The bestLaura Linneymovies and TV shows include several award-winning films and one of the best TV series of the last decade. Linney studied acting at the Julliard School and made her New York stage debut in 1990. She then got some early movie parts in popular films likeLorenzo’s OilandSearching for Bobby Fisherbefore she got her first major TV role inTales of the City, which she reprised a few years later in the follow-up,More Tales from the City. From there, she started getting regular movie work.
She got some roles in some major hits, with parts inCongo, Primal Fear, andAbsolute Power, and then earned her major breakout as the female lead inThe Truman Show. After that, she began to see more critical success.She has three Academy Award nominations(You Can Count on Me, Kinsey,andThe Savages) and has won four Emmys in nine nominations, with wins forThe Big CandJohn Adamsand two nominations for her most famousrecent role in the Netflix series,Ozark.
For many people,Love Actuallyis a holiday staple, a Christmas movie that is a huge ensemble rom-com with an incredible cast. Among the main stars are Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Laura Linney, and many more. There are nine different storylines playing out in the film, with them crossing paths more than once throughout the running time.Linney plays Sarah, who is in love with her co-worker Karl(Rodrigo Santoro), but their relationship is interrupted by her brother, who has mental health issues.
What Laura Linney Thinks About Her Sad Love Actually Storyline
Laura Linney appears in Love Actually as Sarah in the ensemble cast, who has one of the more heartbreaking stories. What does the actress think of it?
Linney’s Sarah has the saddest ending inLove Actually, but that doesn’t stop the movie from being a Christmas favorite for many people. It made $250 million at the box office with a $40 million budget and earned two Golden Globes nominations (for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Screenplay). There was also a short film made in 29017 that showed what happened to several characters, and Sarah ended up married (to Patrick Dempsey).
Primal Fearis an incredible legal thriller from 1996 that ended up as the breakout movie of Edward Norton’s career. In this film, Norton plays Aaron Stampler, a 19-year-old altar boy from Kentucky who has been arrested for murdering a beloved Archbishop. An arrogant Chicago defense attorney named Martin Vail (Richard Gere) agrees to take the case and builds a defense on the idea that the amnesiac Aaron is not guilty and that the Archbishop was sexually assaulting young boys in the church.
Primal Fear Ending, Explained
Primal Fear launched Edward Norton’s career. What happens in the shocking twist ending of the ’90s legal thriller, and does it have a deeper meaning?
Primal Fearhas one of the mostunexpected twists in movie history, and it was that twist that made Norton a star. Laura Linney hada supporting role as Janet Venable, the prosecutor who previously had a relationship with Martin Vail. It was a moment with Janet that kicked off the big second-half twist that changed everything we thought we knew about the movie. Norton earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Noah Baumbach has directed several of the best independent movies of the 2000s, and one of his masterpieces wasThe Squid and the Whale. This film stars Jeff Daniels as Bernard Berkman, an intellectual aspiring novelist who lives with his third wife Joan and their two sons (Jesse Eisenberg’s Walt and Owen Kline’s Frank).Laura Linney stars as Joan, and when she publishes her own workto widespread acclaim, it causes tension as Bernard still has not found success with his dreams.
When they decide to separate, their relationship becomes even more combative, and their kids begin to rebel. The film received critical acclaim, with a 91% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, with critics praising its look at how divorce can affect a family and cause children to struggle to understand what is happening between their parents. Noah Baumbach earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, while both Daniels and Linney earned Golden Globes nominations.
The Savagesis a 2007 dark comedy-drama, not to be confused with the 2012 Oliver Stone movie (simply titledSavages). In this movie, Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman star as two single siblings, Wendy and Jon Savage, who are drifting apart but have to reunite to help care for their fatherLenny (Philip Bosco), who is developing dementia. They are emotionally stunted, thanks to their father’s abuse when they were kids and their mother abandoning them.
While that is the setup, this movie is mostly about Jon and Wendy struggling to come to terms with their lives and their inability to build lasting relationships with the people they meet along the way. Linney was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance, while Tamara Jenkings earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Linney also took home Best Actress from the Women Film Critics Circle Awards.
Kinseyis a biographical drama about the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of sexology. Liam Neeson stars as Kinsey, and the movie starts with an interview with him before moving into flashbacks of his childhood and young adulthood, focusing on the events that led to his esteemed position.Laura Linney stars inKinseyas Clara McMillen, a student in his classat the University of Indiana whom he falls in love with and marries.
The movie follows the highs (his successful books) and lows (the Communist Scare and Lavender Scare by Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunts). Despite its prestigious reputation, it only received one Oscar nomination. However, it was a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Laura Linney. Linney and Neeson also received Golden Globe nominations, and the movie received a nomination there as well for Best Motion Picture - Drama. Linney was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Board of Review.
In 2013, Laura Linney took on the lead role in a dramedy television series calledThe Big C. As the title suggests, this is a show about cancer,as Linney plays a high school teacher in Minnesota who is diagnosed with terminal melanoma. However, she hides this from her husband (Oliver Platt), brother (John Benjamin Hickey), and son (Gabriel Basso), all of whom have problems of their own. As she battles with the cancer diagnosis, she begins to do things she always wanted, but to the confusion of those around her.
The series lasted for four seasons and 40 episodes and aired on Showtime. Critics were mixed on the series, with many complaining that the cancer storyline was unoriginal and made many of the characters seem dim. However, the series received praise for Laura Linney and Oliver Platt’s performances. Linney earned a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2011 and won in 2013, while she won a Golden Globe in 2011 and was nominated again in 2012.
The first major critical acclaim that Laura Linney earned in a movie came in 1998 when she took on a major role in the Peter Weir movieThe Truman Show. The film follows a man named Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) who does not know that he has lived his entire life on a giant soundstage, where he’s been the star of his own reality TV show based on his life since he was a child. Everyone in his life is an actor, although he is unaware of this,and Laura Linney plays his wife, Meryl.
In the real world, Meryl’s real name is Hannah Gill, and while she and Truman married (as the script required), Truman was actually in love with a woman named Sylvia (Natascha McEthone), who was just an extra in the series and was fired when she tried to tell Truman the truth. Critics praised the movie, calling it “thought-provoking,” while also praising Carrey’s performance.The Truman Showreceived three Oscar nominations and six Golden Globe nominations, with Carrey winning Best Actor.
Based on the Dennis Lehane novel of the same name,Mystic Riveris a neo-noir mystery drama that follows the death of a local girl and how it destroys the lives of three neighborhood childhood friends. The main cast features Sean Penn as Jimmy, an ex-convict business owner, Kevin Bacon as Sean, a State Police detective, and Tim Robbins as Dave, a man who never got over his childhood trauma when he was abducted and sexually abused by two older men. When Jimmy’s daughter is killed, he believes Dave did it.
Mystic River Ending Explained
Mystic River delivers one of the most heartbreaking endings of any crime thriller and highlights Clint Eastwood’s talent for character psychology.
The film shows how Jimmy is blinded by rage and a need for revenge while Sean wants to find out who the killer really is, if it isn’t Dave. The entire story plays on childhood trauma and the inability to escape the sins of the past.Laura Linney stars as Annabeth, Jimmy’s wife, who is blunt and takes no nonsense from anyone, sticking by Jimmy, even when he steps over the line. Critics praised the movie, especially its cast, and it received six Oscar nominations, with Penn and Robbins winning.
In 2000, Laura Linney starred in the drama filmYou Can Count on Me,in which she playedSammy, a single mother who still lives in her childhood homewhose life is thrown into turmoil when her brother Terry (Mark Ruffalo) returns. The film is a story about a broken family, one that has childhood trauma that neither brother nor sister was ever able to overcome.You Can Count on Mepremiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it tied for the Grand Jury Prize withGirlfight.
Critics praised the film and its cast for great performances of tough material. It has a very high 95% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, and critics said it is “beautifully acted and crafted.” It also received awards attention, as Linney earned her first-ever Oscar nomination, for Best Actress, while also picking up a nomination at the Golden Globes and Independent Spirit Awards.
Most fans really got to know how great of an actor Laura Linney is, thanks to her performance in the Netflix crime drama seriesOzark. This series stars Jason Bateman as Marty Byrd, a financial advisor who gets involved with a money-laundering scheme for a Mexican drug cartel. He then moves to the Lake of the Ozarks with his family to make things right but ends up getting them in over their heads with the mafia and local criminals. Linney stars as Marty’s wife, Wendy.
However,Wendy is not just his wife, but she is someone who gets involved with the criminal operations up front, and she soon starts to help Marty with his schemes, including building a new casino in the area.Ozarkran for four seasons and 44 episodes and received universal acclaim, with the third season topping out at a 98% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.Ozarkreceived 24 Primetime Emmy and nine Golden Globe nominations, withLaura Linneyreceiving three Emmy nominations and two at the Golden Globes.
