Early life

Bening was born in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Shirley Katherine (née Ashley; b. 1929) and Arnett Grant Bening. Her mother was a church singer and soloist, and her father was a sales training consultant and insurance salesman. Her parents, natives of Iowa, were practicing Episcopalians and conservative Republicans. She is of mostly German and English descent. Bening has one sister, Jane, and two brothers, Bradley and Byron. The family moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1959, where she spent her early childhood. In 1965, her father took a job with a company in San Diego, California, and they moved there. She began acting in junior high school, playing the lead in The Sound of Music. She graduated in 1975 from Patrick Henry High School, where she studied drama. She then spent a year working as a cook on a charter boat taking fishing parties out on the Pacific Ocean, and scuba diving for recreation. Bening attended San Diego Mesa College, then completed an academic degree in theatre arts at San Francisco State University.

Career

Prior to becoming a film actress, Bening was a member of the acting company at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco while studying acting as part of the Advanced Theatre Training Program. There, she starred in such productions as Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth. Bening also starred in productions of Pygmalion and The Cherry Orchard at the Denver Center Theatre Company during the 1985-86 season. She made her Broadway debut in 1987, garnering a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Coastal Disturbances.

Bening made her film debut in The Great Outdoors (1988). Her second film appearance was as the Marquise de Merteuil in Valmont (1989), opposite Colin Firth. Her breakthrough role was in The Grifters (1990), which starred John Cusack and Anjelica Huston, and earned Bening a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1991, she portrayed Virginia Hill in Barry Levinson's biopic Bugsy, alongside Warren Beatty. Later, she appeared in Regarding Henry with Harrison Ford. In 1994, Bening and Beatty starred in Love Affair, which also featured Katharine Hepburn. In 1995, Bening appeared in The American President, followed by Tim Burton's sci-fi spoof Mars Attacks! (1996). In 1998, she co-starred with Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis in The Siege.

The biggest critical and commercial success of her career thus far was the 1999 film American Beauty, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and was directed by Sam Mendes. For this performance, Bening was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. Bening also starred in the films In Dreams (1999) and What Planet Are You From? (2000). Bening played Sue Barlow, Charley Waite's love interest, in Open Range (2003). In 2004, she played the title role in Being Julia, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of Jean Harris the 2005 HBO film Mrs. Harris. In 2006, she replaced Julianne Moore to star in the film adaptation of Running with Scissors. In December of that year, Bening hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guests Gwen Stefani and Akon. In 2008, Bening starred in The Women. In 2009, Bening starred in a new interpretation of the Euripides classic Medea at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The following year, she received positive reviews for her performance in the independent film Mother and Child (2009).

In 2010, she starred in Joanna Murray-Smith’s comedy The Female of the Species at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Later that year, Bening received strong critical acclaim for her performance in The Kids Are All Right, with several reviewers noting that she "deserves an Oscar" for her "sublime" performance. For that role, Bening won a second Golden Globe Award, and received Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. In 2012, Bening's audiobook recording of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway was released at Audible.com. It was announced in May 2014 that she would join John Lithgow in Shakespeare's King Lear at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of the Public Theatre's Free Shakespeare in the Park. It marked her first New York stage appearance in 20 years.

Personal life

Bening's first husband was choreographer J. Steven White from 1984 to 1991. She has been married to actor Warren Beatty since 1992. They have four children: Kathlyn Elizabeth (born January 8, 1992), Benjamin (born August 23, 1994), Isabel (born January 11, 1997), and Ella (born April 8, 2000).

Bening was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church Monastery.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	The Great Outdoors	Kate Craig
1989	Valmont	Marquise de Merteuil
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Evelyn Ames	Cameo
1990	The Grifters	Myra Langtry
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	Ruth Merrill
1991	Regarding Henry	Sarah Turner
1991	Bugsy	Virginia Hill
1994	Love Affair	Terry McKay
1995	Richard III	Queen Elizabeth
1995	The American President	Sydney Ellen Wade
1996	Mars Attacks!	Barbara Land
1998	The Siege	Elise Kraft / Sharon Bridger
1999	In Dreams	Claire Cooper
1999	American Beauty	Carolyn Burnham
2000	What Planet Are You From?	Susan Anderson
2003	Open Range	Sue Barlow
2004	Being Julia	Julia Lambert
2006	Running with Scissors	Deirdre Burroughs
2008	The Women	Sylvie Fowler
2009	Mother and Child	Karen
2010	The Kids Are All Right	Dr. Nicole Allgood
2012	Ruby Sparks	Gertrude
2012	Ginger & Rosa	May Bella
2012	Girl Most Likely	Zelda
2013	The Face of Love	Nikki Lostrom
2014	The Search	Helen
2015	Danny Collins	Mary Sinclair
2016	Rules Don't Apply	Lucy Mabrey	Completed
2016	The Seagull	Irina Arkadina	In post-production
2016	20th Century Women	Dorothea Fields	In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Manhunt for Claude Dallas	Ann Tillman	Television film
1987	Miami Vice	Vicky	Episode: "Red Tape"
1987	Wiseguy	Karen Leland	Episode: "One on One"
2001-03	Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat	Jun (voice)	2 episodes
2002-03	Liberty's Kids	Abigail Adams (voice)	5 episodes
2004	The Sopranos	Herself	Episode: "The Test Dream"
2005	Mrs. Harris	Jean Harris	Television film
2006	Saturday Night Live	Herself - Host	Episode: "Annette Bening/Gwen Stefani & Akon"

Awards and honors

Year	Work	Award	Result
1990	Valmont	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actress	Nominated
1991	The Grifters	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress	2nd Place
		National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress	Won
1992		BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Nominated
	Valmont, The Grifters, Postcards from the Edge and Guilty by Suspicion	London Film Critics' Circle Award for Newcomer of the Year	Won
	Bugsy	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama	Nominated
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss	Nominated
1996	The American President	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Nominated
		American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture	Nominated
1999	The Siege	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Suspense	Nominated
	American Beauty	San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Won
2000	Academy Award for Best Actress	Nominated
	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama	Nominated
	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role	Won
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role	Won
	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Won
	American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture	Won
	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Drama	Nominated
	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
	Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
	London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress	Won
	Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast	Won
	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
	Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama	Nominated
	Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	3rd Place
2004	Open Range	Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	Nominated
		Bronze Wrangler for Outstanding Theatrical Motion Picture	Won
	Being Julia	Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role	Nominated
		Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress	2nd Place
		Hollywood Film Festival Award for Actress of the Year	Won
		National Board of Review Award for Best Actress	Won
		Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Won
		Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
2005		Academy Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Won
		Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role	Nominated
		Bangkok International Film Festival Award for Best Actress	Won
		Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year	Nominated
		Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Won
		Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Best Actress	Won
2006	Mrs. Harris	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or a Movie	Nominated
		Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
2007		Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Nominated
		Prism Award for Performance in a TV Movie	Nominated
2006	Running with Scissors	Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Nominated
		St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
2007		Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Nominated
2009	The Women	Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress	Nominated
2010	The Kids Are All Right	Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actress	Won
		EDA Female Focus for Women's Image Award	Won
		EDA Female Focus Award for Actress Defying Age and Ageism and Unforgettable Moment and Bravest Performance	Nominated
		Award Circuit Community Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	2nd Place
		Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress	2nd Place
		Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Performance	Nominated
		Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress	Won
		North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	3rd Place
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble	Nominated
		Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Nominated
		Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Comedic Actress	Won
		Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble	Nominated
2011		Academy Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Won
		BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role	Nominated
		Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble	Nominated
		Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association Award for Film Performance of the Year	Won
		Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead	Nominated
		Iowa Film Critics Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress	Won
		Italian Online Movie Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year	Won
		National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress	2nd Place
		Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress	Nominated
		Santa Barbara International Film Festival Award for Best Actress	Won
		Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role	Nominated
		Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Nominated
		Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress	Nominated
2014	Ginger & Rosa	Women Film Critics Circle Award for Women's Work/Best Ensemble	Nominated
	The Face of Love	Women's Image Network Award for Actress Feature Film	Nominated

• 2006: Bening was awarded the Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award
• 2006: Bening was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• 2014: Bening was recognized by Elle during the Women in Hollywood Awards, honoring women for their outstanding achievements in film, spanning all aspects of the motion picture industry, including acting, directing, and producing

Charities

Annette Bening supports the following charitable causes: Cancer, Diabetes, AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]