Felicity Huffman

Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo on the ABC TV series Desperate Housewives.
Huffman began her acting career in theatre and in the 1990s also had many supporting roles in film and television. She starred as Dana Whitaker in the ABCcomedy-drama Sports Night from 1998 to 2000, which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. She is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), for which she earned the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Seriesfor the debut season of the series, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards and three consecutive Golden Globe nominations.
Huffman drew critical praise for her performance as a transgender woman in the independent film Transamerica (2005). The role earned her a Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, National Board of Review, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Huffman has also starred in such films as Reversal of Fortune (1990), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Magnolia (1999), Path to War (2002), Georgia Rule (2007), Phoebe in Wonderland (2008), Rudderless(2014), and Cake (2014). From 2015 to 2017, she starred in a third ABC series, the anthology crime drama American Crime, for which she received critical acclaim including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Screen Actors Guild nomination.
== Early life ==
Huffman was born in Bedford, New York, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Grace Valle (née Ewing) (1921–2009)[1] and Moore Peters Huffman (1910–1987), a banker and partner at Morgan Stanley.[2][3] Her parents divorced a year after her birth, and she was raised mostly by her mother.[4] She has six sisters, Mariah, Betsy, Grace, Isabel, Jessie, Jane (1949–2013),[5] and a brother, Moore Jr. In the 1970s her mother left New York and bought property in Snowmass, Colorado, where Felicity and her siblings spent their youth.[6][7] Her great-grandfather was Gershom Moore Peters (1843–1919), founder of the Peters Cartridge Company and prominent Baptist minister, author of The Master.[8]Another great-grandfather, Frederick Berthold Ewing, graduated from Yale University and became a prominent St. Louis businessman. Her great-great-grandfather was Joseph Warren King (1814–1885), founder of the King Mills Powder Company.[9] She has German, English, Scots-Irish, Scottish, and French-Canadian ancestry.
Huffman attended The Putney School, a private boarding high school in Putney, Vermont and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan in 1981. She attended New York University, Circle in the Square and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.[10][11]
== Career ==
=== Early career in theatre ===
Huffman made her debut on stage in 1982 and in the 1980s and 1990s worked as a rule on stage productions.[12] In 1988, she debuted on Broadway in the role as Karen in David Mamet's play Speed the Plow.[11][12] In 1995, Huffman won Obie Award for her performance in the play The Cryptogram by David Mamet.[12]In 1999 she starred in the premiere of David Mamet's play Boston Marriage, about the daringly intimate relationship between two turn-of-the-century women, as well as in several other major theatrical productions.[13][14]
=== Earliest television and film roles ===
Huffman debuted on the big screen in 1988 with a small role in Mamet's film Things Change. Two years later, she appeared as Minnie, a Harvard law school student in the courtroom drama, Reversal of Fortune. Her other credits include 1992 thriller Quicksand: No Escape with Donald Sutherland and Tim Matheson, The Water Engine opposite William H. Macy, and supporting roles on The Heart of Justice (1992), Hackers (1995), Harrison: Cry of the City (1996) and The Underworld (1997).
Huffman starred on the television mini-series Golden Years, based on the novel by Stephen King in 1991. In 1994, she starred in the ABC pilot Thunder Alley as Ed Asner's daughter, but was replaced in subsequent episodes by Diane Venorawhen the series began.[12] During the 1990s, she appeared mostly in guest roles on such shows as The X-Files, Early Edition, Chicago Hope and Law & Order. In 1997, she starred in Mamet's film The Spanish Prisoner.[12][15]
From 1998 to 2000, she portrayed Dana Whitaker in the series Sports Night, for which she received several awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.[11] After the completion of Sports Night, she gave birth to her first child and soon returned to work. In 2001, she starred on the not picked up CBS pilot Heart Department In 2003, she starred in Showtime's miniseries Out of Order.
In 1999, she appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson's ensemble drama Magnolia and television adaptation of 1938 movie A Slight Case of Murder along with William H. Macy.[12] In 2002 she played Lady Bird Johnson in the HBOaward-winning movie Path to War and made a cameo appearance in Door to Door, which starred, and was written by, her husband.[12] She also starred in Snap Decision (2001) with Mare Winningham, Raising Helen (2004) as Kate Hudson's character's older sister, and Christmas with the Kranks (2004), as the best friend of Jamie Lee Curtis's character.
=== Desperate Housewives and Transamerica ===
After a recurring role on the NBC sitcom Frasier, Huffman landed a leading role in an ABC comedy series Desperate Housewives, co-starring with Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, and Eva Longoria.[11] Huffman won an Emmy Award for her work on Desperate Housewives (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series) in 2005, as well as two 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards (Best Actress - Comedy Series and part of Best Ensemble - Comedy Series) in 2006 and received several other awards. A report in November 2010 suggested that Huffman, along with co-star Teri Hatcher, would be quitting Desperate Housewives,[16] but ABC denied the claim.[17] The series ended in May 2012, after eight seasons.[18]
In 2005, Huffman starred in the independent drama Transamerica, playing Bree, a pre-operative transgender woman who, on the brink of her transforming surgery, discovered that in her youth she had fathered a son - who is now a troubled teen hustler on the run.[12] Huffman's performance in Transamerica was praised by many critics and garnered her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as nominations for Best Actress (Screen Actors Guild) and Best Actress (Academy Awards), and several other awards and nominations. Huffman is now a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[19]
In 2007, Huffman starred in Garry Marshall's Georgia Rule with Jane Fonda and Lindsay Lohan, and 2008 on independent drama Phoebe in Wonderland. She made a film, Lesster, as a writer, director and actress in 2010.[20]
=== Subsequent career and American Crime ===
Huffman said that after seeing her as Lynette Scavo on Housewives for eight years it was difficult for audiences to think of her as anything else. She said that's why she was eager for a role that's a distinctive departure.[21] After Desperate Housewives finale, Huffman reunited with playwright David Mamet in the comedy play November. The play debuted on September 26 and ended on November 4, 2012.[22] In 2012, she also appeared in the ensemble cast independent movie, Trust Me, opposite Clark Gregg.[23]
On February 15, 2013, Huffman signed on for the lead role of the Fox drama pilot Boomerang, directed by Craig Brewer. The show centers on Margie Hamilton, a spy and master of disguise, who is the matriarch of the Hamilton clan, a "briskly professional assassin who can kill and dispose of a suspected terrorist in the afternoon – then switch to wife and mother mode without a hitch."[24] However, Fox did not pick up Boomerang as a new series.[25]
In 2013, Huffman starred in the independent drama Rudderless,[26] and in the adventure film Big Game opposite Samuel L. Jackson.[27][28] She also starred in another independent drama Stealing Cars,[29] and was cast in the comedy film Zendog.[30] In April 2014 she was cast in independent film Cake opposite Jennifer Aniston.[31]
In 2014, Huffman was cast as the lead in the ABC anthology legal drama pilot American Crime created by John Ridley.[32][33][34] The pilot was picked up for a series on May 2014.[35][36][37] On October 2, 2014, it was announced that Huffman would be star and executive producer alongside Carol Mendelsohn in her untitled drama about a special agent (Huffman) who is the fearless leader of a team of young agents on the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force. The project was developed for ABC, but was not green-lighted for 2015–16 television season.[38] American Crime debuted on ABC in March, 2015 and Huffman received critical acclaim for her performance as an antagonistic character.[39][40][41] Robert Bianco from USA Today said in his review "A triumph for Oscar winner John Ridley, who created, produced and directed American Crime, and a reconfirmation that Felicity Huffman is one of the best actors we have... In no case is that truer than with Huffman's Barb, who is the morally questionable center of the story. Barb is a Lifetime movie heroine: a tough, divorced mother who raised her children alone, and is fighting now to bring her son's murderer to justice. Except this isn't that kind of show, and Barb's battles have not just made her stronger; they've made her hate all the people she's felt she had to fight. Which is why Huffman's gut-wrenching performance is so startling. A bundle of barely concealed fury, Huffman forces us to invest in a woman who thinks her bigotry makes her not just right, but noble."[42]
In 2018, Huffman was cast in two Netflix projects: comedy-drama film Otherhood based on the novel Whatever Makes You Happy by William Sutcliffe,[43] and Ava DuVernay' miniseries Central Park 5 about the famous Central Park jogger case from 1989 in which a jogger was attacked in Central Park in New York City.[43] She also starred in the second season of the Epixcomedy-drama Get Shorty.[44]
== Personal life ==
Huffman dated actor William H. Macy on-and-off for 15 years[45] before they married on September 6, 1997. They have two daughters, Sophia Grace (born December 1, 2000) and Georgia Grace (born March 14, 2002)[11] She has appeared on television, in movies, and on stage many times with her husband; the couple each received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 7, 2012.[46][47]
Huffman identifies as pro-choice, and has campaigned for women's rights on behalf of NARAL.[48] In 2005, Huffman revealed that she had suffered from both anorexia and bulimia in her late teens and twenties.[49]
Huffman is the co-author of the self-help book A Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend.[50] On March 1, 2012, Huffman launched What The Flicka, a website dedicated to women and mothers where she is a regular contributor.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Film 	Role 	Notes
1988	Things Change 	Wheel of Fortune Girl 	
1990	Reversal of Fortune 	Minnie 	
1992	Quicksand: No Escape 	Julianna Reinhardt 	
1995	Hackers 	Attorney 	
1997	The Spanish Prisoner 	Pat McCune 	
1999	Magnolia 	Cynthia 	
2002	Door to Door 	Joey's Mom 	Cameo
2003	House Hunting 	Sheila 	
2004	Raising Helen 	Lindsay Davis 	
2004	Christmas with the Kranks 	Merry 	
2005	Transamerica 	Sabrina 'Bree' Osbourne	African-American Film Critics Association for Best Actress
Bangkok International Film Festival for Best Actress
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival for Best Actress
Gold Derby Award for Lead Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress
Mill Valley Film Festival for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
Palm Springs International Film Festival for Breakthrough Performance
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Lead Actress
San Diego Film Festival for Best Actress
Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Tribeca Film Festival for Best Actress in a Narrative Feature
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Austin Film Critics Association for Best Actress
Nominated – Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Italian Online Cinema Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Online Film & Television Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated – St. Louis Film Critics Association for Best Actress
Nominated – Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
2006	Choose Your Own Adventure: The Abominable Snowman	Pilot Nima 	Voice
2007	Darius Goes West 	Herself 	
2007	Georgia Rule 	Lilly 	Nominated – Prism Award for Performance in a Feature Film
2008	Phoebe in Wonderland 	Hillary Lichten 	
2010	Lesster 	Mrs. Geary 	Also writer and director
2013	Trust Me 	Agnes 	
2014	Rudderless 	Emily 	
2014	Big Game 	CIA Director 	
2014	Cake 	Annette 	
2015	Stealing Cars 	Kimberly Wyatt 	
2015	Zendog 	Nicole 	
2017	Krystal 	Poppy 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1978 	ABC Afterschool Special 	Sara Greene 	Episode: "A Home Run for Love"
1988 	Lip Service 	Woman P.A. 	Television film
1991 	Golden Years 	Terry Spann 	TV miniseries
1992 	Raven 	Sharon Prior 	Episode: "And Everything Nice"
1992 	The Water Engine 	Dance Hall Girl 	Television film
1992 	The Heart of Justice 	Annie 	Television film
1992, 1997	Law & Order 	Hillary Colson / Diane Perkins	Episodes: "Helpless" and "Working Mom"
1993 	The X-Files 	Dr. Nancy Da Silva 	Episode: "Ice"
1996 	Early Edition 	Det. Tagliatti 	Episode: "Pilot"
1996 	Bedtime 	Donna 	TV miniseries
1996 	Harrison: Cry of the City 	Peggy Macklin 	Television film
1997 	Chicago Hope 	Ellie Stockton 	Episode: "Take My Wife, Please"
1998–2000 	Sports Night 	Dana Whitaker 	Series regular, 45 episodes
Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Actress in a New Comedy Series (1999)
Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series (1999)
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical (2000)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2000)
Nominated – Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series (1999, 2000)
1999 	A Slight Case of Murder 	Kit Wannamaker 	Television film
2001 	The West Wing 	Ann Stark 	Episode: "The Leadership Breakfast"
2001 	Snap Decision 	Carrie Dixon 	Television film
2002 	Path to War 	Lady Bird Johnson 	Television film
2002 	Girls Club 	Marcia Holden 	Episode: "Pilot"
2003 	Out of Order 	Lorna Colm 	TV miniseries
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television (2004)
2002, 2003	Kim Possible 	Dr. Betty Director (voice) 	Episodes: "Number One" and "The Ron Factor"
2003 	Frasier 	Julia Wilcox 	Recurring role, 8 episodes
2004 	The D.A. 	Charlotte Ellis 	Recurring role, 3 episodes
2004 	Reversible Errors 	Gillian Sullivan 	Television film
Nominated – Prism Award for Performance in a Television Movie or Miniseries (2005)
2004–2012 	Desperate Housewives 	Lynette Scavo 	Series regular, 180 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2005)
Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Series — Comedy or Musical (2005)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (2006)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005, 2006)
Nominated – Gold Derby Award for Comedy Lead Actress (2005, 2007)
Nominated – Gold Derby Award for Ensemble of the Year (2006)
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical (2005-2007)
Nominated – Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series (2004-2007)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2007)
Nominated – Prism Award for Performance in a Comedy Series (2005)
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Series — Comedy or Musical(2007, 2011)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (2007)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2006-2009)
2006 	Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip	Herself 	Episode: "Pilot"
2015–2017 	American Crime 	Barb Hanlon
Leslie Graham
Jeanette Hesby	Season 1 (11 episodes)
Season 2 (10 episodes)
Season 3 (8 episodes)
Women's Image Network Award for Outstanding Actress Made for Television Movie/Miniseries (2015)
Nominated – Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries (2016)
Nominated – Critics Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Movie/Limited Series (2015, 2016)
Nominated – Gold Derby Award for TV Movie/Mini Lead Actress (2015, 2016)
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie (2016, 2017)
Nominated – Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture or Limited Series (2015-2017)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie (2015-2017)
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Series — Drama (2015, 2016)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series (2017)
2017 	BoJack Horseman 	Herself (voice) 	Episodes: "Stupid Piece of Sh*t" and "The Judge"
2018 	Get Shorty 	Special Agent Clara Dillard 	10 episodes
==Filmography In Idea Wiki ==
*MoeMom (TV Series) - Monica Vandecamp (Moe)
== Awards and nominations ==
=== Honors ===
* 1998: Honored with the Grand Jury Award – Comedy (Performance) by the US Comedy Arts Festival.
* 2012: Inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame receiving a star for her contribution to Television — received the 2,463rd star located at 7072 Hollywood, Blvd.[51]