a 2008 speech in Washington, Gillard endorsed the ANZUS Aliance and described the United States as a civilising global influence. Her former colleague and leader Mark Latham wrote in a 2009 article for the ''Australian Financial Review'' that these comments were "hypocritical", given past private communications Gillard had exchanged with him which apparently mocked elements of American foreign policy: "One of them concerned her study tour of the US, sponsored by the American Government in 2006—or to use her moniker—'a CIA re-education course'. She asked me to 'stand by for emails explaining George Bush is a great statesman, torture is justified in many circumstances and those Iraqi insurgents should just get over it'."

War in Afghanistan

During her first day as Prime Minister, Gillard reassured US President Barack Obama of Australia's continuing support for the military campaign in Afghanistan. She visited Afghanistan on 2 October 2010 and met with Australian forces in Tarin Kowt and President Hamid Karzai in Kabul. The visit formed part of her first overseas trip as prime minister.

A parliamentary debate was conducted for four sitting weeks of parliament, with the agreement between Gillard and Abbott that it is necessary to stay in Afghanistan and prevent it from becoming a safe haven for terrorists.

Domestic policies

Health

Like her predecessor Rudd, Gillard has said that health is a priority in her agenda. She announced during the 2010 election, that there would be an increase of 270 placements for emergency doctors and nurses and 3,000 extra nursing scholarships over the following 10 years. She also said mental health would be a priority in her second term, with a $277 million suicide-prevention package which would target high-risk groups. As the election delivered a hung parliament, a $1.8 billion package was given to rural hospitals, which was agreed to by the independents to support her re-election.

In October 2010, her government introduced legislation to reform funding arrangements for the health system, with the intention of giving the Commonwealth responsibility for providing the majority of funding to public hospitals and 100 per cent of funding for primary care and GP services. In February 2011, Gillard announced extensive revision of the original health funding reforms proposed by the Rudd Government, which had been unable to secure the support of all state governments. The revised Gillard government plan proposed that the federal government move towards providing 50% of new health funding (and not 60 per cent as originally agreed) and removed the requirement of the states to cede a proportion of their GST revenue to the Federal Government in order to fund the new arrangement. The new agreement was supported by all state premiers and chief ministersand signed on August 2nd.

Immigration

In relation to population targets for Australia, Gillard told Fairfax Media in August 2010 that while skilled migration is important: "I don't support the idea of a big Australia". Gillard also altered the nomenclature of Tony Burke's role as ''"Minister for Population"'' to that of ''Minister for Sustainable Population".

Asylum seekers

After winning leadership of the Labor Party, Gillard identified addressing the issue of unauthorised arrivals of asylum seekers as a priority of her government. She announced that negotiations were underway for a return to "offshore processing" of asylum seeker claims. Gillard ruled out a return to processing at Nauru and named East Timor as a preferred location for new detention and processing facilities. In response to this initial announcement, East Timor's parliament passed a resolution rejecting the plan. Following the 2010 election, the East Timorese Government rejected the plan.

In October 2010, her government announced that it would open two detention centres for 2000 immigrants, due to the pressures in allowing women and children to be released into the community. One to be opened in Inverbrackie, South Australia and one in Northam, Western Australia. She said it would be a short-term solution to the problem and that temporary detention centres will be closed.

On December 15 2010, a ship containing 89 asylum seekers crashed on the shore of Christmas Island, killing up to fifty people.

In April 2011 the Federal Government confirmed that a detention centre for single men will be built at the old army barracks at Pontville, 45 minutes north of Hobart. This immigration detention centre will house up to 400 refugees. Also in April 2011 immigration detainees at the Villawood detention centre rioted in protest of their treatment, setting fire to several buildings.

In May 2011 Gillard announced that Australia and Malaysia were finalising an arrangement to exchange asylum seekers. Gillard and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said they were close to signing a bilateral agreement which would result in 800 asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat being taken to Malaysia instead. Australia will take 4,000 people from Malaysia who have previously been assessed as being refugees.

The plan encountered a delay upon implementation. The High Court of Australia issued an injunction delaying the removal of the first batch of boat arrivals only a few hours before they were to be deported to Malaysia, giving their lawyers time to argue that sending asylum seekers to Malaysia is unlawful. On 31 August the High Court ruled that the agreement to transfer refugees from Australia to Malaysia was invalid, and ordered that it not proceed. Australia will still accept 4,000 people who have been assessed as refugees in Malaysia.

Education

When she became Prime Minister, she gave her Education portfolio to Simon Crean. She has promised to "make education central to my economic agenda." After her re-election, she extended tax-cuts to parents to help pay for school uniforms for people struggling to cover the costs of education under the Education Tax Refund scheme. Gillard continued to put the My School website centre of her education agenda, which was controversial when she implemented when she was the Minister for Education. Although it was popular amongst parents, the website helped parents view statistics of the school their children attended. She has unveiled the revamped version, My School 2.0, promising better information to parents.

Universities also placed highly on her education agenda. Legislation due to be voted on in November 2010 that would see the introduction of a national universities regulator was delayed till 2011 following criticisms from the higher education sector. It was also announced by her government that legislation to establish the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency would also be introduced early 2011.

Climate change

In June 2010 Kevin Rudd told the ALP caucus that he had been pressured by Gillard to drop his carbon dioxide emissions trading policy. Rudd however later refused to confirm the statement.

During the 2010 election, Gillard unveiled her climate change plans in Brisbane. It included a 150-person citizens assembly to work on a consensus for climate change and a crackdown on dirty power plants, a $1 billion investment into greening the electricity grid and also further investment into green technology. A day before the election, ''The Australian'' newspaper reported an interview with Gillard in which she said: "I don't rule out the possibility of legislating a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a market-based mechanism, [during the next parliament] I rule out a carbon tax."

The idea for a citizens assembly was scrapped on 7 October 2010, as Gillard announced that her pre-election promise to create a citizens' assembly to investigate climate change would not proceed, but the government would instead seek guidance from a parliamentary committee advised by experts on climate change. A $2000 subsidy for cashing in old cars was also announced to reduce pollution. Reaction to this by Australian businesses has been positive.

In November 2010, Gillard announced a Productivity Commission inquiry on pricing on carbon.

On 24 February 2011, in a joint press conference of the "Climate Change Committee" — comprising the government, Greens and independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott—Gillard announced a plan to implement a fixed price to be imposed on carbon pollution from 1 July 2012. The carbon tax would be placed for three to five years before a full emissions trading scheme is implemented. Key issues remained to be negotiated, including compensation arrangements for households and businesses, the carbon price level, the emissions reduction target and whether or not to include fuel in the tax.

Political positions

Factional position

Although nominally a member of the Victorian Left faction of the Labor Party, her election to Prime Minister occurred because of support from the Right factions of the party, with the hard Left planning to support Rudd in the Caucus vote had there actually been one. Analyses of Jacqueline Kent's 2009 biography of Gillard suggest that her membership in the Left faction is "more organisational than ideological". In July 2010, historian Ross Fitzgerald said, "... at least since last year Gillard has sought to reposition herself more towards the Labor Right."

Population growth

On population policy, Gillard is against a "big Australia", as opposed to predecessor Kevin Rudd who was in favour of population growth. She emphasises the need for sustainability, saying "Australia should not hurtle down the track towards a big population".

Republic

Gillard supports Australia becoming a republic and has suggested that the end of Queen Elizabeth II's reign would be "probably the appropriate point for a transition".

Life matters

Gillard has expressed a pro-choice position on abortion saying that "Women without money would be left without that choice or in the hands of backyard abortion providers" and that she understood "the various moral positions" regarding abortions.

Concerning euthanasia Gillard warned that it may "open the door to exploitation and perhaps callousness towards people in the end stage of life" and that she is not convinced that the policy of pro-euthanasia advocates contain "sufficient safeguards".

Gay marriage

Gillard has made clear she does not support the legalisation of gay marriage, saying that she believes "the Marriage Act is appropriate in its current form, that is recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman" and that marriage being between a man and woman "has a special status".

Internet controls

Soon after Gillard first took over from Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister, she put herself on record as being in favour of a mandatory internet filter for Australia and justified her stance by saying images of child abuse and child pornography should not be legally available on the internet.

Wikileaks

Following the November 2010 release of secret United States diplomatic cables, high-profile people in various countries condemned the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks, with some calling for the founder Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, to be killed. Julia Gillard stated, “I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the WikiLeaks website. It's a grossly irresponsible thing to do and an illegal thing to do". After an Australian Federal Police investigation failed to find WikiLeaks had broken any Australian laws by publishing the US diplomatic documents, Gillard maintained her stance that the release of the documents was "grossly irresponsible". Open letters signed by many news editors, lawyers and other prominent individuals including Noam Chomsky have asked Gillard to condemn the calls for physical harm to Assange and to ensure his legal rights are protected.

Personal life

Gillard's partner since 2006 is Tim Mathieson. She had previous relationships with union officials Michael O'Connor and Bruce Wilson and fellow Federal Labor MP Craig Emerson. She has never married and has no children.

She owns a home in the south-western Melbourne suburb of Altona which she occupied prior to The Lodge and is a public supporter of the Western Bulldogs AFL club. She has a broad Australian accent which is distinctive even among Australian prime ministers.

Gillard was brought up in the Baptist tradition, but is not religious. In a 2010 interview when asked if she believed in God, Gillard stated: "No I don't ... I'm not a religious person ... [I'm] a great respecter of religious beliefs but they're not my beliefs."

See also

Next Australian federal election

Australian federal election, 2010

Rudd Ministry

First Gillard Ministry

Second Gillard Ministry

Notes

References

External links

Official prime ministerial website

Official Federal HOR webpages for Julia Gillard

Official ALP webpage for Julia Gillard

Official Facebook page of Julia Gillard

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name	Edwyn Collins
background	solo_singer
birth name	Edwyn Stephen Collins
born	August 23, 1959Edinburgh, Scotland
instrument	Vocals, electric guitar
genre	Alternative rock
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician.
label	Setanta/Epic Records
associated acts	Nu-Sonics, Orange Juice, The Drums
website	www.edwyncollins.com }}

Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959, Edinburgh) is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice. He has since pursued a solo career as a musician, in addition to work as an illustrator, television actor and producer, and as a record producer.

Career

Orange Juice had a Number-8 hit single with "Rip It Up", their only UK Top 40 single and biggest commercial success. In 1985, Orange Juice disbanded; after some difficulty finding a record label with which to sign, Collins began his solo career a year later after signing with the Elevation subsidiary of Creation Records.

Collins released a 1994 single, "A Girl Like You", which was a hit in both the UK and the U.S. and was featured in the films ''Empire Records'', ''The Secretary'' and ''Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle''. "Magic Piper of Love", a 1997 single that featured on the soundtrack of ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'', was also released.

He built his own recording studio in 1994 and produced his own third solo album, ''Gorgeous George''. He has also worked extensively as a record producer with other artists, including The Proclaimers, A House, Space, Robert Forster, The Cribs, and Little Barrie. In 2005, Collins produced the album ''The New Fellas'' recorded by The Cribs.

In May 2009, he won the Ivors Inspiration Award in recognition of his struggles following a double brain haemorrhage in 2005.

In addition to his music career, Collins has also produced and starred in the Channel 4 sitcom, ''West Heath Yard''. Collins released his first book of illustrations with Morel Books in 2009.

On 2 October 2009, Collins's wife, Grace Maxwell, detailed her "running battle" with Warner Music Group and MySpace over his right to allow fans to listen to "A Girl Like You" for free on his MySpace page.

"Losing Sleep" was released on September 13, 2010 in the UK. It's Collins's first written and recorded album since his serious illness in 2005. It was recorded at his own West Heath Studios between November 2008 and May 2010 and produced by the former Orange Juice frontman and Sebastian Lewsley. He collaborated with The Cribs' Ryan Jarman and Johnny Marr, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy, The Magic Numbers singer Romeo Stodart, The Drums and Aztec Camera singer Roddy Frame.

Personal life

Collins is married to Grace Maxwell, who is also his manager. The couple live in London and have one son, William, who maintains his father's MySpace page.

In a BBC 6 Music radio interview on 18 February 2005, Collins had said he felt unwell, but ascribed the nausea and vertigo to food poisoning. Two days later, he was admitted to intensive care in London's Royal Free Hospital after apparently suffering a major cerebral hemorrhage. After suffering a second haemorrhage he had an operation on 25 February 2005, which was followed by a lengthy programme of neurological rehabilitation owing to right-sided weakness and difficulty with speech. The aphasia he suffered allowed him to repeat only four phrases, over and over again: "yes", "no", "Grace Maxwell" and "the possibilities are endless".

Collins released his sixth solo album in September 2007 on Heavenly Records entitled ''Home Again''. The album was recorded before his illness but mixed after his discharge from hospital. Collins is still on the road to recovery, and he has returned to singing live, including playing a gig at The Arts Theatre in London. A tribute song, celebrating his return, was recorded by the Indiepop band The Candy Twins. In November 2009 Collins walked on stage at London’s Bloomsbury Ballroom looking dapper in a black suit and leaning on a silver-topped cane, he spoke slowly to the crowd, his right arm curled up at his side. "But when he started to sing, his baritone proved as powerful as ever."

A BBC Scotland documentary, ''Edwyn Collins:Home Again'', was broadcast on 19 May 2008 and narrated by Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos. Filmed during 2007, it followed Collins's progress in recovering from his illness, and his first return to live performance at the BBC Electric Proms. He also performed at the Glastonbury Festival, broadcast on 28 June 2008 on BBC Two and at T in the Park on 10 July 2009. On 20 February 2010 he joined The Maccabees onstage at Brixton Academy for their encore, performing vocals on a storming rendition of "Rip It Up."

In 2010, he received an honorary masters degree from the Buckinghamshire New University in recognition of his “strong influences and contribution to the national and international music industry over the last three decades”. On 21 August 2010 he attended the Helmsdale Highland Games as the chieftain, an honour also previously bestowed on his grandfather.

On 30 September 2010, Collins and his band broadcast three numbers live from the Royal Beacon Hotel in Exmouth for BBC Radio 2's Radcliffe and Maconie Show. Music journalist, Stuart Maconie had earlier written his very first ''NME'' article, by reviewing Collins' 1987 gig at the Manchester International.

Saturday 30th July 2011 saw him perform at the IndieTracks festival at the Midland Railway - Butterley

Solo discography

''Hope and Despair'' - Demon, 1989

''Hellbent on Compromise'' - Diablo, 1990

''Gorgeous George'' - Setanta, 1994, UK #8, US #183

''I'm Not Following You'' - Epic, 1997, UK #55

''Doctor Syntax'' - Setanta, 2002

''A Casual Introduction 1981/2001'' - Setanta, 2002 (collection of Orange Juice and solo work)

''Home Again'' - Heavenly Records, 2007, UK #90

''Losing Sleep'' - Heavenly Records, 2010, UK #54

See also

List of Scottish musicians

List of 1990s one-hit wonders in the United States

List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1990s

List of British comedians

Empire Records

References

External links

Official website

BBC's musical biography of Edwyn Collins

Detailed biography

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:Scottish rock guitarists Category:Scottish rock singers Category:Scottish singer-songwriters Category:People from Edinburgh Category:Stroke survivors Category:People educated at Bearsden Academy

da:Edwyn Collins de:Edwyn Collins es:Edwyn Collins fr:Edwyn Collins nl:Edwyn Collins ja:エドウィン・コリンズ pl:Edwyn Collins sv:Edwyn Collins