Spotlight on: Kyra Sedgwick
By Jen Jones
Kyra Sedgwick's show âThe Closerâ is the most successful basic cable series of all time, her newly minted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame still gleams from its June induction, and sheâs fresh off a buzzworthy Emmy nom for âOutstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.â No doubt about it: Kyra Sedgwick is experiencing a bona fide career renaissance.
Now in its fifth season, the TNT drama stars Sedgwick as a cop with equal parts Southern belle charm and ball-busting badassery. Follow her career through the years before she became Brenda Leigh Johnson, aka âThe Closer.â
Like Anne Heche, Kyra Sedgwick kicked off her acting career with a sudsy stint on the NBC soap âAnother World" back in 1982. Unlike Anne Heche, Sedgwick didnât notoriously parlay her âWorldâ-ly gig into an otherworldly alter ego named Celestia. Instead, 16-year-old Sedgwick spent a year cutting her acting teeth as Julia Shearer and went on to study theatre at USC. âBy the time I was 18, I was a goner,â Sedgwick once told The Daily News. âI didn't want to do anything else but act."
Way before the days of TomKat, there was TomKytten -- well, onscreen anyway! In her breakout film role, Sedgwick starred as Tom Cruiseâs high school girlfriend in Oliver Stoneâs Oscar-winning Vietnam biopic "Born on the Fourth of July" in 1989. Twenty years later, Sedgwick remains on good terms with the couch-jumping thesp, having been snapped by paps at Tom and Katieâs housewarming soiree just last summer.
The made-for-TV movie "Miss Rose White" meshed Sedgwickâs two loves -- stage and screen -- as an adaptation of Barbara Lebowâs play, âA Shayna Maidel.â Playing brilliantly off a pre-"Pulp Fiction" Amanda Plummer, Sedgwick shone as a Polish refugee who immigrates to America during the Hitler era, but soon finds she canât leave the past behind. An awards darling in 1992, the flick earned Sedgwick her first Golden Globe nomination amongst a slew of Emmy nods in other categories. Today, the play is a permanent staple in the Hallmark Hall of Fame -- for those who care to watch the very sappiest.
To call or not to call? This is just one of the many timeless relationship questions posed by 1992's "Singles," which may be Cameron Croweâs most quotable movie. (Cue hate mail from rabid "Say Anything" fans.) Many of those memorable quotes revolve around Ms. Sedgwick, who plays the muse-slash-love interest to a smitten Campbell Scott. Among them are the classics, âI was just nowhere near your neighborhoodâ and âIf I had a personal conversation with God, I would ask him to create this girl.â Worth watching, not only for right-on relationship commentary, but for its rockinâ ode to '90s grunge and Gen X angst!
From "Speed" to "Almost Famous," movies have taught us that the darndest things can happen on buses, and Kyra's 1993 flick "Heart and Souls" is no exception. Starring Sedgwick, Robert Downey, Jr. and Elisabeth Shue, this film's premise is set in motion when a deadly bus accident leaves a motley crew of souls bound together to right their wrongs from the other side.
Hell hath no fury like a Sedgwick scorned in the 1995 film "Something to Talk About." This man-bashing manifestoâs crowning moment happens when Sedgwick knees a cheating Dennis Quaid in the groin. Co-starring Julia Roberts and helmed by "Thelma & Louise" director Callie Khouri, "Something to Talk About" has plenty of girl power to spare -- mostly thanks to Sedgwickâs turn as Robertsâ sassy sister, which landed her a Golden Globe nom for Best Supporting Actress.
In the 1996 flick "Phenomenon," John Travolta plays the leather to Sedgwickâs Lace. (Yep, thatâs her characterâs name.) Though the flickâs main focus was on Travoltaâs strange telekinetic powers and sudden scientific genius, the real chemistry came in the form of a sizzling kiss between the two co-stars! Their liplock was up for an MTV Movie Award for âBest Kiss,â but they were beat out by "Species" stars Natasha Henstridge and Anthony Guidera. Guess aliensâ sex lives do trump those of earthlings.
First premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000, the ensemble dramedy "What's Cooking?" has no shortage of star chefs in the proverbial kitchen -- from â24â star Dennis Haysbert to âERâ alum Julianna Margulies. As always, Sedgwick serves up a truly tasty performance as a Jewish woman who brings her lesbian lover (Margulies) home to disapproving ârents for the holidays.
We may all be six degrees away from Kevin Bacon, but Sedgwick has the enviable vantage point of being the closest degree of all. 2004âs "The Woodsman" paired the perennial power couple once again on the big screen (they met on the set of 1988âs "Lemon Sky"). In the movie, Sedgwickâs character stands by her man -- even though heâs a recently paroled pedophile. In real life, their relationship is going 21 years strong. (And she doesnât even hold clunkers like "Hollow Man" against him -- now thatâs love.)
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