Jane Alexander

Jane Alexander is a Tony and Emmy Award winner and Oscar nominee, as well as an author and former Director of the National Endowment for the Arts under President Bill Clinton.

Her distinguished acting career includes her Tony Award-winning performance in "The Great White Hope" and Tony-nominated roles in "Honour," "The Sisters Rosensweig," "The Visit," "First Monday in October," "Find Your Way Home," and "6 Rms Riv Vu," all on Broadway.

She received a Drama Desk and Theatre World Award for "The Great White Hope," and an Obie for "The Sisters Rosensweig." She also appeared in "Shadowlands" opposite Nigel Hawthorne, both on Broadway and in London's West End.

Her regional theatre work includes performances at Arena Stage and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., as well as at the Mark Taper Forum, Alliance Theatre Company, McCarter Theatre, and American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Connecticut.

A four-time Oscar nominee for the films "Testament," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "All The President's Men," and "The Great White Hope," she has also appeared in over 50 screen roles; among them being "Brubaker," "City Heat" and "The Cider House Rules." Alexander was also seen in the feature films: "Fur" with Nicole Kidman, directed by Steven Shainberg, "The Ring," and John Sayles' "The Sunshine State."

On television, Alexander won an Emmy Award for the movie Playing for Time and a Television Critic's Circle Award for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in "Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years." She was in the telefilm "Jenifer" on CBS, which was directed by her son, Jace Alexander.

Alexander received a Daytime Emmy nomination for her cameo role in Showtime's film "Carry Me Home," also directed by Jace Alexander. Alexander received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her portrayal of Sara Roosevelt in HBO's "Warm Springs."

Alexander attended her share of protest marches in the 1960s and 1970s, but she had never been involved in mainstream politics and was happily engaged in her acting career when she was asked to consider becoming head of the ever-embattled National Endowment for the Arts.

Alexander's NEA tenure coincided with the ascent of the Gingrich Congress and its attempt to sabotage arts funding. In her book, "Command Performance: An Actress In The Theatre of Politics," Alexander describes these years, offering a sharp and sometimes hilarious take on those sometimes surreal days, and a gimlet-eyed portrait of Washington at work, play, and cocktail reception.

In her speech "Freedom of Expression: What Does it Mean in Today's World?", Alexander looks at the complications of First Amendment Rights in the media, in public places and on the internet. Drawing on her years in Washington, D.C., and her many controversial roles on stage, television and in the movies, Alexander offers an insightful and witty perspective on the issue of freedom of expression.