|
Biography:
Winner of multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Awards and recipient of the
Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the year 2000, which was bestowed
upon her by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, Jane Seymour joins
the cast of "Modern Men" as Dr. Victoria Stangel, a renowned and beautiful
life coach.
Seymour has proven her talents in virtually all media, the Broadway
stage, motion pictures and television. Her love of art and color has
led to her great success as a painter in watercolors and oils and as
a designer.
Awarded a Golden Globe Award for her role as Dr. Quinn, Seymour made
history with her six - season "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" series. She
won an Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal
of Maria Callas in ABC-TV's "The Richest Man Alive," based on the life
of Aristotle Onassis, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Actress
Award for her performance as the Duchess of Windsor in the television
movie "The Woman He Loved."
She won recognition for her work in the miniseries "Jack, The Ripper"
and "War and Remembrance" and for the latter, she was nominated two
years in a row for Best Actress for both the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.
Seymour recently starred in the box office hit "Wedding Crashers," with
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, where she played the sexually charged
wife of Christopher Walken. In addition to a recent stint of appearances
on The WB's hit television show "Smallville," Seymour has completed
filming the upcoming comedic feature "Blind Guy." Some of her other
film credits include "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger," a string of
America-bound British television specials, including "Frankenstein:
The True Story," "Dickens," "Our Mutual Friend" and "King David." Able
to convey virtually any accent accurately, she demonstrated this talent
in her first Hollywood starring role in the six-hour television miniseries
"Captains and Kings." Her portrayal of a proper Bostonian brought her
the first of many Emmy nominations.
Seymour also starred opposite Christopher Reeve in "Somewhere in Time"
and with Chevy Chase in "Oh! Heavenly Dog," followed by the highly acclaimed
television adaptation of John Steinbeck's "East of Eden," for which
she won the Golden Globe Best Actress Award as Cathy/Kate.
Daughter of a British obstetrician and his Dutch wife, Jane was born
in Hillingdon, England and raised in Wimbledon. She began training in
dance at an early age, and was just 13 when she made her professional
debut with the London Festival Ballet. That same year, she entered the
Arts Educational Trust for dance, music and theatre training and danced
with the visiting Kirov Ballet at Covent Garden.
Seymour played roles in a range of classical plays and performed in
radio dramas. But it was as Winston Churchill's first love, Pamela Powden,
in the Carl Foreman motion picture, "Young Winston," that Jane attracted
the attention of top producers. Her first television series was the
BBC-TV project, "The Onedin Line," and this led to her winning the starring
role of Solitaire in one of the most popular James Bond films, "Live
and Let Die." This attracted Hollywood interest, but Seymour opted to
return to the boards of English repertory theatres to tackle such classic
leading ladies as Shakespeare's Ophelia and Lady Macbeth, and Ibsen's
Nora in "A Doll House." On the Broadway stage, she originated the role
of Constanza Weber, wife of Mozart in the Broadway hit "Amadeus."
Seymour has also emerged as a significant producer of distinguished
projects. Through Catfish Productions, she and her husband, director
James Keach, have produced, starred in and directed such programs as
"Sunstroke," "A Passion for Justice," "Praying Mantis." "The Absolute
Truth," "Enslavement: The Fanny Kemble Story," "Murder in the Mirror,"
"Dr. Quinn, The Movie," "A Marriage of Convenience" and "Blackout."
In addition, Seymour recently starred in "Yesterday's Children."
Seymour's success as an author has been exemplified by the success of
her non-fiction novel entitled "Two at a Time: A Journey through Twin
Pregnancy and Birth." In May 2003, she released another non-fiction
work titled "Remarkable Changes." The book chronicled the stories of
several individuals, including Seymour herself, as they overcame adversities.
In addition, Seymour and Keach have co-authored a series of exceedingly
successful children's books entitled "This One and That One," inspired
by their delightfully altered lives since the actress gave birth to
twins in late 1995. Published by Putnam, the books transpose the Keach
household into a family of cats whose lives are constantly energized
by the antics of their toddler kitty twins, This One and That One.
In 2003 Saks Inc. announced an exclusive agreement with the celebrated
actress, artist and author to develop a branded line of Jane Seymour
lifestyle home products and children's apparel in its Saks Department
Store Group stores.
Actively involved in numerous charitable causes, Seymour is a member
of the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet and works for Childhelp
USA, a national organization dedicated to the research, treatment and
prevention of child abuse, as International Ambassador.
The organization's "Woman of the World" award is one of many honors
she has won for her social and charitable achievements. Seymour is also
the Honorary Chairperson for City Hearts, an organization that enriches
the lives of abused children, inner-city children, and disadvantaged
youths, by teaching the performing arts, including painting, dancing
and acting. She is also an ambassador for children's issues for the
film world's charitable arm, Entertainment Industries Foundation/Permanent
Charities.
Inspired by a recent trip to Africa with the American Red Cross, Seymour
and Keach have partnered yet again to start the J&J Foundation to benefit
children in need. Keach captured the entire eye-opening experience on
film for an award-winning documentary "Disease of the Wind," which won
the Lionel Rogosin Documentary Award and Audience Award Best Documentary
at the Dallas Film Festival. The film follows the story of Jane Seymour
and eight inner-city children from Los Angeles traveling with the Red
Cross to Kenya to participate in the vaccination of 13 million children
against measles, which kills over one million children a year.
Seymour's talents as a fine artist led to the production of a series
of greeting cards sold on her website to support her charities. One
of her watercolors was featured on a special "Private Issue" Discover
Card and it raised $25,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation at a charity
auction at the Guggenheim Museum, while a subsequent painting sold for
an additional $20,000. She was also asked to design a special edition
bottle for Korbel Champagne, and a silk scarf for Escada, another charitable
endeavor. She recently designed sets and costumes for the Houston Ballet's
"Five Poems" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of artistic director
Ben Stevenson.
Seymour is the extremely hands-on mom of twins John and Kristopher,
Sean and Katie, her stepdaughter Jenni and stepson Kalen. Seymour and
Keach reside in Malibu, and she owns St. Catherine's Court, a 15th century
historic manor house near Bath, England, which she is dedicated to preserving.
(Courtesy WB, 2006)
Television Credits:
|