Huston was born on July 8, 1951, in theCedars of Lebanon Hospital, in Los Angeles,[3] to director and actorJohn Huston andprima ballerina and modelEnrica Soma.[4] According to Huston, "the news of my arrival was cabled promptly to the post office in the township ofButiaba, in WesternUganda [and two] days later, a barefoot runner bearing a telegram finally arrived atMurchison Falls", where her father was filmingThe African Queen (1951).[3] Huston's paternal grandfather was Canadian-born actorWalter Huston. Huston has Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh ancestry from her father, and Italian from her mother.[5]
When Huston was 2 years old, her family relocated to Ireland, where she spent much of her childhood and which she still considers home.[6] Her parents rented what Huston called the "Courtown House"—a tall stone Victorian manor inCounty Kildare—for three years, before John Huston bought St. Clerans, a 110-acre estate inCounty Galway, in 1954.[3] She attended school atKylemore Abbey,[7] and later attendedHolland Park School after relocating to England.[8]
Huston has a complex family because of her parents' multiple marriages and extramarital affairs. She has an older brother, Tony, and an adopted older brother, Pablo. She has a younger maternal half-sister namedAllegra, whom she called "Legs", and a younger paternal half-brother, actorDanny Huston. She is the aunt of actorJack Huston.[9] She once described herself as a "lonely child", explaining: "My brother Tony and I were never very close, neither as children nor as adults, but I was tightly bound to him. We were forced to be together because we were really quite alone. We were in the middle of the Irish countryside ... and we didn't see many other kids. We were tutored. Our father was mostly away [for filming]".[3]
Huston withAssi Dayan on the set ofA Walk with Love and Death (1969)
Her father's filmA Walk with Love and Death (1969), where Huston played the 16-year-old French noblewoman Claudia oppositeAssi Dayan, marked her screen debut. She had been in the running to play Juliet in directorFranco Zeffirelli's adaptation ofRomeo and Juliet (1968), but Huston withdrew herself from consideration when her father decided to cast her as Claudia inA Walk With Love and Death. Huston felt that she was wrong for the role as Claudia, and has commented on the experience that her father "miscast me first time out and I think he realized that. I was ready to act, but I wasn't ready to act for him ... I was difficult, I didn't want to act with no makeup, although I'd have done it for Franco."[10] Father and daughter had a fractious relationship on set, with the young Anjelica having difficulty learning her lines and focusing, while her father grew more impatient and angry at directing her.[11] Critics derided her performance.
Huston and her mother were photographed by Arnaud De Rosnay—whom she met at age 16 inSwitzerland—in October 1968 forVogue.[12]Shortly afterwards, her mother died in a car accident, and the young Huston relocated to New York City as she "sort of fled London because of the memories; I didn't really know what to do with myself, and I wasn't quite sure what my father's intentions were for me—whether he was going to put me in a convent or launch me as an actress. Well, he'd already tried to do that, and we'd had a hard time on the making of that first film we did together".[12][13] Inspired by modelsJean Shrimpton andTwiggy, Huston decided to pursue modelling, and through photographerRichard Avedon, a friend of her parents, she metDiana Vreeland who proposed to Huston her first AmericanVogue photoshoot, which took place in Ireland.[12] She described it as "very innovative because they presaged the whole sort ofGypsy look".[12]
Her father cast Huston as Maerose, the daughter of a New York Mafia clan head whose love is scorned by a hit man, in the film adaptationPrizzi's Honor (1985), which also starred Nicholson. She was paid theSAG scale rate of US$14,000 for her role. When her agent called up the movie's producer to request if she could be paid more, she was told "Go to hell. Be my guest—ask for more money. We don't even want her in this movie." Huston, who was not only John Huston's daughter but also Jack Nicholson's girlfriend at the time, wrote in her 2014 memoirWatch Me that she later overheard a production worker saying: "Her father is the director, her boyfriend's the star, and she has no talent."[17] Nevertheless, Huston garnered positive notices for her performance.The New York Times described her part as a "wonderful character, far darker and more complex than is indicated by her self-deprecating wisecracks (I'm a family scandal. I got a reputation to keep up). She's a riveting presence and if Miss Huston, the daughter of the director, doesn't get an Oscar nomination for this performance, I'll be very surprised."[18] Indeed, she won theAcademy Award forBest Supporting Actress, making her the third generation of her family to win an Oscar.
Huston starred in her father's last film, 1987'sThe Dead, as the wife of an academic. According to her, her father remained a filmmaking virtuoso despite his ill health: "He was so sick, but he could literally do it with his eyes closed. He knew when we were going to get a take way long before the camera rolled. I mean the timing was so precise that he could tell everything, exactly how it was going to go."[10] The pressures of filming and watching her father's health deteriorate had an adverse effect on Anjelica Huston's own health, developingEpstein-Barr syndrome during production.[10] John died nearly four months before the film's release date, upon which it received two nominations at the60th Academy Awards. For her performance, she won asBest Supporting Female at the3rd Independent Spirit Awards.
In 1988, Huston played the love interest of an engaging, multi-talented, middle-classYale University graduate inMr. North, which was more of a family project, directed by half-brotherDanny Huston, and made a cameo appearance in the film adaptationA Handful of Dust. Despite her limited screen time,Vincent Canby ofThe New York Times praised her portrayal in the latter as the "single most stunning performance" but called the film "both too literal and devoid of real point."[22]
Huston earned aBAFTA nomination forBest Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a flight attendant having an affair with a respected family guy inWoody Allen's dramedyCrimes and Misdemeanors (1989). The dramaEnemies, A Love Story, also released in 1989, featured her as the long-vanished wife of aHolocaust survivor. In a positive review for the film, Roger Ebert asserted: "Parts, especially the scenes with Huston, are heartwarming in a strange way, because they show one human being accepting the weaknesses of another".[23] For her role, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
InThe Witches (1990), based on the 1983book of the same name byRoald Dahl, Huston starred as theGrand High Witch, the all-powerful leader of the world's witches, shared the cast withMai Zetterling andRowan Atkinson. She and the costume designerMarit Allen originally brought a different dress for the role, but the directorNicolas Roeg rejected it as "not sexy". Huston recalled: "That was the first time I'd imagined that this horrible creature in a children's movie should have sex appeal. It simply had not occurred to me. But of course, Nic was absolutely right. His vision was diabolical and dark and brilliantly funny. If a witch was to be at the center of this plot, she needed to be sexy to hold the eye."[24] The character's monstrous version was prepared byJim Henson's Creature Shop and "took over six hours to apply and almost as much time to remove at the end of the day."[24] Despite a lackluster box office response, the film was applauded by critics and has obtained acult following over the years; it has also remained one of Huston's favorite roles.[25]
Huston next portrayed a veteran con artist in theneo-noir thrillerThe Grifters (also 1990). DirectorStephen Frears first contacted her about playing Lilly in 1989 while she was filmingCrimes and Misdemeanors, but after reading the script, she was unsure.[26] Although she was "transfixed" by the story and the character, the script alarmed her with its explicitness.[27] A few months later, Frears contacted Huston again to see if she was still interested.[26] Still wavering, Huston's talent agentSue Mengers told her bluntly "Anjelica, if Stephen Frears tells you he wants you to shit in the corner, then that's what you must do." The next day Huston auditioned for the role in front of Frears at theChateau Marmont. Frears' initial reluctance to cast Huston because she looked too much like "a lady", was resolved with the decision to cheapen her look with a bleached blond wig and "vulgar clothes". To research her part, she studied women dealers at card parlors in Los Angeles County, California.[26] Her performance earned her a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress.
Huston obtained the part ofMorticia Addams, the stern, aloof matriarch of the titular family, inThe Addams Family (1991). She based aspects of her performance on her friendJerry Hall to give the character more warmth, and in her 2014 memoirWatch Me, she described the filming as "long and arduous".[28] It was decided that the character of Morticia should have eyes which slanted upwards at the sides, an effect which was achieved by attaching an elastic strap to the back of Huston's head via fabric tabs glued at her temples, which pulled the corners of her eyes upwards.[27] The bands caused extended discomfort to Huston, and would snap at the slightest turn of Huston's head, causing a grueling repair time. Eventually, she learned to pivot and turn on her feet without moving her upper body or head.[27]The Addams Family was a commercial success, grossing over US$191 million worldwide,[29] and prompted a sequel,Addams Family Values (1993). For both installments, Huston garneredGolden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress –Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.[30]
After contemplating the idea of following in her father's footsteps, Huston started to put out "discreet feelers" and pursue material in Hollywood she felt attracted to direct. The studios' overall response was "swift and positive, with the usual blinders", according to Huston. "What they offered me had invariably something to do with my father. I didn't want to do a sequel toPrizzi's Honor.Prizzi belongs to him. I wanted to do something that, succeed or fail, would be my own."[33] She found it in the dramaBastard Out of Carolina, based on anovel byDorothy Allison, about an impoverished girl who endures physical and sexual abuse. It was screened in theUn Certain Regard section at the1996 Cannes Film Festival,[34] and debuted as a television film onShowtime. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Special.
InEver After: A Cinderella Story (1998), a modern,post-feminist interpretation of the Cinderella story[35] alongsideDrew Barrymore andMelanie Lynskey, Huston appeared as Baroness Rodmilla De Ghent, the new wife of Auguste de Barbarac, a wealthy widower. The film was acclaimed by critics and made a respectable US$98 million globally.[36] Lisa Schwarzbaum fromEntertainment Weekly praised her performance as a cruel stepmother: "Huston does a lot of eye narrowing and eyebrow raising while toddling around in an extraordinary selection of extreme headgear, accompanied by her two less-than-self-actualized daughters—the snooty, social-climbing, nasty Marguerite, and the dim, lumpy, secretly nice Jacqueline. "Nothing is final until you're dead", Mama instructs her girls at the dinner table, "and even then I'm sure God negotiates."
Huston in 2000
In 1998, Huston played a woman romantically involved with a compulsive gambler in the neo-noirPhoenix,[37] withRay Liotta, as well as the mother of a troubled man inVincent Gallo's independent dramedyBuffalo '66, which starred Gallo as her son and reunited her withChristina Ricci. The director had difficulties working with his cast and crew, and reportedly did not get along with Huston on set. He claimed she caused the film to be turned down by theCannes Film Festival.[38]
InThe Royal Tenenbaums (2001), her first collaboration with directorWes Anderson, Huston took on the role of the soft-spoken matriarch of an estranged family of former child prodigies, alongsideGene Hackman,Gwyneth Paltrow,Ben Stiller andLuke Wilson. During production, Anderson gave Huston photographs of his mother who, like Etheline, was an archaeologist. Huston said, "Wes would send pictures of his mother in aviator jackets or on archaeological digs, and he very specifically wanted me to wear a certain locket. Finally, I asked him, 'Wes, am I playing your mother?'" Anderson replied this was not the case. Anderson and Huston had a tense relationship with Hackman, who was not always amiable on set.[41] On the first day Hackman and Huston appeared in a scene together, Huston had to slap him, and later said the slap was real and "I hit him a really good one. I saw the imprint of my hand on his cheek and I thought, he's going to kill me."[41] During young Margot's birthday scene in the opening scenes, Huston's hair caught fire from a birthday candle. Anderson creditedKumar Pallana with extinguishing the blaze before Huston was seriously injured.[41] A positive critical response greetedThe Royal Tenenbaums, which made US$71.4 million worldwide.[42]
Daddy Day Care (2003), co-starringEddie Murphy, featured Huston as the ruthless head of an expensive and over-academic preschool.Slant, in a critical review of the film, noted that Huston "brings embarrassing conviction to the role of stuffy day care proprietress ...Daddy Day Care seems to exist solely to sedate a theater-going public's offspring. And while the film's sense of sobriety should do the job, don't expectThe Witches".[46] Nevertheless, the release was a commercial success, grossing over US$160 million worldwide.[47]
Choke (2008), a black comedy directed byClark Gregg and based on the 2001novel of the same name byChuck Palahniuk, featured Huston as the hospitalized mother of a sex addict inColonial America. Reviews for the film were mixed, butEmpire critic Philip Wilding wrote: "Huston is magnetic as [the] ailing mother Ida, both as a fading invalid or vibrant and deranged in flashback. She is the hook on which her son hangs his hopes and anxieties". Meanwhile, Roger Ebert felt that her role "resembled the criminal character" she played inThe Grifters (1990).[54] In 2008, Huston also voiced Queen Clarion inTinker Bell, which was released on DVD to outstanding commercial results.[55] She reprised the role infour sequels,a television special and a short film, all released between 2009 and 2015.[56]
Huston took on significant roles in three 2011 live-action films. The first was that ofMiss Battle-Axe, a strict, sadistic schoolteacher who talks with a Scottish accent, in the 3D children's musical adventure comedyHorrid Henry: The Movie, directed byNick Moore. She found her character to be "irresistible", explaining toThe Guardian: "It's very British material to me, and I've always been strangely attracted to these extreme characters".[57] The film was panned by critics but was a commercial success in the UK.[58] Her second performance of 2011 was that of a mother of a man with a malignant cancerous tumor in the drama50/50, directed byJonathan Levine and co-starringJoseph Gordon-Levitt andSeth Rogen. The film was a critical and commercial darling upon its release.[59] David Schmader, writing in theStranger, praised the "stellar" cast and felt that Huston "roars back to prominence with a twisty performance as Adam's barely contained mess of a mom".[60] The unsuccessfulThe Big Year, Huston's last live-action film of 2011, featured her as an "avid birder", who "captains ocean-going expeditions".[61]
Huston starred in theNBC television seriesSmash (2012–2013), as Broadway producer Eileen Rand.[62] After her husband's death in 2008, Huston creditedSmash—her first regular venture into series television—with coming at a "vital time" and finally filling a void in her life.[63] The series aired for two seasons and was the subject of critical acclaim.[64] Huston subsequently appeared in the second and third seasons of theAmazon Video seriesTransparent, as Vic, a cisgender woman who forms a connection with Maura, a retired college professor of political science atUCLA. In the horror comedyThe Cleanse (2016), Huston played the director of a secretive self-help program, alongsideJohnny Galecki,Anna Friel andOliver Platt.
In 2017, Huston narrated the black comedyThirst Street, and starred withBill Pullman as siblings feuding over possession of their father's estate in the comedyTrouble. John DeFore ofThe Hollywood Reporter praised the latter film, on which Huston was an executive producer, writing that "the cast goes a long way here, turningTrouble at times into the kind of small-town hangout film that will please fest auds."[65] Huston played the Director, a heavily bejeweled Russian ballet instructor, and whatVulture described as a "small but memorable role", inJohn Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019),[10] which made US$326 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics.[66] She reprised her role as the Director inBallerina.
On June 5, 2024, it was announced that Huston had been cast as the lead in theBBCAgatha Christielimited series,Towards Zero.[67] On September 6, 2024, it was announced that Huston was cast in the lead of the live-action/hybrid featureThe Christmas Witch Trial of La Befana.[68]Huston is set to star alongside her brother, Danny Huston, in this film inspired by Italian folklore.[69]
Huston was a close friend of actorGregory Peck, whomher father directed inMoby Dick (1956). The two first met on the set of the film when she was four years old while Peck was in costume asCaptain Ahab. Decades later, after her father's death, Huston reunited with Peck and maintained a friendship that lasted until his death.[70][71]
Huston was an inadvertent witness in theRoman Polanski sexual abuse case in March 1977, when she encountered Polanski and his 13-year-old victim by chance in the home of her boyfriend Jack Nicholson.[72] When authorities searched the house in connection to the accusations against Polanski, Huston was arrested forcocaine possession, but she was never charged because thesearch and seizure of her handbag had been illegal.[73] Although she had witnessed no abuse, Huston was subsequently embroiled in the publicity surrounding Polanski's trial as a rumored witness for the prosecution, though she was not ultimately called.[74]
In 1969, at age 17, Huston began dating photographerBob Richardson, then 41; they lived together from that year until March 1973.[75] A month later, she metJack Nicholson at his 36th birthday party, and the pair started anon-again, off-again relationship[76] that lasted until 1990, when the media reported he had fathered a child withRebecca Broussard.[75] During a break from Nicholson in the late 1970s, Huston was involved withRyan O'Neal, who allegedly assaulted her.[77]
On May 23, 1992, Huston married sculptorRobert Graham, following a courtship of almost two years. The couple lived in a three-story[78] house, designed by Graham inVenice, California, until his death on December 27, 2008. She does not have any children, but stated in aLifetimeIntimate Portrait that she had tried to have a baby on several occasions.[79]
Huston led a letter campaign organized by theU.S. Campaign for Burma and Human Rights Action Center in November 2007. The letter, signed by over twenty five high-profile individuals from the entertainment business, was addressed to the United Nations Secretary GeneralBan Ki-moon and urged him to "personally intervene" to secure the release ofNobel Peace Prize recipientAung San Suu Kyi of Burma.[82] Huston currently sits on the advisory council ofSave the Chimps, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary and rescue in history. Huston has narrated the educational video Save the Chimps History exposing the cruelty of chimpanzee abuse by laboratories, entertainment and NASA'sprimates in space program, which sent primates into space often resulting in death by impact and explosion.
In December 2012, Huston recorded a public service announcement forPETA urging her colleagues in Hollywood to refrain from usinggreat apes in television, films, and advertisements.[84] The animal rights organization subsequently named her theirPerson of the Year 2012.[85] In 2018, she donated her fur coats to the homeless and animal shelters.[86] She was the executive producer forBreaking the Chain, a 2020 documentary about the PETA fieldworkers who try to help neglected animals.[87]
Huston, Anjelica (2013).A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York. New York: Scribner. Also published in London by Simon & Schuster.
— (2014).A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York. Paperback reprint. New York: Scribner.
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