Grace Zabriskie
About
Biography
Biography
A character actress given to tasty bit parts, Grace Zabriskie vacillates between erotic exhibitionists and colorful, brassy mothers. Since making her feature debut in "Norma Rae" (1978), the New Orleans-born actress has gone on to leave an indelible mark on both the small and big screens. She has been particularly effective in movies playing mothers, albeit not the kind that would be embraced by June Cleaver. In "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982), Zabriskie portrayed Debra Winger's mom while in "Drugstore Cowboy" (1989), she was the rejecting parent of Matt Dillon. The actress drew on her roots as Dennis Quaid's Cajun mom in "The Big Easy" (1986) and was another Southern mother, this time to Sissy Spacek, in "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" (1994). Two of her most memorable feature parts were as a crazed killer (in a role tailored specifically for her) in David Lynch's "Wild at Heart" (1990) and as Malcolm McDowall's wife in "Chain of Desire" (1993), for which she donned a maid's uniform and wig for a softly sadistic sex scene. Along with a steady string of low-profile indie films, Zabriskie has appeared in "A Family Thing" (1996), "Armageddon" (1998), "Gone In Sixty Seconds" (2001), "The House on Turk Street" (2002) and, in a particularly effective turn, as the near-catatonic victim of "The Grudge" (2004). On the small screen, the actress has lent her unique talents to a variety of memorable roles. Zabriskie was effective as a snake-handler who attempts to romance a detective in a two-part 1986 installment of NBC's "Hill Street Blues" and as the supportive wife of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt in the CBS biopic "My Father, My Son" (1988). Zabriskie went on to play the grandmother of a child stricken with AIDS in "The Ryan White Story" (ABC, 1989), and the therapist of a sexually abused teen in "A Deadly Silence" (ABC, 1989). The following year, David Lynch tapped her to portray the excessively sobbing mother of murder victim Laura Palmer in the quirky primetime serial "Twin Peaks" (ABC), which she reprised in the confusing 1993 feature prequel "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me." Zabriskie had the recurring role of the mother of Susan Ross, George Costanza's ill-fated fiancee in several episodes of "Seinfeld." She also offered an effective supporting turn as Jennifer Jason Leigh's mother in the controversial but critically-praised "Bastard Out of Carolina" (Showtime, 1996). She also had a recurring stint as Yellow Teeth on the sci-fi series "John Doe" (UPN, 2002-2003) and appeared as The Crone on the popular WB witchcraft-lite series "Charmed."
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1978
Made film acting debut in "Norma Rae"
1979
Moved to L.A.
1979
Made TV debut in "The Concrete Cowboys" (CBS)
1981
Played Mrs. Ames in the ABC miniseries "John Steinbeck's East of Eden"
1982
Cast as Debra Winger's mother in "An Officer and a Gentleman"
1989
Portrayed Matt Dillon's mother in "Drugstore Cowboy," directed by Gus Van Sant
1990
Played a crazed killer in David Lynch's "Wild at Heart"
1990
Made debut as TV series regular, playing Sarah Palmer on the ABC series "Twin Peaks"
1991
Reteamed with Van Sant for role in "My Own Private Idaho"
1992
Made first of several appearances as Mrs. Ross on "Seinfeld" (NBC)
1992
Reprised role of Sarah Palmer in Lynch's feature prequel "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me"
1993
Appeared in the interactive CD-ROM movie "Voyeur" as Robert Culp's neurotic sister
1993
Starred in the ensemble-driven feature "Chain of Desire"
1994
Landed featured role in Van Sant's "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"
1996
Co-starred in the acclaimed TV-movie "Bastard Out of Carolina" (Showtime), directed by Anjelica Huston
1997
Appeared in "Armageddon"
1998
Cast in Michael Bay's "Armageddon"
2002
Played supporting role in crime drama "No Good Deed"
2004
Acted in the U.S. remake of Japanese horror hit "The Grudge"
2006
Played the mother of Bill Paxton's polygamist character on "Big Love" (HBO)
2009
Cast as the mother and victim of Michael Shannon's character in Werner Herzog's "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done," produced by David Lynch
Videos
Movie Clip
