Anjelica Huston was born on July 8, 1951, to director and actor John Huston and Russian prima ballerina Enrica (Ricki) Soma. Huston spent most of her childhood overseas, in Ireland and England, and in 1969 first dipped her toe into the acting profession, taking a few small roles in her father’s movies.

While modeling, Huston had a few more small film roles, but decided to focus more on movies in the late 1970s, studied acting and began to get roles. The first notable part was in Bob Rafelson’s remake of the classic 1940s noir movie The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). After a few more years of on-again, off-again supporting work, her father perfectly cast her as calculating, imperious Maerose, the daughter of a Mafia don whose love is scorned by a hit man in his film adaptation of Richard Condon’s Mafia-satire novel Prizzi’s Honor (1985).

Huston thereafter worked prolifically, notable roles including co-star billing in Francis Ford Coppola’s Gardens of Stone (1987), Barry Sonnenfeld’s film versions of the Charles Addams cartoons The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), in which she portrayed Addams matriarch Morticia, Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Probably her finest performance on-screen, however, was as Lilly, the veteran, iron-willed con artist in Stephen Frears’ The Grifters (1990), for which she received another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress.

Her last projects include Material Girls (2006) and Seraphim Falls (2006).

Huston lived with Jack Nicholson from 1973 to 1989. She married sculptor Robert Graham Jr. in 1992, and resides in an unusual dwelling in Venice, Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

• Choke (2008)
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2008)
• The Other Side (2007)
• The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
• Seraphim Falls (2006)
• Material Girls (2006)
• "Huff" (4 episodes, 2006)
• Covert One: The Hades Factor (2006)
• Art School Confidential (2006)
• These Foolish Things (2006)
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
• Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
• Kaena: La prophétie (2003)
• Daddy Day Care (2003)
• Barbie as Rapunzel (2002)
• Blood Work (2002)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
• The Man from Elysian Fields (2001)
• The Mists of Avalon (2001)
• The Golden Bowl (2000)
• Agnes Browne (1999)
• Ever After (1998)
• Phoenix (1998)
• Buffalo '66 (1998)
• The Crossing Guard (1995)
• The Perez Family (1995)
• Buffalo Girls (1995)
• Addams Family Values (1993)
• And the Band Played On (1993)
• Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
• Family Pictures (1993)
• Rabbit Ears: Rip Van Winkle (1992)
• The Addams Family (1991)
• The Grifters (1990)
• The Witches (1990)
• Enemies: A Love Story (1989)
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
• "Lonesome Dove" (1989)
• Mr. North (1988)
• A Handful of Dust (1988)
• The Dead (1987)
• Gardens of Stone (1987)
• Captain EO (1986)
• "Saturday Night Live" (1 episode, 1986)
• Good to Go (1986)
• Prizzi's Honor (1985)
• The Cowboy and the Ballerina (1984)
• "Faerie Tale Theatre" (2 episodes, 1983-1984)
• The Ice Pirates (1984)
• This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
• "Laverne & Shirley" (2 episodes, 1982-1983)
• Frances (1982)
• The Comic Book Kids (1982)
• Rose for Emily (1982)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
• The Last Tycoon (1976)
• Swashbuckler (1976)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• A Walk with Love and Death (1969)
• Hamlet (1969)
• Sinful Davey (1969)
• Casino Royale (1967)

Awards

• Golden Globe Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role "Iron Jawed Angels" 2005
• Women in Film Crystal Award 1996
• Independent Spirit Award Best Actress "The Grifters" 1990
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Actress "The Grifters" and "The Witches" 1990
• National Society of Film Critics Best Actress "The Grifters" 1990
• NATO Female Star of the Year Award 1990
• National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actress "Enemies, a Love Story" 1989
• Independent Spirit Award Best Supporting Actress "The Dead" 1987
• Drama-Logue Award "Tamara" 1985
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress "Prizzi's Honor" 1985
• New York Film Critics Circle Award "Prizzi's Honor" 1985
• Oscar Best Supporting Actress "Prizzi's Honor" 1985