Born: August 19, 1965
Age: 59
Birthplace: New York City, New York, United States
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick (born August 19, 1965) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010. The series ended on August 13, 2012, following the completion of its seventh season.
She has appeared in a number of films, including; Born on the Fourth of July, Phenomenon, and Secondhand Lions.
Sedgwick was born in New York City, the daughter of Patricia (née Rosenwald), a speech teacher and educational/family therapist, and Henry Dwight Sedgwick V, a venture capitalist. Her father was Episcopalian and of English heritage, and her mother was Jewish. Sedgwick has identified herself as Jewish and has stated that she participates in Passover seders.
On her father's side, she is a descendant of Judge Theodore Sedgwick, Endicott Peabody (the founder of the Groton School), William Ellery (a signer of the Declaration of Independence), John Lathrop (American minister) (1740-1816), of Boston, Massachusetts and is the great-granddaughter of Henry Dwight Sedgwick III, and thus the corresponding niece to his brother Ellery Sedgwick, owner/editor (1908-1938) of The Atlantic Monthly. Sedgwick is also a sister of actor Robert Sedgwick, half-sister of jazz guitarist Mike Stern, the first cousin once removed of actress Edie Sedgwick, and a niece of the writer John Sedgwick. She is also the aunt of R&B/pop singer George Nozuka and his younger singer/songwriter brother Justin Nozuka (their mother, Holly, is Sedgwick's half-sister).
Sedgwick's parents separated when she was 4 and divorced when she was 6; her mother subsequently married Ben Heller, an art dealer.
Sedgwick graduated from Friends Seminary and attended Sarah Lawrence College before transferring to the University of Southern California, where she graduated with a theater degree.
Sedgwick made her debut at the age of 16 on the television soap opera Another World. In 1988 she made a strong impression in a TV version of Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky. During the 1990s she appeared in several Hollywood movies, including Singles (1992), Heart and Souls (1993), Something to Talk About (1995) and Phenomenon, in which she played the love interest of John Travolta's character. She starred in the Emmy Award-winning 1992 made-for-TV film Miss Rose White as a Jewish immigrant who comes to terms with her ethnicity. She played the parts of Mae Coleman in 2003's Secondhand Lions and Stella Peck in the 2007 film The Game Plan. She also starred alongside her husband Kevin Bacon in the 2004 film The Woodsman. She dubbed the voice of Batwoman in the animated movie Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.
Sedgwick starred in the television series The Closer from 2005 to 2012. In 2007 she began earning roughly US$300,000 per episode. Over the life of the series she was nominated for and won several awards for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. She received a Golden Globe award in 2007 for her performance as lead actress and won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2010. In 2009, Sedgwick was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television.
The Closer ended on August 13, 2012, following the completion of its seventh season; the series's broadcaster, TNT, said that the decision to retire the series was made by Sedgwick. A sequel series starring most of the same cast called Major Crimes continues in its place.
Sedgwick produced the television series Proof for TNT which debuted in 2015 for one season.
Sedgwick married actor Kevin Bacon on September 4, 1988. Sedgwick learned in 2011, via her appearance on the U.S. TV show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, that she and Kevin Bacon are 9th cousins, once removed.
The couple have two children, Travis Sedgwick Bacon (born June 23, 1989) and Sosie Ruth Bacon (born March 15, 1992). The family resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1985 | War and Love | Halina | |
1986 | Tai-Pan | Tess Brock | |
1988 | Kansas | Prostitute drifter | |
1989 | Born on the Fourth of July | Donna | |
1990 | Mr. and Mrs. Bridge | Ruth Bridge | |
1991 | Pyrates | Sam | |
1992 | Singles | Linda Powell | |
1992 | Oliver Stone: Inside Out | Herself | |
1993 | Heart and Souls | Julia | |
1995 | Murder in the First | Blanche | |
1995 | Something to Talk About | Emma Rae King | |
1995 | The Low Life | Bevan | |
1996 | Losing Chase | Elizabeth Cole | |
1996 | Phenomenon | Lace Pennamin | |
1997 | Critical Care | Felicia Potter | |
1998 | Montana | Claire Kelsky | |
2000 | Labor Pains | Sarah Raymond | |
2000 | What's Cooking? | Rachel Seelig | |
2000 | Conversations with Jon Turteltaub | Herself | |
2002 | Personal Velocity: Three Portraits | Delia Shunt | |
2002 | Just a Kiss | Halley | |
2003 | Secondhand Lions | Mae | |
2003 | Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman | Batwoman | Voice role |
2003 | Behind the Red Door | Natalie Haddad | |
2004 | The Woodsman | Vicki | |
2004 | Something the Lord Made | Mary Blalock | |
2004 | Cavedweller | Delia Byrd | |
2005 | Loverboy | Emily | |
2007 | The Game Plan | Stella Peck | |
2008 | Justice League: The New Frontier | Lois Lane | Voice role |
2009 | Gamer | Gina Parker Smith | |
2010 | Chlorine | Georgie | |
2012 | Man on a Ledge | Suzie Morales | |
2012 | The Possession | Stephanie Brenek | |
2013 | Kill Your Darlings | Marian Carr (uncredited) | |
2013 | Chlorine | Georgie | |
2014 | The Humbling | Louise Trenner | |
2014 | Reach Me | Colette | |
2014 | Big Sky | Dee | |
2014 | The Road Within | Dr. Mia Rose | |
2015 | 1 Chisper | Stephanie | |
2015 | Cop Car | Dispatch | |
2016 | The Edge of Seventeen |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Another World | Julia Shearer | Episode: "July 30, 1982" |
1985 | ABC Afterschool Special | Cindy Eller | Episode: "Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale" |
1985 | Miami Vice | Sarah MacPhail | Episode: "Phil the Shill" |
1986 | Amazing Stories | Dora Johnson | Episode: "Thanksgiving" |
1988 | Lemon Sky | Carol | Television movie |
1991 | Women & Men 2 | Arlene Megeffin | Television movie |
1992 | Miss Rose White | Rose White | Television movie |
1993 | Family Pictures | Nina Eberlin | Television movie |
2000 | Talk to Me | Janey Munroe | 3 episodes |
2001 | American Experience | Herself | Episode: "War Letters" |
2002 | Ally McBeal | Helena Greene | Episode: "All of Me" |
2002 | Door to Door | Shelly Soenpiet Brady | Television movie |
2002 | Stanley | Park Ranger | Episode: "Woodpecker Woes" |
2002 | The Greatest | Herself | Episode: "100 Sexiest Artists" |
2003 | Queens Supreme | ADA Quinn Coleman | 6 episodes |
2004 | Something the Lord Made | Mary Blalock | Television movie |
2005-12 | The Closer | Brenda Leigh Johnson | 109 episodes |
2014-15 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Deputy Police Chief Madeleine Wuntch | 9 episodes |
Until 2011, Sedgwick had made television history, being the only female actor to be nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award every year that her show aired in the eligibility period. However, that came to an end in 2011 when Sedgwick failed to receive a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the 2011 Emmy Awards.
Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film | Miss Rose White | Nominated |
1994 | Saturn Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Heart and Souls | Nominated |
1996 | American Comedy Awards | Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Something to Talk About | Nominated |
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Something to Talk About | Nominated | |
Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture | Something to Talk About | Nominated | |
1997 | MTV Movie Awards | Best Kiss | Phenomenon | Nominated |
2005 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Female Lead | Cavedweller | Nominated |
Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture | The Woodsman | Nominated | |
Best Actress - Television Series Drama | The Closer | Won | ||
2006 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | |
Gracie Allen Awards | Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama Series | Won | ||
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Satellite Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Won | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
Television Critics Awards | Individual Achievement in Drama | Nominated | ||
2007 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Won | |
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Satellite Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
2008 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | |
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Satellite Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
2009 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | |
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
People's Choice Awards | Favorite TV Drama Diva | Won | ||
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
2010 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | |
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Won | ||
Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
2011 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | |
Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | ||
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
2012 | Saturn Awards | Best Actress on Television | Nominated | |
Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated |
Charities
Kyra Sedgwick supports the following charitable cause: Environment.