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The Good Wife
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Format: TV Series
Season: 1
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The Bounty Hunter
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Poetic License
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The Good Wife
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How the Grinch Stole Christmas
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Christine Baranski

FAMOUS BARANSKI QUOTES

"You are always damned by things that you do well as an actor"

"It is really hard to do comedy; it takes a lot of energy and focus. It's rather like music: It's a lot of hitting notes precisely."

"It's the thing that you do well that brings you to prominence. The very thing that brings you to success can also be like a curse, because then people think that's all you can do."

"I wish I didn't have to live up to anything."

"Acting is like a high wire act. Your margin for error is very slim."

PHOTO OF THE MOMENT

Christine at the opera premier of "Armida".

BIOGRAPHY

(Generated as best as possible from the information available)

Christine Baranski was born Christine Jane Baranski to a family of Polish ancestry on May 2nd, 1952. Daughter of Virginia and Lucien Baranski, Christine grew up in the town of Buffalo, New York. Since much of her childhood, youth, and general life are unknown we cannot ascertain who introduced her to acting although the most likely source could be her grandparents who were both Polish and acted in a Polish theater.

Although for years she was believed to be "Chris Charney", a child starlet, Christine has recently cleared the confusion by stating that she was never an acting child and that her interest in theater sprung during High School. She has mentioned that after high school she was adamant of attending Julliard who had recently opened the drama department. After not ensuring enrollment the first time (since she had a gap between her teeth and had a strange ‘s’ sound to her words for which she had to cap them) Christine was finally accepted at Juilliard who “gave me the skills and confidence to pursue a serious career. It is the greatest school of the performing arts in the center of one of the greatest cities in the world. It was such a privilege and opportunity”. As much as her childhood is not known of, we also do not know much of her stay at Juilliard except for the fact that she had to audition with a monologue whose words mostly started with the letter ‘s’, spent all the money of her scholarship in a trip to Europe, keeping a diary which she would later show Meryl for her preparation as Donna, and left such an impression that some teachers have told their students to “give me a little Christine Baranski”.

When 1980 rolled around Christine was once more casted for a movie, this time however she would have a much larger role. Playing For Time tells the story of a group of musicians led by Fania Fenelon during their terrifying stay at the Nazi concentration camp “Auschwitz”. Her character, Olga, is a Polish prisoner of war who plays the accordion for the workers at the camp and for officials in special events. After the death of their director she’s “appointed” as the director by the rest of the group against Fania’s liking; this is where we finally hear Olga speak. Although Christine’s voice was still soft and youthful it is covered with the fear that her character has that the Polish will also be treated as the Jews or that they will be taken to the gas chambers. Wonderfully performed by each of the women in the band Playing for Time was unfortunately forgotten.

The 80s changed the course of Christine acting career; she made her Off-Broadway debut in a play titled Coming Attractions in which she developed various characters for each performance. After this she made her Broadway debut in Hide and Seek in 1980. This was followed by several Off-Broadway productions, one of which was Sally and Marsha in 1982 opposite Bernadette Peters. 1982 also brought another small part in the movie Soup for One as the Blonde in Bar, and the telecasting of the Off-Broadway play Midsummer’s Night Dream in which she played Helena, a girl who suffers of unrequited love. With a burgeoning, yet low profile, career Christine was able to take part in the longest role of her life, one which she enjoys most above all; wife and mother. In October 15, 1983 Christine married Matthew Cowles (also an actor best known for Billy Clyde Tuggle), and by 1984, when she earned her first Tony Award for The Real Thing, she was already pregnant with the couple’s first daughter, Isabel Cowles. The next series of years would bring not only various plays Off-Broadway and Broadway (which earned her some awards, including another Tony Award) but would also bring television and theater movies towards Christine, as well as a couple of television guest spots. In this years, movies such as Nine 1/2 weeks,Legal Eagles, Addams Family Values, The War, The Birdcage, Bullworth, and The Odd Couple II were filmed with her having small secondary and tertiary roles, and a second television broadcasting of a play, this time of The House of Blue Leaves. During this period of time in her personal life, Christine gave birth to her second daughter, Kateri Tekakwitha, also known as ‘Lily’.

While perhaps Christine was known to theater and a couple of screen audiences, she was not well known in the television network business. That all changed in 1995 when she became the bitter divorcee and martini drinker in search of revenge also known as Maryann Thorpe in Cybill. Christine simply delighted the viewers as the best friend of Cybill either on the small screen or in front of the small audience that was later used for laugh track purposes. Unlike many television supporting characters, Maryann Thorpe’s storyline increased with each of the episodes to the point that Christine is constantly mentioned as the actress that “stole the show” with her funny, bitter, and witty character. Critics seemed to agree with viewers and awarded Christine because of it; 1995 an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, 1996 an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in Comedy Series, and a Q Award for Best Supporting Actress in Quality Comedy Series. Although the show only lasted for four seasons before it was abruptly canceled (and before we could learn the fate of Maryann), Christine’s performance guaranteed even bigger propulsion into the spotlight, opening more doors for movies, television series, and theater plays.

Among her movie credits for the following years one can find Cruel Intentions, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Chicago (for which she shared the winning of Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards), the Eloise saga, Recipe for a Perfect Christmas and Bonneville. As for the theater world Christine took part in the Washington productions of Mame, in which she played the main character Mame to critical acclaim, and Sweeney Todd; the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in which she was casted as the loving Mrs. Lovett. Apart from staring in yet another television series, this time as one of the stellar characters Annie Brennan, in Happy Family she was also able to take a production spot in the sitcom Welcome to New York in which she stared as Marsha Bickner. Although both series were short lived they, along with all of the other work she took part in, only worked to prove the versatility of Christine’s acting techniques and the fact that she was born to be a comedy actress. Even the Polish society honored Christine in 2004 at the 60s, 70s, 80s gala that the Kosciuszko Foundation holds. Although, because of Cybill, Christine’s career increased, it was not until very recently that she joined the ranks of famous celebrities with the release of Boeing Boeing on Broadway and Mamma Mia! The Movie all over the world.

Boeing Boeing tells the story of an American engineer who has devised a clever plan; use airlines flight timetables to have multiple fiances from all over the world. It is up to him, and more importantly Berthe his maid, to keep everything in order around the apartment so that the fiances don’t know about each other. When one of his college friends comes to visit, which coincides with the integration of the Super Boeing a much faster airplane, his timetables get all mixed up leaving it up to Berthe and his best friend to “watch out” for the American, German, and Italian fiances. In this French satire, Christine portrays Berthe; an existentialist French Maid who never picks up anything but always tries to help. Since her last performance in Broadway in 1991, Christine had been working in various television shows and movies, but it is clear with performances such as this, that Christine’s best work is done in front of a live audiences for which she receives standing ovations at the show’s curtain call. Although Boeing Boeing closed after a relatively short run in Broadway it did win two SAG awards; Best Revival and Best Actor in a Comedy Play in 2008.

Mamma Mia! The Movie hit the world in 2008 and has not let go since then. A musical based in the hit songs of the Swedish group ABBA caused a sensation all over the world not only in women but also in teens who can’t help but fall in love with the songs and the relationships that are interwoven. Led by a stellar cast, Meryl Streep among them, Mamma Mia! takes you through the tale of a young woman who wants to find her father so that he can walk her down the aisle, only.. she has three possible fathers and her mother doesn’t know she’s invited them to the wedding. Halfway through the movie, however, the tale is spun around so that we focus on the mother and her dilemma in seeing her three ex-boyfriends again, one of which she still loves with all her heart. Rumored to be loosely based in the character of Maryann Thorpe, Tanya (Christine Baranski) is one of the best friends of Donna, the mother. In the movie, and the stage play, Tanya fights of the attraction that she feels for a younger boy named Pepper to which she sings the ABBA hit ‘Does Your Mother Know?’. At the end of the movie, or play, Tanya ends up admitting that she does indeed feel for Pepper what she had been denying. Since the movie was such a hit all over the world, particularly in Europe were it replaced Titanic as the highest grossing film ever, Christine was further propelled into the spotlight and a higher interest in her work and her acting abilities rose from it. She recently won an AARP Magazine Award as best supporting actress (joined by Julie Walters) for her work in this movie. Whatever the impact that Mamma Mia! will have in the future is, it should be great for Christine who once more managed to shine among a cast full of talented celebrities.

Although Christine is sure to be looking out for the next project, as any other actor, 2009 has already brought us two projects in which she stars. For one night she was part of the ensemble that presented the concert of A Little Night Music in New York in which she was cast as Countess Charlotte Malcom. Recently she appeared in an episode of Big Bang Theory as Dr. Beverly Hostandter, delighting all her fans as she portrayed a neuroscientist visiting her son Leonard and singing for the first time with Sheldon, for which she won an Emmy Award nomination. For Ugly Betty, Christine has appeared as Victoria Hartley, the mother of Betty's boyfriend Mark who happens to not like Betty at all. Christine is currently starting in a lead role as Diane Lockhart, one of the top litigators in "The Good Wife" and the only woman head partner. The series has recently been picked up for a whole season promising to give the Lockhart charm to Baranski's fans. She is also signed for an upcoming guest spot in Big Bang Theory where she will re-enact her character for a second time. Whatever project she decides to be part of, we the fans, know that she will do her outmost best and that she will shine like never before.

(This information was taken from various websites such as IMDB.com, Wikipedia.org, Playbill.com,Broadwayworld.com as well as from various printed interviews and articles. If you'd like information about them, or if we've included information that belongs to you and would like for us to give a detailed credit, please contact the webmistress)