# List of Anjelica Huston performances
This article surveys the screen performances of **Anjelica Huston**, the American actress (born 1951) whose career runs from her 1969 film debut to 2025 television and franchise work, organized by period and medium rather than as a bare title list.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Family line | Daughter of director John Huston and granddaughter of actor Walter Huston; first person in Academy Award history to win an Oscar when both a parent and a grandparent had also won[1](https://davidleser.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Anjelica-Huston.pdf) • [2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/anjelica-huston/) |
| First starring role | Lady Claudia in her father's *A Walk with Love and Death* (1969)[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/13161-Anjelica-Huston?cp=1&cxt=Cast3&pos=4&sid=fecd338f-6965-4683-a2aa-158db7f9f6ad&sr=0.08329464) |
| Academy Awards | Won Best Supporting Actress for *Prizzi's Honor* (1985) at the 58th ceremony; nominated for *Enemies, a Love Story* (supporting) and *The Grifters* (lead)[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1986) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/awards/) |
| Signature roles | Maerose Prizzi (*Prizzi's Honor*), Lilly Dillon (*The Grifters*), Morticia Addams (*The Addams Family*, *Addams Family Values*), the Grand High Witch (*The Witches*), Etheline Tenenbaum (*The Royal Tenenbaums*), the Director (*John Wick* films)[1](https://davidleser.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Anjelica-Huston.pdf) • [6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/) |
| Television work | *Lonesome Dove* (1989), *Family Pictures* (1993), *Buffalo Girls* (1995), *Iron Jawed Angels* (2004), *Smash* (2012–2013), *Transparent* (2015–2016), *Towards Zero* (2025)[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/) |
| Directing credits | *Bastard Out of Carolina* (1996), *Agnes Browne* (1999), *Riding the Bus with My Sister* (2005)[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/) |
| Career scale | More than 100 titles across film, television, shorts and voice work, spanning close to six decades[7](https://elpais.com/gente/2025-04-09/anjelica-huston-desvela-que-le-diagnosticaron-cancer-hace-seis-anos-y-que-ya-esta-curada-logre-sobrevivir-y-estoy-orgullosa-de-mi-misma.html) |
## Beginnings and the long hiatus
Huston's first appearances on screen were uncredited or marginal: an early spot as a hand model subbing for [Deborah Kerr](https://www.edgepedia.org/deborah-kerr)'s hands in *Casino Royale* (1967), and a small part as Woman in Crowd on Pier in *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* (1975)[8](https://www.cinemasight.com/oscar-profile-148-anjelica-huston/) • [9](https://popculturefiles.com/filmographies/anjelica-huston-filmography). Her first substantial role was Lady Claudia in her father [John Huston](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-huston)'s *A Walk with Love and Death* (1969), which the Los Angeles Times later called a "horrendous film debut" in a box-office failure[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/anjelica-huston/) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/13161-Anjelica-Huston?cp=1&cxt=Cast3&pos=4&sid=fecd338f-6965-4683-a2aa-158db7f9f6ad&sr=0.08329464). Encyclopedia.com's career entry instead gives the film debut date as 1967[10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/huston-anjelica).
The hostile reception to that debut drove her away from acting. After her mother's death she moved to New York and became a fashion model, and acting "went into lockdown" until she revisited her father in California in the mid-1970s, where she lived with [Jack Nicholson](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-nicholson) and took acting lessons[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/anjelica-huston/) • [10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/huston-anjelica). She returned to the screen with supporting parts as Edna in [Elia Kazan](https://www.edgepedia.org/elia-kazan)'s *The Last Tycoon* (1976) and as a lion tamer named Madge opposite Nicholson in *The Postman Always Rings Twice* (1981)[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/anjelica-huston/) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/13161-Anjelica-Huston?cp=1&cxt=Cast3&pos=4&sid=fecd338f-6965-4683-a2aa-158db7f9f6ad&sr=0.08329464).
## Breakthrough: Prizzi's Honor and the 1980s
Huston's comeback consolidated in the 1980s with a run of roles in her father's and colleagues' films: *Swashbuckler* (1976), *The Ice Pirates* (1984), *Gardens of Stone* (1987), and *Mr. North* (1988)[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/13161-Anjelica-Huston?cp=1&cxt=Cast3&pos=4&sid=fecd338f-6965-4683-a2aa-158db7f9f6ad&sr=0.08329464). Her performance as Maerose Prizzi, the vengeful daughter of a mafia don, in her father's *Prizzi's Honor* (1985) won the [Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-supporting-actress) at the March 1986 ceremony[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1986). That win made her the first person in motion picture history to win an Oscar when a parent and a grandparent had done the same[1](https://davidleser.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Anjelica-Huston.pdf).
She received top billing in her father's final film, *The Dead* (1987), an adaptation of [James Joyce](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-joyce)'s story in which she played Gretta Conroy; she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for it[8](https://www.cinemasight.com/oscar-profile-148-anjelica-huston/) • [10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/huston-anjelica). In 1989 she played the acerbic Holocaust survivor Tamara Broder in [Paul Mazursky](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-mazursky)'s *Enemies, a Love Story*, earning her second Oscar nomination and a National Society of Film Critics Best Supporting Actress award[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/anjelica-huston/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/awards/).
## 1990s leading work
**The Grifters.** Huston's third Oscar nomination came as a Best Actress in a Leading Role nod for [Stephen Frears](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-frears)'s *The Grifters* (1990), in which she played the con woman Lilly Dillon[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/awards/). She also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, Los Angeles Film Critics and National Society of Film Critics Best Actress awards for the performance[10](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/huston-anjelica).
The same year she played Miss Ernst, the Grand High Witch, in [Nicolas Roeg](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicolas-roeg)'s *The Witches*, adapted from [Roald Dahl](https://www.edgepedia.org/roald-dahl)'s children's novel; her makeup took six hours to apply, and she later recalled Roeg's on-set encouragement during filming[11](https://time.com/5466504/anjelica-huston-nicolas-roeg/). She then took the role for which she is most widely recognized, [Morticia Addams](https://www.edgepedia.org/morticia-addams), in *The Addams Family* (1991) and *Addams Family Values* (1993)[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/).
The decade's other notable film roles include Dolores Paley in [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen)'s *Crimes and Misdemeanors* (1989) and Marcia Fox in *Manhattan Murder Mystery* (1993); the supporting role of Mary in [Sean Penn](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-penn)'s *The Crossing Guard* (1995); the title role in [Mira Nair](https://www.edgepedia.org/mira-nair)'s *The Perez Family* (1995); Rodmilla, Cinderella's stepmother, in *Ever After: A Cinderella Story* (1998); and Agnes Browne in the 1999 Irish melodrama she also directed[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/) • [3](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/13161-Anjelica-Huston?cp=1&cxt=Cast3&pos=4&sid=fecd338f-6965-4683-a2aa-158db7f9f6ad&sr=0.08329464). She played the cold matriarch Etheline Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson's *The Royal Tenenbaums* (2001) and Eleanor Zissou in his *The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou* (2004)[12](https://walkoffame.com/anjelica-huston/).
## Television performances
Television runs through her career as steadily as film. Her mini-series and television-movie credits include *Lonesome Dove* (1989), which brought a Golden Globe nomination; *Family Pictures* (1993); *Buffalo Girls* (1995), an Emmy-nominated performance; and *Iron Jawed Angels* (2004), for which she won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television in 2005[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/awards/). On series television she played Eileen Rand, a Broadway producer, in NBC's *Smash* (2012–2013), where her character sang "September Song," the ballad that had made her grandfather famous on Broadway; she then had a recurring guest role in *Transparent* (2015–2016), which drew a Critics' Choice TV Award nomination[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/) • [13](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/anjelica-huston/bio/3000169593/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/awards/).
Her 2025 television role is Lady Tressilian in the BBC's adaptation of [Agatha Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/agatha-christie)'s *Towards Zero*, a mostly bedridden aristocrat presiding over her seaside household; she received an OFTA Television Award nomination for it[14](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/21/anjelica-huston-interview-agatha-christie-towards-zero) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/awards/).
## Work as a director
Huston's directing career runs parallel to her acting. She directed the television film *Bastard Out of Carolina* (1996), an adaptation of Dorothy Allison's novel about child abuse that, originally produced for TNT, moved to Showtime after being judged too intense for commercial television and drew strong reviews[2](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/anjelica-huston/). She followed it with her feature directorial debut, *Agnes Browne* (1999), in which she also starred as an Irish widow raising seven children, and later *Riding the Bus with My Sister* (2005)[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/). She has described a difficult history with the films she has directed[15](https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/entertainment/tn-gnp-anjelica-huston-knows-what-she-wants-20141118-story.html).
## The John Wick era and recent work
**Franchise and later roles.** Huston played the Director, head of a school of assassins in the Ruska Roma tradition, in *John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum* (2019), and reprised the role in the spinoff *Ballerina* (2025), set during the events of the third film[16](https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/ballerina-release-date-trailer-cast-and-everything-we-know-about-the-ana-de-armas-john-wick-spinoff). She was also announced in *The Mighty Nein* (2025) as the voice of Deirta[17](https://www.moviemeter.com/celebrities/5657/anjelica-huston/filmography).
The scale of her output differs by counter: El País counts more than 100 titles across film, television, shorts, and dubbing[7](https://elpais.com/gente/2025-04-09/anjelica-huston-desvela-que-le-diagnosticaron-cancer-hace-seis-anos-y-que-ya-esta-curada-logre-sobrevivir-y-estoy-orgullosa-de-mi-misma.html); IMDb lists 107 acting credits plus directing and producing work[18](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/); and the automatically generated Pop Culture Files list counts 88 credited roles, 70 in film and 18 in television, a tally its own page warns has no guaranteed review[9](https://popculturefiles.com/filmographies/anjelica-huston-filmography). Filmographies that trace her screen appearances back to 1953 misdate her, since she was born in 1951[6](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/).
In April 2025 Huston disclosed that she had been diagnosed with cancer around 2019, shortly after promoting *John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum*, and that she had recovered, saying she had passed the four-year mark. She did not retire, citing the Christie project in England and *Ballerina* as then-upcoming work[7](https://elpais.com/gente/2025-04-09/anjelica-huston-desvela-que-le-diagnosticaron-cancer-hace-seis-anos-y-que-ya-esta-curada-logre-sobrevivir-y-estoy-orgullosa-de-mi-misma.html).
## References
1. [David Leser, "Anjelica Huston" profile (PDF)](https://davidleser.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Anjelica-Huston.pdf)
2. [Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Star Walk: Anjelica Huston](https://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/anjelica-huston/)
3. [AFI Catalog: Anjelica Huston filmography](https://catalog.afi.com/Person/13161-Anjelica-Huston?cp=1&cxt=Cast3&pos=4&sid=fecd338f-6965-4683-a2aa-158db7f9f6ad&sr=0.08329464)
4. [The 58th Academy Awards (1986), Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1986)
5. [Anjelica Huston – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/awards/)
6. [Anjelica Huston, Golden Globes profile and awards database](https://goldenglobes.com/person/anjelica-huston/)
7. [El País, "Anjelica Huston desvela que le diagnosticaron cáncer hace seis años y que ya está curada" (April 9, 2025)](https://elpais.com/gente/2025-04-09/anjelica-huston-desvela-que-le-diagnosticaron-cancer-hace-seis-anos-y-que-ya-esta-curada-logre-sobrevivir-y-estoy-orgullosa-de-mi-misma.html)
8. [Cinema Sight, "Oscar Profile #148: Anjelica Huston"](https://www.cinemasight.com/oscar-profile-148-anjelica-huston/)
9. [Pop Culture Files, "Anjelica Huston Filmography: Every Movie and TV Show in Order"](https://popculturefiles.com/filmographies/anjelica-huston-filmography)
10. [Encyclopedia.com, "Huston, Anjelica"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/huston-anjelica)
11. [Time, "Anjelica Huston: 'Nicolas Roeg Was Unlike Anyone Else'" (2018)](https://time.com/5466504/anjelica-huston-nicolas-roeg/)
12. [Hollywood Walk of Fame, Anjelica Huston](https://walkoffame.com/anjelica-huston/)
13. [TV Guide, Anjelica Huston biography](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/anjelica-huston/bio/3000169593/)
14. [The Guardian, "'When the chips are down, Jack Nicholson is there': Anjelica Huston on love, loss and legal drama" (February 21, 2025)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/21/anjelica-huston-interview-agatha-christie-towards-zero)
15. [Los Angeles Times, "Knowing What She Wants" (2014)](https://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/entertainment/tn-gnp-anjelica-huston-knows-what-she-wants-20141118-story.html)
16. [WhatToWatch, "Ballerina: release date, reviews, trailer, cast"](https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/ballerina-release-date-trailer-cast-and-everything-we-know-about-the-ana-de-armas-john-wick-spinoff)
17. [MovieMeter, Filmography Anjelica Huston](https://www.moviemeter.com/celebrities/5657/anjelica-huston/filmography)
18. [Anjelica Huston, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001378/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Awards and screen reference › Individual filmographies › Western and East Asian filmographies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license