Diane Venora was born on August 10th, 1952 in Hartford, Connecticut. She left Hartford for a full scholarship at the prestigious Julliard School of Drama. After graduating from Julliard, she began her stage career and performed extensively. She seemed to shine while performing in Shakespeare’s plays and in 1983 she starred in Joseph Papp’s production of Hamlet at the New York Shakespeare Festival, in the lead role! In 1988, she landed a role in Clint Eastwood’s biographical feature about jazz sensation Charlie Parker called “Bird.” Her outstanding performance earned her a Golden Globe and the New York Film Critics Award. Venora was a star. Then a virtually unheard of thing happened. She quit.

Venora and husband, cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak (Speed), divorced. She was living in New York with her daughter, Madzia and traveling often for work. Diane says “One day, when Madzia was eight, I was supposed to go to Paris to do this film called Impromptu, and my daughter says, ‘You’re selfish, and I’m not going with you.’ The morning after the confrontation Venora went to the William Morris Agency and said: “I’m resigning from show business. I can’t explain it to you because you’ll never understand. It’s not a Hollywood thing, but it’s a life.” Venora, who never remarried, stayed close to home during her 7-year hiatus and taught disadvantaged children and acted in the odd play.

When Madzia was fifteen, Venora took her to Los Angeles where she landed a role in on ABC’s “Thunder Alley” as Ed Asner’s daughter, and a recurring role in the Emmy award-winning series Chicago Hope opposite fellow Julliardian Mandy Patinkin. In 1995, she landed a part that would make any actress’s heart pound. It was in Michael Mann’s hit thriller “Heat” starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Her remarkable portrayal of the intelligent and strong Justine Hanna, won her enormous praise from critics and audience’s alike. That performance, and her follow-up as Juliet’s mother in “William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet,” were her unlikely calling cards to action, impressing the directors of both “The Jackal” and “Eaters of the Dead,” a Viking adventure starring Antonio Banderas to be released in the spring.