Robin Gayle Wright[1] (born April 8, 1966) is an American actress. She has won a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award, and has received eleven Emmy Award nominations for her work in television.
Wright first gained attention for her role in the NBC Daytime soap opera Santa Barbara as Kelly Capwell from 1984 to 1988. She then made the transition to film, starring in the romantic comedy fantasy adventure film The Princess Bride (1987). This role led her to further success in the film industry, with starring roles in films such as Forrest Gump (1994), the romantic drama Message in a Bottle (1999), the superhero drama-thriller Unbreakable (2000), the historical drama The Conspirator (2010), the biographical sports drama Moneyball (2011), the mystery thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), the biographical drama Everest (2015), the superhero film Wonder Woman (2017), and the neo-noir science fiction film Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
Wright starred as Claire Underwood in the Netflix political drama streaming television series House of Cards, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2013, becoming the first actress to win a Golden Globe for a streaming television series. Wright has received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actress category for House of Cards (one for each season), and two nominations in the Outstanding Drama Series category in 2016 and 2017 as a producer on the show. She has also worked as a director on several episodes of House of Cards as well as on two episodes of the Netflix series Ozark in its fourth season.
Wright is one of the highest paid actresses in the United States, earning US$420,000 per episode for her role in House of Cards in 2016.[2]
Wright was born April 8, 1966, in Dallas to Gayle Wright (née Gaston), a cosmetics saleswoman for Mary Kay, and Fred Wright, a pharmaceutical company employee. She has an elder brother, Richard (b. 1962), who is a photographer.[3] Her parents divorced when she was two, which lead to her relocating to San Diego, California with her mother.[1] She grew up in Southern California, attending La Jolla High School in La Jolla and Taft High School in Los Angeles.[1][4]
Wright began her career as a model, when she was 14.[5][6] At the age of 18, she played Kelly Capwell in the NBC Daytime soap opera Santa Barbara, for which she received several Daytime Emmy Award nominations.[7]
Wright transitioned into feature film work with a role in Hollywood Vice Squad in 1986, followed by her breakthrough role as Princess Buttercup in the cult film The Princess Bride in 1987. She gained critical acclaim in her role as Jenny Curran in Forrest Gump (1994), receiving Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1996, she starred in the lead role of the film adaptation of Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders (1996), for which she received a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress in a Drama. She was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress for her role in She's So Lovely (1997), a film in which she co-starred with her then-husband Sean Penn. Wright received her third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her role in the television film Empire Falls (2005).
Since 2013, Wright has appeared in the Netflix political drama streaming television series House of Cards in the role of Claire Underwood, the ruthless wife of political mastermind Frank Underwood. On January 12, 2014, she won a Golden Globe for the role, becoming the first actress to win the award for a streaming television series;[8] she was nominated for the same award the following year. She also received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award in 2013 and 2014 for the same role. Following Season 4 in 2016, Wright stated that she felt Claire Underwood was the equal of Frank Underwood and demanded equal pay for her performance as her co-star Kevin Spacey; Netflix acquiesced.[9] In 2017, for her performance in the fifth season, Wright was nominated for her fifth consecutive Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. For the years 2014, 2016, and 2017, Wright received Best Actress in a Drama Series nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Awards, with her being the only nomination for the show in December 2017.
In October 2017, she was set as the show's new lead for the final season, following the firing of Kevin Spacey due to sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey. For her last appearance as Underwood, her performance was acclaimed - described as a "commanding performance [that] is more than enough to keep [the final season] standing strong" [10] - earning her her final nominations for the role at the Screen Actors Guild and Primetime Emmy Awards in 2019. For the latter, she became one of seven women to be nominated for the category six or more times for the same show (the first in 10 years since Mariska Hargitay for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).[11]
In 2017, Wright played General Antiope in Wonder Woman (2017) and its 2020 sequel alongside Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. She appears in the Blade Runner sequel Blade Runner 2049 alongside Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and Jared Leto.
In April 2019, it was announced that she would make her feature film directorial debut in the film Land.[12] Wright would also be starring as its lead, Edee Mathis, a lawyer who retreats in grief to the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. Sales for the film would start at Cannes the following month.[12] Filming began by October that year and the movie was picked up by distributor Focus Features.[13]
Recently, Wright directed the final two episodes of the first part of season 4 of the Netflix show, Ozark. The final two episodes are entitled "Sangre Sobre Todo" and "Sanctified".[14]
In April 2022, Wright joined the cast of Netflix's fantasy film Damsel directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.[15]
From 1986 to 1988, Wright was married to actor Dane Witherspoon, whom she met in 1984 on the set of the soap opera Santa Barbara.[16]
In 1989, Wright became involved with actor Sean Penn following his divorce from Madonna. Wright was offered the role of Maid Marian in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, but turned it down because she was pregnant.[17] Their daughter, Dylan Frances, was born in April 1991.[18] She backed out of the role of Abby McDeere in The Firm (1993) due to her pregnancy with her second child,[1] and their son, Hopper Jack, was born in August 1993.[19]
After breaking up and getting back together,[20] Wright and Penn married in 1996. Their on-and-off relationship seemingly ended in divorce plans, announced in December 2007,[21] but the divorce petition was withdrawn four months later at the couple's request.[22] In February 2009, Wright and Penn attended the 81st Academy Awards together, at which Penn won the Best Actor award. Penn filed for legal separation in April 2009,[23] but withdrew the petition in May.[24] On August 12, 2009, Wright filed for divorce, declaring she had no plans to reconcile.[25][26][27] The divorce was finalized on July 22, 2010.[28]
In February 2012, Wright began dating actor Ben Foster,[29] and their engagement was announced in January 2014.[30] The couple called off their engagement in November 2014,[31] but reunited in January 2015.[32] On August 29, 2015, they announced they were ending their second engagement.[33] In 2017, Wright began dating Clément Giraudet, a Saint Laurent executive, and they secretly wed in August 2018 in La Roche-sur-le-Buis, France.[34] Wright filed for divorce from Giraudet in September 2022.[35]
Wright is the honorary spokesperson for the Dallas, Texas-based non-profit The Gordie Foundation.[36]
In 2014, she co-partnered with two California-based companies; Pour Les Femmes[37] and The SunnyLion.[38] The SunnyLion donates a portion of its profits to the Raise Hope For Congo movement.
Wright is an activist for human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is the narrator and executive producer of the documentary When Elephants Fight[39] which highlights how multinational mining corporations and politicians in the Democratic Republic of Congo threaten human rights, and perpetuate conflict in the region.[40] She also is a supporter of Stand With Congo, the human rights campaign behind the film.[41] In 2016, Wright spoke publicly in support of the campaign at a film screening at the TriBeCa Film Institute in New York City,[42] in media interviews,[43][44][45][46] with journalists,[47][48][49] and across her social media accounts.[50][51][52]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | Hollywood Vice Squad | Lori Stanton | |
1987 | The Princess Bride | Buttercup | nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actress |
1990 | Denial | Sara / Loon | |
1990 | State of Grace | Kathleen Flannery | |
1992 | The Playboys | Tara Maguire | |
1992 | Toys | Gwen Tyler | nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
1994 | Forrest Gump | Jenny Curran | nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role |
1995 | The Crossing Guard | Jojo | |
1996 | Moll Flanders | Moll Flanders | nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture |
1997 | Loved | Hedda Amerson | nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead |
1997 | She's So Lovely | Maureen Murphy Quinn | nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role |
1998 | Hurlyburly | Darlene | |
1999 | Message in a Bottle | Theresa Osborne | nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress – Drama/Romance |
2000 | How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog | Melanie McGowan | |
2000 | Unbreakable | Audrey Dunn | nominated – Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Suspense |
2001 | The Pledge | Lori | |
2001 | The Last Castle | Rosalie Irwin | Uncredited |
2002 | Searching for Debra Winger | Herself | Documentary |
2002 | White Oleander | Starr Thomas | |
2003 | The Singing Detective | Nicola / Nina / Blonde | |
2003 | Virgin | Mrs. Reynolds | |
2004 | A Home at the End of the World | Clare | |
2005 | Nine Lives | Diana | Locarno International Film Festival Award for Best Actress nominated – Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female |
2005 | Sorry, Haters | Phoebe Torrence | nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead |
2005 | Max | Mother | Short film |
2006 | Breaking and Entering | Liv | nominated – British Independent Film Award for Best Actress |
2006 | Room 10 | Frannie Jones | Short film |
2007 | Hounddog | Stranger Lady | |
2007 | Beowulf | Queen Wealtheow | |
2008 | What Just Happened | Kelly | |
2008 | New York, I Love You | Anna | |
2009 | State of Play | Anne Collins | |
2009 | The Private Lives of Pippa Lee | Pippa Lee | |
2009 | A Christmas Carol | Fan Scrooge / Belle | |
2010 | The Conspirator | Mary Surratt | |
2011 | Moneyball | Sharon Beane | |
2011 | Rampart | Linda Fentress | |
2011 | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Erika Berger | |
2013 | The Congress | Robin Wright | |
2013 | Adore | Roz | |
2014 | A Most Wanted Man | Martha Sullivan | |
2015 | Everest | Peach Weathers | |
2017 | Wonder Woman | General Antiope | |
2017 | Blade Runner 2049 | Lieutenant Joshi | |
2017 | Justice League | General Antiope | Uncredited; cameo |
2018 | André the Giant | Herself | Documentary |
2020 | Wonder Woman 1984 | General Antiope | |
2021 | Land | Edee Mathis | Also director |
2021 | Zack Snyder's Justice League | General Antiope | |
TBA | Where All Light Tends to Go | TBA | Post-production; also producer |
TBA | Damsel | TBA | Post-production |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1983–84 | The Yellow Rose | Barbara Anderson | 2 episodes |
1984–88 | Santa Barbara | Kelly Capwell | 538 episodes Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Heroine nominated – Soap Opera Digest Awards for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress nominated – Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series (1986–1988) |
2005 | Empire Falls | Grace Roby | nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie |
2011 | Enlightened | Sandy | 2 episodes |
2013–18 | House of Cards | Claire Underwood | Main role (73 episodes), executive producer (seasons 4–6) and director (10 episodes) Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama Gold Derby Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama nominated – Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (2014, 2016, 2018) nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama (2015–2016) nominated – Gold Derby Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (2014–2015) nominated – Online Film and Television Association Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (2013–2016) nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (2013–2017, 2019) nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series nominated – Producers Guild of America Award for Best Episodic Drama nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama (2015–2016) nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (2014–2018) nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2015–2016) |
2020 | First Ladies | Narrator | 6 episodes; voice |
2022 | Ozark | — | Director; episodes: "Sangre Sobre Todo" and "Sanctified" |
Dylan Frances Penn was born Saturday [April 13] at 10:49 p.m. at UCLA Medical Center.
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