Award-winning American film actress Diane Lane was born on January 22, 1965 in New York City. Her father was an acting coach and her mother was a nightclub singer and Playboy magazine centerfold. The two divorced when Lane was 13 years old, and she has obtained independence from her father when she was 15.
Diane Lane made her acting debut at the age of six, when she appeared in acclaimed theater productions like The Cherry Orchard with Meryl Streep and Medea. In 1979, she was cast by director George Roy Hill in A Little Romance, opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Her well-received debut led her to appear on the cover of Time magazine, but she found herself starring in critical and commercial failures. She was in 1980’s drama Touched by Love and 1981’s Cattle Annie and the Little Britches. She next starred in some television movies before being spotted by director Francis Ford Coppola and cast her in two youth-oriented films. She gained wide acclaim for playing Patty in Rumble Fish, and for portraying Sherri ‘Cherry’ Valance in The Outsiders.
She soon acquired lead roles in films like Streets of Fire and The Cotton Club, both in 1984, but these too were not received with acclaim. She was also in Lady Beware and the romance thriller The Big Town which also stars Matt Dillon and Tommy Lee Jones. In 1989, she garnered applause for her role in the TV mini-series Lonesome Dove. She also had small roles in high-profile movies like Chaplin and Indian Summer, and got bigger parts in independent films like 1992’s My New Gun and Knight Moves. In 1995 she starred in Walter Hill’s Wild Bill, and was in Sylvester Stallone’s Judge Dredd. Her next role was opposite Robin Williams in Jack, and with Wesley Snipes in Murder at 1600. The role that gave made critics notice was playing a 1960s housewife in A Walk on the Moon, which was followed by the comedy My Dog Skip. In 2000, she starred in the blockbuster hit A Perfect Storm which gave her career the boost it needed. She was also given roles in The Glass House and was opposite Keanu Reeves in Hard Ball. Her next critical and commercial success was playing the lead role in 2002’s Unfaithful, where she was cast alongside Richard Gere.