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Ah, Wilderness!
Background:
"If I had to do it over again, I probably would have waited until I had an
education in other areas before I chose to be so resolutely ensconced in the
business of acting. By the time I was 18, I was a goner . . . I didn't want to
do anything else but act." Kyra Sedgwick
New York native, actress Kyra Sedgwick, first gained recognition after
portraying Tom Cruise's high school girl friend in Born on the Fourth of July
(1989). She continued drawing public attention when she played the disobedient
daughter of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in Merchant-Ivory's Mr. and Mrs.
Bridge (1990). In 1995, Sedgwick received even more recognition for her
portrayal as Julia Roberts' crotch-kicking sister in Something to Talk About
(1995), for which she earned a nomination at the Golden Globes.
On the small screen, the cousin of late actor Edie Sedgwick made a name for
herself after having the character role of a Jewish career woman in Miss Rose
White (1992). Sedgwick's brilliant performance handed her another nomination at
the Golden Globes.
On stage, Sedgwick was highly praised when she debuted on Broadway in the
revival of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! (1988). She not only received rave
reviews but she also won a Theatre World Award for her sparkling performance.
As for her private life, Sedgwick is the wife of actor Kevin Bacon and the
mother of daughter Sosie Ruth Bacon and son Travis Sedg Bacon.
Fiddler on the Roof
Childhood and Family:
Daughter to a venture capitalist father and family therapist mother, Kyra
Sedgwick was born on August 19,1965, in New York. Her father divorced Kyra's
mother when she was young and her mother remarried a realtor. Along with two
brothers, Nicco Sedgwick and Rob Sedgwick (actor), Kyra was raised in a wealthy
family.
Young Kyra developed her interest in acting when she was at school and began
performing on stage at a young age. After being seen in a school production of
Fiddler on the Roof, she began considering acting as a career.
Kyra Sedgwick attended Friends Seminary, New York, before studying at the Sarah
Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. While studying, she continued to act
on stage and received a small screen role. After just one semester at Sarah
Lawrence College, Kyra headed to the University of Southern California, in Los
Angeles, and earned a degree in theater. Upon graduation, she began to pursue
acting professionally.
In 1987, Kyra met actor Kevin Bacon while they were filming the TV movie Lemon
Sky. They were married on September 3, 1988. The couple currently resides in
Connecticut with their children, son Travis Sedg Bacon (born in June, 1989) and
daughter Sosie Ruth Bacon (born in March, 1992)
Closer
Career:
First acting in a school production of "Fiddler on the Roof," Kyra Sedgwick
landed her first off-Broadway role in a production of "Time Was" in 1981. A year
later, she made her small screen debut when she won the regular role of Julia
Shearer in the NBC daytime soap Another World (1982-1983). After one year on the
series, she decided to go back to school to hone in on her acting skills.
Returning to acting, Sedgwick made her feature film debut playing Halina, a
polish woman whose love was split by World War II, in War and Love (1985). She
also had a character role in the TV movie Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale
(1985). In 1988, Sedgwick made a name for her self when she returned to stage
debuting on the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Ah, Wilderness!" in which
she shared the stage with Colleen Dewhurst and Campbell Scott. Sedgwick's bright
performance in the play received rave reviews and she was honored with a Theatre
World Award in the following year.
Having small roles from 1986-1987, Sedgwick played a more notable role when she
was cast as a hooker, opposite Mat Dillon and Andrew McCarthy, in Kansas (1988).
The portrayal of Tom Cruise's high school love, Donna, in the blockbuster hit
Born on the Fourth of July (1989), gained Sedgwick her first real taste of an
audience taking notice. In 1990, Sedgwick continued attracting attention when
she gave an unforgettable performance as the disobedient daughter of Paul Newman
and Joanne Woodward in Merchant-Ivory's Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990). She next
teamed up with her husband (Kevin Bacon) in Pyrates (1991, played Sam).
After portraying a spouse in Return to Kansas City, a segment of HBO's Women &
Men II (1991), Sedgwick cemented her position as an actress when she nabbed the
remarkable role of a Jewish career woman named Reyzel Weiss/Rose White in Miss
Rose White (1992). Due to Sedgwick's outstanding performance, she was garnered
with a nomination at the Golden Globes.
Cameron Crowe's Singles (1992), which starred Sedgwick along side Matt Dillon
and Campbell Scott, was Sedgwick's transition into more adult territory. She
then played Nina in the ABC miniseries Family Pictures (1993, opposite Anjelica
Huston), Julia in Heart and Souls (1993) and Blanche in Murder in the First
(1995, costarring Christian Slater and husband Kevin Bacon).
In 1995, Sedgwick received critical acclaim for playing the character of Julia
Roberts' sister in Something to Talk About (1995). Her aggressive character
brought Sedgwick her second Golden Globe nomination.
After a glowing turn as a Southern woman who enjoys the affection of married men
in The Low Life (1995), Sedgwick played a single mother romantically linked to
John Travolta in the feature film Phenomenon (1996). That same year, she both
starred and served as executive producer in the mental illness television drama
Losing Chase (1996, opposite Helen Mirren). With her husband at the helm (Bacon
directed), the film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival before airing on
Showtime. Additionally, with her rising popularity, Sedgwick was fronted for the
clothing line of designer Emmanuel Ungaro.
Reunited with Mirren in Critical Care (1997), Sedgwick next was seen in HBO's
Montana (1998, also an associate producer) and the TV movie Twelfth Night, or
What You Will (1998). Finishing the decade, she hosted Lifetime's documentary
Confronting the Crisis: Childcare in America.
Also continuing acting on stage, Sedgwick appeared as Olivia on Broadway in the
Lincoln Center run of Nicholas Hytner's "Twelfth Night" in 1998. The production
was also aired live on PBS. In 2000, she also had a leading role in Craig Lucas'
Off-Broadway play "Stranger."
Entering the new millennium, Sedwick paired with Julianna Margulies to play a
lesbian couple celebrating Thanksgiving in Gurinder Chadha's ensemble-driven
What's Cooking? (2000). She also starred in the sitcom Talk to Me (2000, played
Janey Munroe). In 2002, Sedgwick starred as Delia, a woman who attempted to run
away from domestic violence, in Personal Velocity: Three Portraits. She received
a big role in the romantic comedy Just a Kiss (2002) before portraying an
AIDS-infected designer's mad sister, Natalie, in Behind the Red Door (2002,
opposite Keifer Sutherland).
After playing Haley, Joel Osment's reckless mother, in Secondhand Lions (2003),
Sedgwick rejoined her husband in the pedophile drama The Woodsman (2004) and
Cavedweller (2004). That same year, the made-for-TV movie Something the Lord
Made (2004) followed. Recently, forty-year old Sedgwick worked with her husband
in Loverboy (2005) and stars as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson in the new TNT
drama series The Closer (2005, also starring Michael Arturo, G.W. Bailey, and
Anthony John Denison).
Awards:
