Swoosie Kurtz

Personal Information
Whether it is the sweep of a movie widescreen, television’s intimate rectangle, or the immediacy of a stage proscenium, Swoosie Kurtz beguiles audiences with the power, humanity and courageous imagination of her portrayals.

Ms. Kurtz starred in Frozen on Broadway. In fall 2002 she played Lillian Hellman in Nora Ephron’s Imaginary Friends. She was honored with two Tony Awards for her performances in John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves and Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July, for which she also received the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics’ Circle Award, Broadway’s Triple Crown. Additionally, she earned the Drama Desk and the Obie Award for Wendy Wasserstein’s Uncommon Women and Others, a Drama Desk Award for Christopher Durang’s A History of the American Film and a Tony nomination for Tartuffe. She also starred at Lincoln Center in John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation as well as Terrence McNally’s Lips Together, Teeth Apart at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Swoosie played in the original three-women cast of the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues and performed in the Los Angeles production. She starred in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads in Los Angeles.

Kurtz played both title roles of identical twins in Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paula Vogel’s The Mineola Twins. For this critically acclaimed performance, she won her third Obie Award and was nominated for the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics’ Circle Award. Response to the two-time Tony Award winning actress’s work once again reaffirmed her reputation as one of America’s pre-eminent comedic and dramatic actors.

Swoosie moves easily from major studio films and independent features to network and cable movies. Her varied films include Citizen Ruth, Liar, Liar, Duplex, Bubble Boy, Get Over It, Cruel Intentions, The Rules of Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Reality Bites, The World According to Garp, Against All Odds, Bright Lights, Big City, True Stories, Stanley and Iris, A Shock to the System.

Swoosie received her eighth Emmy Award nomination for her performance in ER. She was nominated for the Emmy and the Cable Ace Award for her moving portrayal of a woman dying of AIDS in HBO’s landmark film And the Band Played On. She was twice nominated for an Emmy and a SAG Award for her role of “Alex” in the long- running NBC hit Sisters, and twice nominated for Love, Sidney with Tony Randall. She won an Emmy for her performance on Carol and Company and received an Emmy and a Cable Ace nomination for Baja, Oklahoma, also for HBO. Her additional television films include HBO’s The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader- Murdering Mom, One Christmas with Katharine Hepburn, Showtime’s My Own Country and Armistead Maupin’s More Tales of the City.

Swoosie Kurtz is a graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Her distinctive name, given to her by the press, comes from the B-17 “The Swoose,” now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. It will be the first craft exhibited at that museum’s soon- to-open Dulles Center Museum. The airplane, with its record-setting fame, was flown by her father Col. Frank Kurtz who was the most decorated Air Force pilot of World War II. The press- supplied nickname stuck and is now etched on an impressive collection of acting awards.

 
Credits

Actor
Production Theatre Opened Credit
1 Frozen East 13th Street/CSC Theatre 03/18/2004 Nancy
2 Intrigue with Faye Theatre Row / Theatre Three (previously Acorn Theater) 06/11/2003 Woman (Special Video Appearance)
3 The Guys Flea Theater 01/17/2002 N/A REPLACEMENT
4 The Vagina Monologues Westside Theatre/ Downstairs 10/03/1999 N/A REPLACEMENT
5 The Mineola Twins Laura Pels Theatre (Former) 02/18/1999 Myrna/Myra
6 Lips Together, Teeth Apart New York City Center/ Stage I 05/28/1991 Sally Truman
7 Love Letters Promenade Theatre 03/27/1989 Melissa Gardner REPLACEMENT
8 The House of Blue Leaves Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 03/19/1986 Bananas Shaughnessy
9 The Beach House Circle Repertory Theatre 12/19/1985 Annie
10 Wine Untouched Harold Clurman Theater 06/18/1979 N/A
11 Uncommon Women and Others Marymount Manhattan Theatre 11/17/1977 Rita Altabel
12 Children Stage 73 10/20/1976 Jane
13 The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds Mercer Arts Center 04/07/1970 Janice Vickery
14 The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds Mercer Arts Center 04/07/1970 Tillie REPLACEMENT
15 The Firebugs Martinique Theatre 07/01/1968 Ann
Awards
Award Production Function
1 NOMINATED 2004 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Lead Actress Frozen Actor
2 NOMINATED 2004 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play Frozen Actor
3 NOMINATED 1999 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play The Mineola Twins Actor
4 WON 1999 Obie Award, Performance The Mineola Twins Actor
5 NOMINATED 1999 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play The Mineola Twins Actor
6 NOMINATED 1986 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play The House of Blue Leaves Actor
7 WON 1986 Obie Award, Best Performance The House of Blue Leaves Actor
8 NOMINATED 1978 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Uncommon Women and Others Actor
9 WON 1978 Obie Award, Performance Uncommon Women and Others Actor