Felicity Huffman

Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress.

Over her career she has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as a nomination for an Academy Award.

In the 1970s, Huffman's mother left New York and bought property in Snowmass, Colorado, where Felicity and her siblings spent their youth.

Her great-grandfather was Gershom Moore Peters, founder of the Peters Cartridge Company and prominent Baptist minister, author of The Master.

Another great-grandfather, Frederick Berthold Ewing, graduated from Yale University and became a prominent St. Louis businessman.

Huffman's great-great-grandfather was Joseph Warren King, founder of the King Mills Powder Company.

She has German, English, Scots-Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, and Irish ancestry.

Huffman attended The Putney School, a private boarding high school in Putney, Vermont, and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan in 1981.

She attended New York University, Circle in the Square Theatre School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.

Huffman made her debut on stage in 1982 and in the 1980s and 1990s worked as a rule on stage productions.

In 1988, she debuted on Broadway in the role as Karen in David Mamet's play Speed the Plow.

Huffman debuted on the big screen in 1988 with a small role in Mamet's film Things Change.

Two years later, she appeared as Minnie, a Harvard law school student in the courtroom drama Reversal of Fortune.

Huffman began her acting career in theatre, and in the 1990s also had many supporting roles in film and television.

Huffman has also starred in such films as Reversal of Fortune (1990), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Magnolia (1999), Path to War (2002), Georgia Rule (2007), Phoebe in Wonderland (2008), Rudderless (2014), and Cake (2014).

During the 1990s, she appeared mostly in guest roles on such shows as The X-Files, Early Edition, Chicago Hope and Law & Order.

Huffman starred on the television mini-series Golden Years, based on the novel by Stephen King in 1991.

Her other credits include 1992 thriller Quicksand: No Escape with Donald Sutherland and Tim Matheson, The Water Engine opposite William H. Macy, and supporting roles on The Heart of Justice (1992), Hackers (1995), Harrison: Cry of the City (1996) and The Underworld (1997).

In 1994, she starred in the ABC pilot Thunder Alley as Ed Asner's daughter, but was replaced in subsequent episodes by Diane Venora when the series began.

In 1995, Huffman won Obie Award for her performance in the play The Cryptogram by David Mamet.

In 1997, she starred in Mamet's film The Spanish Prisoner.

She starred as Dana Whitaker in the ABC comedy-drama Sports Night from 1998 to 2000, which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination.

From 1998 to 2000, she portrayed Dana Whitaker in the series Sports Night, for which she received several awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

After the completion of Sports Night, she gave birth to her first child and soon returned to work.

In 1999 she starred in the premiere of David Mamet's play Boston Marriage, about the daringly intimate relationship between two turn-of-the-century women, as well as in several other major theatrical productions.

In 1999, she appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's ensemble drama Magnolia and television adaptation of 1938 movie A Slight Case of Murder along with William H. Macy.

In 2001, she starred on the not picked up CBS pilot Heart Department In 2003, she starred in Showtime's miniseries Out of Order.

She also starred in Snap Decision (2001) with Mare Winningham, Raising Helen (2004) as Kate Hudson's character's older sister, and Christmas with the Kranks (2004), as the best friend of Jamie Lee Curtis's character.

In 2002 she played Lady Bird Johnson in the HBO award-winning movie Path to War and made a cameo appearance in Door to Door, which starred, and was written by, her husband.

She is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), for which she earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Award.

She is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives and her role as a transgender woman in the film Transamerica (2005).

Huffman drew critical praise for her performance as a transgender woman in the independent film Transamerica (2005).

The role earned her a Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, National Board of Review, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

From 2015 to 2017, she starred in a third ABC series, the anthology crime drama American Crime, for which she received nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.

Huffman was arrested for her involvement with a 2019 nationwide college entrance exam cheating scandal.

Charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, a $30,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service.

Huffman was born in Bedford, New York, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Grace Valle (née Ewing) and Moore Peters Huffman, a banker and partner at Morgan Stanley.

Her parents divorced a year after her birth, and she was raised by both of them.

When Huffman was a young teenager, she discovered that her biological father was Roger Tallman Maher, who was a family friend.

She has six sisters and a brother.