Hope Davis Biography

Hope Davis (born March 23, 1964) is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger, and Next Stop Wonderland.

Personal life

Davis, second of three children, was born in Englewood, New Jersey, the daughter of Joan, a librarian (and also the former librarian for the elementary section of the Elisabeth Morrow School), and William Davis, an engineer. Davis has described her mother as a "great storyteller" who would take Davis and her siblings to museums or to "something cultural" every Sunday after church. Davis graduated in 1982 from Tenafly High School in Tenafly, New Jersey, and was a childhood friend of Mira Sorvino, with whom she wrote and acted in backyard plays.

She is married to actor Jon Patrick Walker. They have two daughters, Georgia (born August 31, 2002) and Mae (born December 30, 2004).

Career

Film

Davis majored in cognitive science at Vassar College, but then made her debut as a dramatic actress in the 1990 film Flatliners, starring as William Baldwin's fiancée. She then appeared in the hit film Home Alone in a small role as a Parisian airport receptionist. Later, she starred in independent films such as The Daytrippers (1995) and Next Stop Wonderland (1998). These led her to roles in Hollywood films such as the thriller Arlington Road (1999), and About Schmidt (2002). In 2003, she starred opposite Paul Giamatti in the movie adaptation of the Harvey Pekar comic American Splendor as the comic book version of Pekar's real-life wife, Joyce Brabner. For this role, Davis won the New York Film Critics Circle award and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 2009, she was cast as Hillary Rodham Clinton in the BBC / HBO film The Special Relationship, released in 2010. She has received a nomination for Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress " Miniseries or a Movie for her performance as Clinton.

Stage

Her major stage debut came after she starred for Joel Schumacher (her "Flatliners" director) in the David Mamet play Speed-the-Plow with William Petersen at the Remains Theater in Chicago in 1992. Later, she had lead roles in the New York premiere of Rebecca Gilman's Spinning into Butter in 2000, and in the 2005 audio play Hope Leaves the Theater, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. This was a segment of the sound-only production Theater of the New Ear, which debuted at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY. The title actually refers to Davis's character "leaving the theater."

She returned to the stage in 2009, appearing in Broadway's God of Carnage with Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini and Jeff Daniels, a role that gained her a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Play.

Television

Davis co-starred as the bitter and self-deprecating Mia with Golden Globe winner Gabriel Byrne in the second season (2009) of HBO's In Treatment, a dramatic series that tracks the backstory and progress of five patients during their series of psychological therapeutic sessions. Mia is a successful, unmarried malpractice attorney who returns to therapy with Dr. Paul Weston after a 20-year absence because of a lack of stability in her personal life.

Davis also starred in an NBC short-lived drama series called Deadline with Oliver Platt in 2001. She played the ex-wife to Platt's character at a newspaper giant.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Flatliners	Anne Coldren
1990	Home Alone	French Ticket Agent
1995	Run for Cover	Prescott's Secretary
1995	Kiss of Death	Junior's Girlfriend
1996	'	Eliza Malone D'Amico
1996	Mr. Wrong	Annie
1997	'	Margaret
1997	Guy	Camera
1998	Next Stop Wonderland	Erin Castleton
1998	'	Emily Essendine
1999	Arlington Road	Brooke Wolfe
1999	Mumford	Sofie Crisp
2000	Joe Gould's Secret	Therese Mitchell
2001	Final	Dr. Ann Johnson
2001	Hearts in Atlantis	Liz Garfield
2002	About Schmidt	Jeannie Schmidt	Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (3rd place)
2002	'	Dana Hurst	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress also for American Splendor Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female Nominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress also for American Splendor (2nd place)
2003	American Splendor	Joyce Brabner	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress also for The Secret Lives of Dentists Seattle Film Critics Award for Best Actress Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated - Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture Nominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress also for The Secret Lives of Dentists (2nd place) Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2005	'	Carolyn 'Bean' Wright
2005	Duma	Kristin
2005	Proof	Claire
2005	'	Noreen
2006	Infamous	Slim Keith
2006	'	Andrea Tate
2007	'	Sarah / Susan / Sierra
2007	Charlie Bartlett	Marilyn Bartlett
2008	Synecdoche, New York	Madeleine Gravis	Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast Independent Spirit Awards: Robert Altman Award
2008	Genova	Marianne
2009	'	Ellen Bunting
2011	'	Bunnie Burnett
2011	Real Steel	Aunt Debra
2012	Disconnect		Post-production
2014	Heat		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000-2001	Deadline	Brooke Benton	13 episodes
2006-2007	Six Degrees	Laura Morgan	13 episodes
2009	In Treatment	Mia	7 episodes Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
2010	'	Hillary Clinton	TV movie Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actress " Miniseries or Television Film
2011	Spring/Fall	Eden	TV movie
2011	'	Mandy Vance	TV movie
2011	Mildred Pierce	Mrs. Forrester	TV miniseries
2012-2013	The Newsroom	Nina Howard	4 episodes
2013	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Viola Mesner	1 episode, "Born Psychopath"