Rise to Fame
Three consecutive Oscar nominations before most actors had their first one. Close made her film debut in The World According to Garp in 1982 and landed a Best Supporting Actress nod for playing Robin Williams's feminist mother, despite being barely four years older. Two more supporting nods followed for The Big Chill and The Natural. Then Fatal Attraction arrived in 1987. Playing Alex Forrest, the obsessive book editor who refuses every rejection, she pivoted from warmth to something visceral. The film hit No. 2 at the box office and scared a generation of married men.
In the Spotlight
Eight Oscar nominations and no wins. By Hillbilly Elegy in 2020, she'd accumulated a record that functions as its own weird career achievement. The Academy keeps saying no. After her sister was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her nephew with schizoaffective disorder, she co-founded Bring Change to Mind to push back on the stigma her own films helped create. She plays Drusilla Sickle in the Hunger Games prequel due November 2026. At 79, she's still signing up for new franchises.
Side Notes
She spent 15 years inside Moral Re-Armament, a movement she calls 'basically a cult.' Her family joined when she was seven, and she didn't leave until she was 22. The group dictated what she wore, what she said, and arranged what she describes as her first marriage. The compound was a 277-acre farm in New York. She credits an overactive imagination for getting her through it. When critics describe her as someone who disappears into dark characters, they might be onto something they didn't intend.