Diane Venora is an American stage, television and film actress. She graduated from the Juilliard School in 1977 and made her film debut in 1981 opposite Albert Finney in Wolfen. She won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for Bird (1988). Her other films include The Cotton Club (1984), Heat (1995), Romeo Juliet (1996), The Jackal (1997), The Insider (1999) and Hamlet (2000).

Early life
Venora was born in East Hartford, Connecticut, one of six children of Marie (née Brooks) and Robert P. Venora, who owned a dry-cleaning business. She graduated from East Hartford High School (class of 1970), where she was active in musicals and plays. She studied at Boston Conservatory of Music and two years later won a scholarship to Juilliard School in New York City, where she graduated in 1977. At Juilliard she was a member of the drama department's Group 6 (1973–1977), which included Kelsey Grammer, Harriet Sansom Harris and Robin Williams.