Born in Kansas City, MO; educated at the School of American Ballet, NYC and the University of Maryland. Exuberant, engaging character player with a nervously flashing, squinty-eyed smile and a breathy, girlish speaking voice, especially adept at slightly dizzy and ditsy characterizations. Although Wiest began appearing in films in 1980 (IT'S MY TURN) and did fairly well in routine roles in I'M DANCING AS FAST AS I CAN (1982) and FOOTLOOSE (1984), Wiest really gained attention with her multiple award-winning stage work in The Art of Dining (1983) and her performances for Woody Allen. Her first film for Allen was THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985), and she won a Supporting Actress Oscar the following year with her delightful performance as Mia Farrow's neurotically unfocused, superficially trendy sister in HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986), stealing many scenes from the all-star cast. Wiest subsequently brought a similarly insecure, garrulous charm to her role as the maiden Aunt Bea in Allen's amusing and nostalgic RADIO DAYS (1987) and gave one of the more compelling performances as one corner of a romantic triangle in the filmmaker's maundering SEPTEMBER (1987). Wiest has since played a number of mothers under pressure, as in COOKIE (1989) and, especially, PARENTHOOD (1989), for which she received another Oscar nomination. Mother roles, have in fact, become quite common for Wiest; she has found suitable channels for parlaying her offbeat sensibility in engagingly offbeat material, such as the surprisingly enjoyable teen horror flick THE LOST BOYS (1987) or the whimsical EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990), in which her Avon Lady takes home the film's unusual hero. In other films, though, Wiest seems to have been cast largely to try to sprinkle some of her game energy and quirky versatility on roles unworthy of her, as in BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY (1988) and COPS AND ROBBERSONS (1994). Allen's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994), though, gave her a role as an acting diva which completely called for camp, and Wiest proved more than equal to the challenge winning several critics awards for Supporting Actress and an Oscar for the aforementioned category. Other notable credits include LITTLE MAN TATE (1991), THE BIRDCAGE (1996), DRUNKS (1997), THE HORSE WHISPERER and PRACTICAL MAGIC (both 1998), I AM SAM and NOT AFRAID, NOT AFRAID (both 2001), MERCI DOCTEUR REY (2002), A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS (2006), DEDICATION and DAN IN REAL LIFE (both 2007), and PASSENGERS, SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK and POE (all planned for release in 2008). In 2000, she joined the cast of the long-running TV series "Law and Order" as District Attorney Nora Lewin, a role which she performed during three seasons of the show.  Supporting Actress 1986: HANNAH AND HER SISTERS  Nominated for Supporting Actress 1989: PARENTHOOD  Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role 1994: BULLETS OVER BROADWAY 3 nominations, 2 Awards