Diane Lane was born on January 22, 1965, in New York City. She is the daughter of acting coach Burton Eugene "Burt" Lane and nightclubsinger/centerfold Colleen Farrington. Her parents' families were both from the state of Georgia.
Diane started acting at a very young age and made her stage debut at the age of six. She received critical acclaim for her work in theater productions such as "The Cherry Orchard" and "Medea," which led to her being called to Hollywood.
At the age of 13, Diane was cast in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. The film did not do well commercially, but Olivier praised her, calling her the new Grace Kelly.
After her debut, Diane found herself on magazine covers all over the world, including Time, which declared her the "new young acting sensation." However, her subsequent films, including Touched by Love, Cattle Annie and Little Britches, Movie Madness, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains, and Six Pack, were critical and financial flops.
In 1983, Diane began to fulfill the promise of stardom with her roles in Rumble Fish and The Outsiders, both based on S.E. Hinton novels. The films became cult classics and resulted in her getting a loyal fan base.
Diane then secured lead roles in three big-budget studio epics, including Walter Hill's Streets of Fire and Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club. However, the films were critical and box-office bombs, and Diane eventually retired from the film business at the age of 19.
Diane stayed away from the screen for three years before returning with the obscure thriller Lady Beware and the critically acclaimed but little-seen The Big Town. Her performance in the latter earned her an Emmy nomination.
Diane's next big impression came with her role in the 1989 TV mini-series Lonesome Dove, for which she won an Emmy nomination. She then appeared in smaller roles in major films like Chaplin and Indian Summer, and larger parts in small independent films like My New Gun and Vital Signs.
Diane's career was re-established, and she started to appear in higher-profile co-starring roles in big-budget films like Wild Bill and Judge Dredd. However, she still did not quite become a "big-name star" and, by 1997, found herself back in smaller, personal projects.
Her next role as a frustrated 1960s housewife in the independent hit A Walk on the Moon deservedly won her rave notices and gave her career the big lift it needed. The cute but tear-jerking comedy My Dog Skip also proved to be a small-scale success.
However, it was the £330-million worldwide grossing blockbuster hit The Perfect Storm that finally made Diane Lane the household name that she always should have been.
After the worldwide success of "The Perfect Storm," Diane was more in demand than ever. She played Leelee Sobieski's sinister junkie guardian in the slick thriller The Glass House and co-starred with Keanu Reeves in the #1 smash hit Hardball.
Her greatest career moment was still to come with her lead role in the enormous critical and commercial hit Unfaithful, in which she superbly portrayed Richard Gere's adulterous wife. Her performance won the respect of critics and audiences alike, as well as many awards and nominations including Best Actress Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.
Her follow-up films including Under the Tuscan Sun, Must Love Dogs, Hollywoodland, Secretariat, and the blockbuster, Man of Steel, were all received well, and her performances were highly praised. She won further Best Actress Golden Globe nominations for her roles in Under the Tuscan Sun and Cinema Verite.
Diane is very well regarded within the industry, adored by film fans, and has a credibility and quality that is all too rare today. Her immense talent at playing human and real characters, her "drop dead gorgeous" beauty and down-to-earth grittiness guarantees that she will stay on top, and she has already shown the kind of resilience that will keep her working for a long, long time.
