Betsy Aidem (born October 28, 1957) is an American actress.
Betsy Aidem | |
|---|---|
 Aidem in 2024 | |
| Born | October 28, 1957 East Meadow, Long Island, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, director |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Her film work includes The Bleeding House, See You in the Morning, A Vigilante, and Aeris. Her television work includes The High Life and The Americans, appearing in the latter in the episodes "Safe House" and "Covert War".
Her stage work includes Steel Magnolias and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Prayer for the French Republic. In 2007, she was given an Obie Award for "sustained excellence of performance" for her work Off-Broadway.[1]
Background
edit[2] Aidem first became interested in acting while she was in high school. Her debut was as a fairy in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.[3] She is also a stage play director and her first professional production was in 2018, A Doll's House, Part 2, which was a stage production of the Lucas Hnath comedy.[4] She was the first wife of William Fichtner and had a child with him.[5]
Career
editStage work
editMidway through 2009, Aidem was in Nicki Bloom's Tender, a story about an act of violence that destroys a family. The play, directed by Daniela Topol, also starred Kerry Bishé, Michael Cullen, and Matt Dellapina.[6] In October 2018, she appeared as the loony and flamboyant Professor Carroway in Love Course which was about two eccentric neurotics, Carroway and Professor Burgess, teaching a course in romantic literature and two students who attend the course and end up teaching it.[7][8]
Film work
editHer earliest film work was in the 1982 film A Little Sex, where she played a passer-by.[9] In 1985, she appeared in the television film Kojak: The Belarus File as Elissa Barak.[10]
She appeared in Sarah Daggar-Nickson's 2018 film A Vigilante which starred Olivia Wilde, Morgan Spector and Kyle Catlett.[11] Also that year she was in Aeris, a film about a couple adopting a sick kitten.[12]
Television shows
editHer work on television shows includes reoccurring roles on The High Life as Irene,[13][14] and as Dr. Sloane on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[15][16]
Stage appearances
edit| Title | Role | Director | Year | Notes # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balm in Gilead | Kay | John Malkovich | 1984 | Off-Broadway |
| Crossing the Bar | Performer | Jerry Zaks | 1985 | Off-Broadway |
| A Lie of the Mind | Sally | Sam Shepard | 1985 | Off-Broadway |
| Steel Magnolias | Shelby | Pamela Berlin | 1987 | Off-Broadway |
| Road | Carol | Simon Curtis | 1987 | Off-Broadway |
| The Night Hank Williams Died | Nellie Bess Powers Clark | Christopher Ashley | 1989 | Off-Broadway |
| Five Women Wearing the Same Dress | Georgeanne | Melia Bensussen | 1993 | Off-Broadway |
| Teible and Her Demon | Teible | Daniel Gerroll | 1994 | Off-Broadway |
| The Butterfly Collection | Performer | Bartlett Sher | 2000 | Off-Broadway |
| Good Thing | Nancy Roy | Jo Bonney | 2001 | Off-Broadway |
| Sea of Tranquility | Phyllis | Neil Pepe | 2004 | Off-Broadway |
| Celebration and The Room | Julie | Neil Pepe | 2005 | Off-Broadway |
| Mary Rose | Mrs. Moreland | Tina Landau | 2007 | Off-Broadway |
| Crooked | Elise | Liz Diamond | 2008 | Off-Broadway |
| Tender | Daniela Topol | 2009 | Off-Broadway | |
| The Metal Children | Lynne / Roberta Cupp | Adam Rapp | 2010 | Off-Broadway |
| Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling | Performer | Neil Pepe | 2011 | Off-Broadway |
| Nikolai and the Others | Lisa Sokoloff | David Cromer | 2013 | Off-Broadway |
| All the Way | Lady Bird Johnson / various | Bill Rauch | 2014 | Broadway[17] |
| Mama's Boy | Marguerite Oswald | Brian P. Allen | 2015 | Regional[18] |
| Final Follies | Wilma Trumbo/Professor Carroway | David Saint | 2018 | Off-Broadway |
| Prayer for the French Republic | Marcelle Salomon Benhamou | David Cromer | 2022 | Off-Broadway |
| Leopoldstadt | Grandma Emilia | Patrick Marber | 2022 | Original Broadway Production |
| Prayer for the French Republic | Marcelle Salomon Benhamou | David Cromer | 2023 | Original Broadway Production |
Partial filmography
edit| Title | Role | Director | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Little Sex | Passerby | Bruce Paltrow | 1982 | |
| Kojak: The Belarus File | Elissa Barak | Robert Markowitz | 1985 | |
| See You in the Morning | Larry's Sister-in-Law | Alan J. Pakula | 1989 | |
| Fool's Fire | Lady Angela | Julie Taymor | 1992 | |
| Nine Months | Gail's Nurse | Chris Columbus | 1995 | |
| Music of the Heart | Mrs Lamb | Wes Craven | 1999 | |
| You Can Count on Me | Minister | Kenneth Lonergan | 2000 | |
| Maze | Lydia | Rob Morrow | 2000 | |
| Far from Heaven | Pool Mother | Todd Haynes | 2002 | |
| People I Know | Talia Greene | Dan Algrant | 2002 | |
| Winter Passing | Nurse | Adam Rapp | 2005 | |
| Confess | Julie Bradford | Stefan Schaefer | 2005 | |
| The Attic | Ms. Kettering | Mary Lambert | 2007 | |
| Motherhood | Jordan's Mom | Katherine Dieckmann | 2009 | |
| The Bleeding | Marilyn | Philip Gelatt | 2011 | |
| Mr. Popper's Penguins | Tavern Hostess | Mark Waters | 2011 | |
| The Oranges | Anne Allen | Julian Farino | 2011 | |
| Margaret | Abigail | Kenneth Lonergan | 2011 | |
| Arbitrage | Vogler's Secretary | Nicholas Jarecki | 2012 | |
| The Greatest Showman | Mrs. Carlyle | Michael Gracey | 2017 | |
| A Vigilante | Andrea Shaund | Sarah Daggar-Nickson | 2018 |
References
edit- ^ Obie Awards 2007 List accessed 05-05-2024
- ^ Playbill, September 12, 2018 - Off-Broadway News, Final Follies, a Trio of One-Act Plays by A.R. Gurney, Begins Off-Broadway By Olivia Clement Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Broadway World, Oct. 10, 2016 - BWW Interview: Betsy Aidem and MAMA'S BOY at George Street Playhouse 10/18 to 11/6 by Marina Kennedy Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ New Jersey Stage, 11/19/2018 - A Look At Betsy Aidem, Director of "A Doll's House, Part 2" at George Street Playhouse By Charles Paolino Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Globe and Mail, February 25, 2011 - There's more to William Fichtner than crazy roles Johanna Schneller Archived 2020-12-02 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ TheaterMainia, June 23, 2009 - THEATER NEWS, Ari Graynor, Doug Kreeger, Peter Scanavino, Ally Sheedy, et al. Set for 2009 Summer Play Festival - Brian Scott Lipton Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The New York Observer, 10/04/18 - REVIEW, A.R. Gurney Listened to Critics, Wrote This Triptych of Stupidity By Rex Reed Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ New York Theatre Guide, October 8, 2018 - Review of Primary Stages' Final Follies at Cherry Lane Theatre - Review By: David Walters Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes - Betsy Aidem, Filmography, Movies Archived 2019-03-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Unsold Television Pilots: 1955-1989, By Lee Goldberg - 2046. The Return of Kojak (aka Kojak: The Belarus File) Archived 2022-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Hollywood Reporter, 3/11/2018 - 'A Vigilante': Film Review | SXSW 2018 by John DeFore Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes - Aeris (2018) Archived 2020-07-31 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Variety Magazine, November 4, 1996 - The High Life By Jeremy Gerard Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Single Season Sitcoms of the 1990s: A Complete Guide, By Bob Leszczak - Page 84 Single Season Sitcoms of the 1990s Archived 2022-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ TV.com - Betsy Aidem, Credits, Guest Star Archived 2019-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Who Was Who on TV, Volume 2, By Norman Chance - Page 282 Archived 2022-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Broadway World - Betsy Aidem Broadway and Theatre Credits, Stage Performances Archived 2019-01-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Boyle, April (Nov 3, 2015). "Theater Review: 'Mama's Boy' an intriguing play about Oswald family". Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved Dec 27, 2020.
External links
edit- Betsy Aidem at IMDb