Jane Anderson

Jane Anderson (born c. 1954 in California) is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and director. She wrote and directed the feature film The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005), and wrote the Nicolas Cage film It Could Happen to You (1994). She won an Emmy Award for writing the screenplay for the miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014).

Prior to film directing, Anderson wrote and directed several critically acclaimed television movies, notably Normal (2003), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson; The Baby Dance (1998), starring Stockard Channing and Laura Dern; The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993), When Billie Beat Bobby starring Holly Hunter; and If These Walls Could Talk 2 (segment "1961") (2000), which won Vanessa Redgrave an Emmy Award for her portrayal of an elderly lesbian prevented from hospital visitation with her dying long-time companion.

She became a writer for the AMC television drama Mad Men for the show's second season. She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series for her work on the second season.

In 2015, Anderson wrote the documentary Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson about her great aunt, Edith Lake Wilkinson, a lesbian and painter who was institutionalized in the 1920s and spent the rest of her life in an asylum for the mentally ill. Anderson cites Wilkinson as an inspiration for own drawing.

As of 2016, Anderson was working on a project with HBO, partnering again with Frances McDormand, to do a miniseries. In 2018, Anderson wrote the Glenn Close-starring The Wife.

• Emmy Award for writing The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993)
• Emmy Award nominations for writing and directing The Baby Dance (1998)
• Emmy Award nomination for writing Normal (2003)
• Emmy Award nomination for writing If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) (For episode "1961")
• Women in Film Lucy Award (2000) in recognition of excellence and innovation in a writing a creative work (If These Walls Could Talk 2) that has enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television
• Directors Guild of America Award nomination for directing Normal (2003)
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series for her work on the second season of Mad Men (2008)
• Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award (2008) for Outstanding World Premiere Play for writing The Quality of Life
• Two Ovation Awards (2008) for writing The Quality of Life
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Long Form Adapted Series for writing Olive Kitteridge (2015)
• Emmy Award for writing Olive Kitteridge (2015)