What do the sibylline Marchioness of Merteuil, the prevaricating
Myra Langtry, the seductress Virginia Hill, the credulous Barbara
Land, the egoistical Carolyn Burnham or the unstable Julia have
in common? Only one thing: Annette Bening. A woman who shares
absolutely nothing with the description of her screen heroines.
An actress with an unconventional career, capable of slipping
into any skin she has to until endowing it with a unique personality.
The first years in the Mecca of cinema weren’t easy for
this green-eyed blonde. It took five years of struggle to achieve
her first chance in 1988 with Miles Forman on embodying the
intriguing Marchioness of Merteuil in Valmont. But she really
and truly took off in 1990 with The Grifters alongside Anjelica
Huston and John Cusack as an attractive, wicked trickster dressed
to kill. Like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, born like her in
Kansas, Annette Bening followed her own particular yellow brick
road without losing sight of reality and keeping mind of the
fact that her dreams of becoming a great star didn’t have
to stop her from also being a great mum. That happened in 1992
when she met Warren Beatty while filming Bugsy. Although their
love affair was one of the most talked about in Hollywood, twelve
years and four children later they’ve shown that their
couple is here to stay.
Over the years, Annette Bening has combined these two aspects
while taking great care not to choose parts that type-cast her,
starring along some of the most famous actors of recent years:
Warren Beatty, Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner, Jeremy Irons,
Kevin Spacey, Harrison Ford, etc; she has worked with directors
like Milos Forman, Stephen Frears, Mike Nichols, Tim Burton,
Sam Mendes, Kevin Costner or István Szabó; and
has received two Oscar nominations: one in 2000 for her work
in American Beauty, and another in 1991 for her part in The
Grifters.
Intelligent and versatile, unpredictable and seductive, as
defined by one American critic, the actress who once said: “When
I was small my parents never took me to the cinema and I had
no intention of becoming an actress. I didn’t even know
that it could be a profession”, more than deserves to
receive the San Sebastian Festival’s Donostia Award.
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