30 Surprising Facts About Annette Bening Every Fan Should Know

25 March 2019, 7:16 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Annette Bening, a four-time Academy Award nominee, who started her career on stage with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival company, recently turned heads with her roles of Supreme Intelligence and Mar-Vell / Wendy Lawson in Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Captain Marvel." Here are some little known facts about the American actress:

She has a BAFTA Award for Best Actress and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, for her performance as Carolyn Burnham in "American Beauty."
She was honored with the prestigious American Riviera Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 28, 2011.
Bening is the chairman of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences (AMPAS).
She also has two Golden Globe Awards to her name, for her roles as Julia Lambert in "Being Julia," and as Nic in the movie "The Kids Are All Right."
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on November 10, 2006.
She has a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie nomination for her role as Jean Harris in the TV movie Mrs. Harris.
In the year 2017, she was the President of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 74th Venice International Film Festival.
Bening was the first and only choice of Sam Mendes for the role of Carolyn in the movie "American Beauty," and reportedly offered her the role without the studio's knowledge.
Her character as Dorothea Fields in the 2016 movie "20th Century Women," was partly based on Michael Mills' mother. In preparation for her role, she watched a lot of his mother's favorite films, and even had a particular spin on the character.
For her portrayal of Dianne Feinstein, though she personally knows and is very familiar with Feinstein, she chose not to meet her, regarding the portrayal.

She was introduced at the 63rd Annual Academy Awards, by host Billy Crystal, as the soon to be Catwoman in "Batman Returns," but the role had to be given to Michelle Pfeiffer by the studio, when Bening became pregnant.
The scene from "American Beauty," in which her co-star Kevin Spacey throws the asparagus, he was supposed to throw it on the floor, which led to the reactions of Bening and Thora Birch being genuine.
In the 1990 movie "The Grifters," her performance as Myra Langtry is said to have been directly inspired by the iconic noir actress Gloria Grahame, even more specifically her role in "The Big Heat."
Though being a Democrat, she is said to have publicly criticized Hillary Clinton's 2000 bid for a seat in the Senate representing New York as the work of an opportunist.
During the filming of 1998 movie "The Siege," she was reportedly concerned about the reception of the movie, as she felt that an early draft of the script had some material that would be offensive to Jewish Americans. However, the film movie has no controversial scenes involving Jews.
In the 2003 movie "Open Range," she claims her character of Sue Barlow as "a woman of real substance and simplicity." She had to wear a corset the whole time she was in character.
The "American Beauty" scene in which Lester masturbates in bed beside Carolyn, she could not always keep a straight face, which meant the scene had to be shot for a total of ten times.
She was said to be the subject of an urban legend claiming that she had been the model for the Columbia Pictures logo, though the rumor was untrue. In an interview with Roger Ebert, she said that she believed it to be true.
Her surprise and annoyance in the scene from the movie "American Beauty," where Lester attacks Carolyn's feet with a remote control car was reportedly unscripted, making it a genuine reaction.
She was hired to play the romantic lead on the sitcom "Just in Time," but was fired by the producers after the first table read, saying that they "wanted to move the character in a new direction."

In her 1999 movie "American Beauty," the shot in which her character Carolyn Burnham screams after her failure to sell the house, was reportedly shot in a single take.
In the initial days of her career, she auditioned for a role on the soap opera "Loving," in New York. She was offered a screen test, which she declined after thinking for a while.
She made her Broadway debut in "Coastal Disturbances," as Holly Dancer, the play's protagonist,, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play, in the year 1987.
To prepare her for the role of Carolyn in the movie "American Beauty," director Sam Mendes lent the Bobby Darin version of the song "Don't Rain on My Parade," which he believed the character of Carolyn would enjoy. Bening, who also enjoyed the music very much, persuaded the director to include it for a scene in the movie, in which Carolyn sings in her car.
In the early 2000s, it was reported that she was in talks to be featured in "Rainbow's End," a biography of Judy Garland, but the film never came to be.
She is set to return to the Broadway stage after a 32 year long absence, to star in the revival of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons," to open on April 4, 2019 and close on June 23, 2019.
In scene of Caroyln's private breakdown in "American Beauty," was actually not in the script, but it was Bening who wanted a scene in which Carolyn grieves, and came up with the idea of embracing Lester's clothes.
She was a member of the acting company at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, while simultaneously studying acting as part of the Advanced Theatre Training Program.
Her performance in "The Kids Are All Right," was faced with strong critical acclaim, with several reviewers noting that she "deserves an Oscar" for her "sublime" performance.
She has been married twice. She married J. Steven White, a choreographer, on May 26, 1984, but the relationship ended with a divorce in 1991. She later married Warren Beatty on March 3, 1992, and has two sons and two daughters.