Amanda Plummer

Amanda Michael Plummer (born March 23, 1957) is an American actress. She is known for her work on stage and for her film roles, including Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), The Fisher King (1991), Pulp Fiction (1994), and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). Plummer won a Tony Award in 1982 for her performance in Agnes of God. She most recently appeared in the third season of Star Trek: Picard (2023).

Amanda Plummer
Plummer in 2018
Born	Amanda Michael Plummer (1957-03-23) March 23, 1957 (age 68) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1979–present
Parents	Christopher Plummer (father) Tammy Grimes (mother)
Relatives	Isabella Mary Abbott (paternal grandmother) Elaine Taylor (stepmother)

Early life

Plummer was born on March 23, 1957, in New York City, the only child of American actress Tammy Grimes and Canadian actor Christopher Plummer.^[1][2] Her father said that they named their daughter Amanda Michael after Amanda Prynne, a character from the play Private Lives, and the actress Michael Learned.^[3] She attended the elite Trinity School before graduating from the United Nations International School (UNIS). She attended Middlebury College for two and a half years, and as a young adult, studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City.^[4]

Career

Plummer has received critical acclaim for her film work, including such films as Cattle Annie and Little Britches (1981), The World According to Garp (1982), Daniel (1983), and The Hotel New Hampshire (1984). Other films of note include The Fisher King, for which she received a BAFTA film nomination (1992), a Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination (1992), and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award (1992).

Her other films include Pulp Fiction, for which she received an American Comedy Award nomination, Girlfriend, Butterfly Kiss, My Life Without Me, Vampire, and Ken Park. She made her Broadway debut as Jo in the 1981 revival of A Taste of Honey, which ran for almost a year with Valerie French playing Helen, Jo's mother. She received a Tony Award nomination, a Theatre World, a Drama Desk, and an Outer Critics Circle Awards for her portrayal. She won a Tony Award for Featured Actress and the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Boston Critics Circle Awards for her portrayal of Agnes in Agnes of God, with Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Ashley.^[5] In 1983, she portrayed Laura Wingfield in a Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie. Other Broadway performances include Dolly Clandon in You Never Can Tell (1986), and as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (1987, for which she received her third Tony Award nomination, this time for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play).^[6]

Her off-Broadway plays include as Beth in Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, and Killer Joe, written by Tracy Letts. She has performed in many of Tennessee Williams' plays, including Summer and Smoke, The Gnädiges Fräulein, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, and the world premiere of The One Exception.^[7]

In 1996, Plummer won an Emmy Award for her guest appearance on the episode "A Stitch in Time" of The Outer Limits.^[8] In 2005, she won an Emmy as Miranda Cole in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Weak", in which she played a woman with schizophrenia.

She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and received another Emmy Award for her performance in Miss Rose White, a Hallmark made-for-television film about a Holocaust survivor, for which she received the Anti-Defamation League Award. For her performance in Last Light (1993), she received a Cable Ace Award nomination. Her other awards include the Hollywood Drama Critics Award for her performance in the title female role in Romeo and Juliet, the Saturn Award for her performance as Nettie in Needful Things (1993), and a Cable Ace Award for her performance in The Right To Remain Silent (1996).

Plummer played Wiress, a former "tribute" who won the Hunger Games, in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), the film adaptation of the second novel of The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins.^[9] Plummer starred alongside Brad Dourif in the critically acclaimed Off Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play at New World Stages in 2013.^[10][11]

In 2020, Plummer was featured in the Netflix drama series Ratched.^[12] Plummer plays Vadic, the main villain of the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, in 2023.^[13]

Personal life

Plummer dated screenwriter and director Paul Chart in the late 1990s.^[14] The two lived together in Los Angeles^[15] and worked together on Chart's film American Perfekt.^[16]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Cattle Annie and Little Britches	Anna "Cattle Annie" McDoulet
1982	The World According to Garp	Ellen James
1983	Daniel	Susan Isaacson
1984	The Hotel New Hampshire	Miss Dawn Miscarriage
1985	Static	Julia Purcell
1987	Courtship	Laura Vaughn
	Made in Heaven	Wiley Foxx
1989	Prisoners of Inertia	Sam
1990	Joe Versus the Volcano	Dagmar
1991	The Fisher King	Lydia Sinclair
1992	Freejack	Nun
	The Lounge People	Sabrina
1993	So I Married an Axe Murderer	Rose Michaels
	Needful Things	Nettie Cobb
1994	Pulp Fiction	Honey Bunny/Yolanda
	Pax	Franny
1995	Butterfly Kiss	Eunice
	Nostradamus	Catherine de' Medici
	The Final Cut	Rothstein
	The Prophecy	Rachael
	Drunks	Shelley
1996	Dead Girl	Frida
	Freeway	Ramona Lutz
1997	American Perfekt	Sandra Thomas
	Hercules	Clotho	Voice
	A Simple Wish	Boots
	Hysteria	Myrna Malloy
1998	You Can Thank Me Later	Susan Cooperbeg
	L.A. Without a Map	Red Pool Owner
	October 22	Denise
1999	8½ Women	Beryl
2000	The Million Dollar Hotel	Vivien
	Seven Days to Live [de]	Ellen Shaw
2002	The Gray in Between	Jalyn
	The Last Angel	The Last Angel	Short film
	Triggermen	Penny Archer
	Ken Park	Claude's mother
2003	My Life Without Me	Laurie
	The Cruelest Day	Karin
	Mimic 3: Sentinel	Simone Montrose	Direct-to-video
2004	Satan's Little Helper	Merrill Whooly
2008	Inconceivable	Lesley Banks
	Red	Mrs. Diane Doust
	Affinity	Miss Helena Ridley
	45 R.P.M.	Caralee Lucas
2009	Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf	Lady in the Car
	First Time Long Time	Maggie	Short film
2010	The Making of Plus One	Kim Owens
	Girlfriend	Celeste
	1001 Ways to Enjoy the Missionary Position	Nora
2011	Vampire	Helga
	Dr. Ketel	Louise
	Today's Headline	Amy	Short film
2012	Sophomore	Miss June Hultz
	Small Apartments	Mrs. Luigiana Ballisteri
	Abigail Harm	Abigail Harm
	I Have to Buy New Shoes	Joanne
2013	The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	Wiress
2014	Strangely in Love	Sister Sarah
2015	Reversion	Elizabeth
2016	The Dancer	Lili
	Honeyglue	Alice
2018	We Are Boats	Jimmie
	A Young Man with High Potential	Ketura Stantz
	Freaks of Nurture	Mom	Voice, short film
2019	Spiral Farm	Dianic
2021	Night Raiders	Roberta
2022	Showing Up	Dorothy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	ABC Afterschool Special	Angela Dunoway	Episode: "The Unforgivable Secret"
1984	The Dollmaker	Mamie Childers	Television film
1987	Moonlighting	Jackie Wilbourne	Episode: "Take a Left at the Altar"
1988	The Equalizer	Jill O'Connor	Episode: "A Dance on the Dark Side"
1988	Gryphon	Ms. Annette Ferenczi	Television film
1989	Miami Vice	Lisa Madsen	Episode: "Fruit of the Poison Tree"
1989	Tales from the Crypt	Peggy	Episode: "Lover Come Hack to Me"
1989	HBO Storybook Musicals	Narrator	Episode: "The Story of the Dancing Frog"
1989	True Blue	Susan Lizar	Episode: "Pilot: Part 1"
1989–1990	L.A. Law	Alice Hackett	6 episodes
1990	Kojak	Phyllis	Episode: "None So Blind"
1991	The Hidden Room	Sarah Cole	Episode: "A Type of Love Story"
1992	Sands of Time	Sister Graziella	Television film
1992	Miss Rose White	Lusia Burke	Television film
1993	Last Light	Lillian Burke	Television film
1993	Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica	Cara Clausen	Television film
1996–2000	The Outer Limits	Dr. Theresa Givens	2 episodes
1996	Duckman	Princess Fallopia (voice)	Episode: "The Road to Dendron"
1996	The Right To Remain Silent	Paulina Marcos	Television film
1996	Don't Look Back	Bridget	Television film
1996	Under the Piano	Franny Basilio	Television film
1998	Stories from My Childhood	The Queen	Voice, episode: "The Twelve Months & The Snow Girl"
1999	The Apartment Complex	Miss Chenille	Television film
2002	Night Visions	Music Professor	Episode: "The Maze"
2002	Get a Clue	Miss Kim Dawson	Television film
2004	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Miranda Cole	Episode: "Weak"
2006	Battlestar Galactica	Oracle Selloi	Episode: "Exodus"
2007	WordGirl	Lady Redundant Woman	Voice, episode: "Lady Redundant Woman"
2009–2013	Phineas and Ferb	Professor Poofenplotz	Voice, 2 episodes[17]
2014	Hannibal	Katherine Pims	Episode: "Takiawase"
2015	The Blacklist	Tracy Solobotkin	Episode: "The Deer Hunter"
2020	Ratched	Louise	7 episodes
2023	Star Trek: Picard	Captain Vadic	6 episodes (Season 3)

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Hercules	Clotho	[17]

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	A Month in the Country	Vera Aleksandrovna
1979	Artichoke	Lily-Agnes
1981	A Taste of Honey	Josephine
1982	Agnes of God	Sister Agnes
1983	Lee Harvey Oswald	Marina	Bayview Playhouse, Toronto, Canada[18]
1983	The Glass Menagerie	Laura Wingfield
1985	A Lie of the Mind	Beth
1986	You Never Can Tell	Dolly Clandon
1987	Pygmalion	Eliza Doolittle
1990	Abundance	Bess
1998	Killer Joe	Sharla Smith
2005	The Lark	Joan of Arc
2006–2007	Summer and Smoke	Alma Winemiller
2013	The Two-Character Play	Clare
2017	The Night of the Iguana	Hannah Jelkes

Awards and nominations

Theatre

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1982	Tony Awards	Best Actress in a Play	A Taste of Honey	Nominated	[19]
		Best Featured Actress in a Play	Agnes of God	Won
1987		Best Actress in a Play	Pygmalion	Nominated	[20]
1981	Drama Desk Awards	Outstanding Actress in a Play	A Taste of Honey	Nominated
1982		Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play	Agnes of God	Won
1981	Theatre World Awards	—	A Taste of Honey	Won	[21]

Film & television

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1992	BAFTA Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	The Fisher King	Nominated	[22]
1993	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Miss Rose White	Nominated	[23]
1989	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	L.A. Law[a]	Nominated	[24]
1992		Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie	Miss Rose White	Won	[25]
1996		Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	The Outer Limits[b]	Won	[26]
2005		Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit[c]	Won	[27]
1991	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actress	The Fisher King	Runner-up	[28]
1992	Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actress	The Fisher King	Nominated
1992	Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actress	The Fisher King	Nominated
1993	CableAce Awards	Actress in a Dramatic Series	The Hidden Room[d]	Nominated
1994		Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries	Last Light	Nominated	[29]
1996		Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries	The Right to Remain Silent	Won	[30]
		Actress in a Dramatic Special/Series	The Outer Limits[e]	Nominated
1994	Awards Community Circuit Awards	Best Cast Ensemble	Pulp Fiction[f]	Won	[31]
1994	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Needful Things	Nominated	[32]
2006		Best Supporting Actress	Satan's Little Helper	Nominated
1994	Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Needful Things	Won	[32]
2024		Best Guest Starring Role on Television	Star Trek: Picard	Nominated	[33]
1995	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Pulp Fiction	Nominated	[34]
2003	DVD Exclusive Awards	Best Actress in a DVD Premiere Movie	Mimic 3: Sentinel	Nominated
2016	Oldenburg International Film Festival	German Independence Honorary Award (Tribute)	—	Won	[32]
2019		Star of Excellence (Walk of Fame)		Won	[35]
2022	Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Supporting Actress (Canadian)	Night Raiders	Nominated	[36]
2024	Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award		Showing Up[g]	Won	[37]

Notes

1. Nominated for her performance in the Season 3 episodes "America the Beautiful", "Urine Trouble Now" & "Consumed Innocence".
2. Won for her performance in the Season 2 episode "A Stitch in Time".
3. Won for her performance in the Season 6 episode "Weak".
4. Nominated for her performance in Season 1 episode "A Type of Love Story".
5. Won for her performance in the Season 2 episode "A Stitch in Time".
6. Award shared with John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Ving Rhames, Bruce Willis, Eric Stoltz & Rosanna Arquette.
7. Award shared with Kelly Reichardt, Gayle Keller, André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez & Michelle Williams. The award will officially be presented at the 2024 ceremony.