Debra Winger | |
|---|---|
 Winger in 1984 | |
| Born | Debra Lynn Winger[1] (1955-05-16)May 16, 1955 (age 69)[2] Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Cal State Northridge |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Debra Lynn Winger[1] (born May 16, 1955)[2] is an American actress. She starred in the filmsAn Officer and a Gentleman (1982),Terms of Endearment (1983), andShadowlands (1993), each of which earned her a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress. Winger won theNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress forTerms of Endearment, and theTokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actress forA Dangerous Woman (1993).
Winger's other films includeUrban Cowboy (1980),Legal Eagles (1986),Black Widow (1987),Betrayed (1988),The Sheltering Sky (1990),Forget Paris (1995), andRachel Getting Married (2008). In 2012, she made herBroadway debut in the original production ofDavid Mamet's playThe Anarchist. She received a lifetime achievement award at theTransilvania International Film Festival in 2014,[3] and starred in theNetflix original television seriesThe Ranch (2016–2020).
Winger was born inCleveland Heights, Ohio, into aJewish family, to Robert Winger, a meat packer, and Ruth (née Felder), an office manager.[4][5] Over the years, she told many interviewers that shevolunteered on an Israeli kibbutz, sometimes even saying she had trained with theIsrael Defense Forces,[6] but in a 2008 interview she said she was merely on a typical youth tour that visited the kibbutz.[7] At age 18, after returning to the U.S., she was involved in a car crash and suffered acerebral hemorrhage; as a result, she was left partially paralyzed and blind for 10 months, initially being told that she would never see again. With time on her hands to think about her life, she decided that, if she recovered, she would move to California and become an actress.[8]
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Winger's first acting role was as "Debbie" in the 1976sexploitation filmSlumber Party '57. Her next role was as Diana Prince's younger sister Drusilla (Wonder Girl) in three episodes ofABC's TV seriesWonder Woman. The producers wanted her to appear more often, but she refused, fearing that the role would hurt her fledgling career. This was followed by a guest role in season 4 of the TV dramaPolice Woman in 1978.[9] Winger played a supporting role in Willard Huyck's 1979 comic coming-of-age filmFrench Postcards.
Winger's first major role was inThank God It's Friday, followed byUrban Cowboy in 1980, for which she received aBAFTA nomination and a pair ofGolden Globe nominations (for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, and Best New Star). In 1982 she co-starred withNick Nolte inCannery Row and withRichard Gere inAn Officer and a Gentleman, for which she was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actress. She was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actress twice more: forTerms of Endearment in 1983 (which was awarded to her co-star,Shirley MacLaine, who played her mother in the film) and forShadowlands in 1993, for which she also received her second BAFTA nomination. Her performance inA Dangerous Woman earned aGolden Globe nomination for Best Actress.[10]
Over the years Winger acquired a reputation for being outspoken and difficult to work with.[11][12][13] She has expressed her dislike ofAn Officer and a Gentleman, for which she refused to do any publicity,[13] and several of her other films, and has been dismissive of some of her co-stars and directors. WhenBarbara Walters interviewedBette Davis in 1986, Davis said, "I see a great deal of myself in Debra Winger, who has already acquired a reputation for being difficult, because she cares about the project."
Winger was to play Peggy Sue in the filmPeggy Sue Got Married but was forced to back out just before production began after injuring her back in a bicycle accident. The role went toKathleen Turner. The injury affected Winger's ability to work for several months. She was cast inA League of Their Own but dropped out and was replaced byGeena Davis. It was later reported that Winger dropped out of the film because she refused to work withMadonna, whom Winger did not consider a serious actress.[14] Other starring roles during this period includedLegal Eagles,Made in Heaven,Everybody Wins,The Sheltering Sky,Leap of Faith,Black Widow,Betrayed,Wilder Napalm, andA Dangerous Woman.
In 1995, Winger decided to take a hiatus from acting. In 2002, she said, "I wanted out for years. I got sick of hearing myself say I wanted to quit. It's like opening an interview with 'I hate interviews!' Well, get out! I stopped reading scripts and stopped caring. People said, 'We miss you so much.' But in the last six years, tell me a film that I should have been in. The few I can think of the actress was so perfect".[15] After makingForget Paris in 1995, she was absent from the screen for six years before returning in 2001 withBig Bad Love, written and directed by her husband, Arliss Howard. The film was also Winger's debut as a producer.[16]
During her film hiatus, Winger had the female lead in theAmerican Repertory Theater's stage production ofAnton Chekhov's playIvanov from November 1999 to January 2000.[17]
Rosanna Arquette made a critically acclaimed documentary film,Searching for Debra Winger, that was released in 2002 after Winger returned to film acting. Winger subsequently starred in the filmsRadio,Eulogy, andSometimes in April, and received positive reviews for portrayingAnne Hathaway's estranged mother inRachel Getting Married.[18]
Winger earned anEmmy Award nomination for her title role as the mother of aColumbine shooting victim in the 2005 television filmDawn Anna, directed byArliss Howard. In 2010 she returned to television, making a guest appearance as a high school principal in an episode ofLaw & Order.[19] She also joined the cast of HBO'sIn Treatment as one of the three patients featured in the third season.[20]
In 2013, Winger starred in three episodes ofIn the Woods,[21] the first installment ofJennifer Elster's multimedia, experimental film seriesThe Being Experience, also includingTerrence Howard,Dave Matthews,Rufus Wainwright,Karen Black,Will Shortz,Liya Kebede,Questlove,Famke Janssen,Moby,Gale Harold,Paz de la Huerta,Jorgen Leth,Rosie Perez,Aubrey de Grey, andAlan Cumming.[22]
From 2016 to 2020, Winger starred oppositeSam Elliott andAshton Kutcher in theNetflixmulti-cam comedyThe Ranch.
In 2017, Winger had a cameo as Supreme Court JusticeElena Kagan in the TV miniseriesWhen We Rise.[23] The same year, she starred in her first romantic lead after many years inThe Lovers.[24] She has continued to acquire roles in other feature films, such asTiger City, released in 2018.[25]
In 1995, Winger performed inThe Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, a television musical performance of the popular 1939 MGM film atLincoln Center to benefit theChildren's Defense Fund. Her roles in that special were the "Cyclone" narrator and theWicked Witch of the West. It was originally broadcast on bothTBS andTNT.
During her hiatus from the film industry, Winger spent a semester as ateaching fellow atHarvard University.[26] In 2008, she wrote a book,Undiscovered, based on her personal recollections.[27] She has shown her support for reconciliation between Arabs and Jews in Israel by visiting the bilingualHand in Hand schools (Galilee Jewish-Arab School,Gesher al HaWadi School) where, in 2008, she said she would "dedicate the next bit of my life to these schools".[28]
In 2010, Winger was co-executive producer of the Academy Award-nominated documentaryGasland.[29] She was also the executive producer of the 2012 documentaryBel Borba Aqui, about the life and works of Brazilian graphic artistBel Borba.[30][31]
Winger's three-year relationship with actor Andrew Rubin ended in 1980.[32] From 1983 to 1985 she datedBob Kerrey, at the time the governor of Nebraska, whom she met while filmingTerms of Endearment inLincoln, Nebraska.[33] Winger also dated herCannery Row andEverybody Wins co-starNick Nolte.[34]
From 1986 to 1990, Winger was married to actorTimothy Hutton, with whom she had a son, Noah Hutton, a documentary filmmaker born in 1987. The marriage ended in divorce.[35][34]
In 1996, Winger married actor/directorArliss Howard, whom she met on the set of the filmWilder Napalm. Their son, Gideon Babe Ruth Howard (known as Babe), was born in 1997. She is stepmother to Sam Howard, Arliss's son from his prior marriage.[35][34]
In March 2025, Winger protested against thedetention of Mahmoud Khalil atTrump Tower. She accused theTrump administration of having "no interest in Jewish safety" and "co-opting antisemitism."[36] In an interview, she stated "I have a debt for what I grew up with and believed on what the state ofIsrael has done and what they haven’t done, and how they’re conflatingJudaism withZionism."[37]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976–1977 | Wonder Woman | Drusilla /Wonder Girl | 3 episodes: "The Feminum Mystique" (Parts 1 & 2), "Wonder Woman in Hollywood" |
| 1977 | Szysznyk | Jenny | Episode: "Run, Jenny, Run" |
| Tattletales | Herself | 5 episodes | |
| 1978 | Special Olympics | Sherrie Hensley | TV movie |
| Police Woman | Phyllis Baxter | Episode: "Battered Teachers" | |
| James at 16 | Alicia | Episode: "Hunter Country" | |
| 1992 | Sesame Street | Herself | Episode 2934: "A day with Debra" |
| 2005 | Dawn Anna | Dawn Anna | TV movie Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie |
| Sometimes in April | Prudence Bushnell | TV movie | |
| 2010 | Law & Order | Mrs. Woodside | Episode: "Boy on Fire" |
| In Treatment | Frances | 7 episodes | |
| 2014 | The Red Tent | Rebecca | 2 episodes |
| 2016–2020 | The Ranch | Maggie Bennett | Main role |
| 2017 | When We Rise | Elena Kagan | |
| Comrade Detective | Iona Anghel (voice) | Episode: "No Exit" | |
| 2018 | Patriot | Bernice Tavner | Main role (season 2) |
| 2021 | Ultra City Smiths | Trish McSapphire (voice) | 5 episodes |
| Mr. Corman | Ruth Corman | 4 episodes | |
| 2024 | Accused | Margot | Episode: "Margot's Story" |
She tried studying criminology and sociology at Cal State-Northridge, and went to Israel to spend time on a kibbutz, but by 17, she'd moved away from home and she was making it in commercials.
After high school, she worked on an Israeli kibbutz, trained with the Israeli army, and then returned to the United States to study sociology at California State University at Northridge.
At 16, she ran off to a kibbutz and did her basic training in the Israeli Army.
Exaggerated reports about her also concern her biography. For example, at one of the Internet sites devoted to her it is stated that she spent part of her youth on a kibbutz in Israel and even served for several months in the Israel Defense Forces. Winger laughs. Indeed, when she was 17, she spent four months at KibbutzBeit Zera, but she never enlisted in the IDF. She took part inGadna (youth cadet) activities, and apparently once told this to someone who told it to someone and it developed into an urban legend, according to which Debra Winger was once a soldier in the IDF.
Raised in a secular Jewish household in Cleveland, Winger volunteered on a kibbutz in 1972 and has maintained her connection ever since.
