NYWIFT Blog

#Muse40for40: Meryl Streep (1983)

For our final #Muse40for40 installment we had to of course give a shout out to the indomitable Meryl Streep. Meryl was honored in 1983, and the photo of her cheeky over-the-shoulder smile as she modeled a NYWIFT jacket has become an indelible image for our organization.

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#Muse40for40: Susan Sarandon (1990)

For an actress who said “my life has been filled with happy accidents,” it’s not surprising that Susan Sarandon got her start in the business in a serendipitous way, when she accompanied her then husband to an audition shortly after college.

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#Muse40for40: Cicely Tyson (1999)

Born in Harlem in 1924, Academy Award winner, Golden Globe nominee, and three-time Emmy winner Cicely Tyson was first discovered by a fashion photographer working for Ebony Magazine, and began her career as a fashion model.

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#Muse40for40: Maggie Gyllenhaal (2014)

Oscar-nominated and Brooklyn-based mother, activist, actress and producer Maggie Gyllenhaal has spent much of her career making independent films, and has accrued a body of work that is both bold and complex. From her breakout sadomasochistic role in The Secretary, to her boundary-pushing, compelling performance in The Kindergarten Teacher, Gyllenhaal has not followed the blockbuster path, opting for films that challenge the way we think.

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#Muse40for40: Alfre Woodard (2002)

Oscar nominee, Golden Globe and four-time Emmy Award winner, Oklahoma-born Alfre Woodard had her breakthrough role in 1977 in the legendary off-Broadway play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

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#Muse40for40: Penny Marshall (1994)

Bronx-born Penny Marshall, best known for playing Laverne DeFazio on ABC's Laverne & Shirley, smashed Hollywood's glass ceiling with her sophmoric directorial effort Big ('88) starring Tom Hanks.

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#Muse40for40: Glenn Close (1989)

Glenn Close had a distinguished career on Broadway, long before she made her feature film debut in 1982's The World According To Garp, alongside Robin Williams. Yet, it was her role as a psychopathic temptress in the 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction that turned her into a box office darling and a household name

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#Muse40for40: America Ferrera (2009)

America Ferrera is an actress and producer who made her film debut in 2002 in Real Women Have Curves. She has also starred in the drama The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) and television roles like ABC’s Ugly Betty (2006–2010)

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#Muse40for40: Phylicia Rashad (2001)

Phylicia Rashad is a television, film & Broadway actress, stage director & singer. Her role on NBC’s The Cosby Show (1984–92), earned her Emmy Award nominations in the mid ‘80s.

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#Muse40for40: Marquita Pool-Eckert (1999)

The award-winning journalist and producer Marquita Pool-Eckert began her career journey at WABC-TV in New York. She continued on to WNET/13 Public TV to then finally making her way to CBS and becoming the senior producer at CBS News, overseeing production at CBS Sunday Morning.

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#Muse40for40: Sally Field (1994)

Sally Field is an actor and director who has received two Academy Awards among many other accolades. She began her career in television in the series Gidget in the mid 60’s.

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#Muse40for40: Ida Lupino (1998)

Ida Lupino was an English-born American film and television actress, director, and screenwriter who first gained fame through her portrayals of strong, worldly-wise characters and went on to become one of the first women to direct films in Hollywood

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#Muse40for40: Judith Light (2017)

A two-time Tony Award winning actress and producer, Judith Light has starred in highly successful television shows including Amazon Prime's Golden Globe winning series Transparent, One Life to Live, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Ugly Betty, Who’s The Boss? and on Broadway in Lombardi, Other Desert Cities, The Assembled Parties, Wit, and more.

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#Muse40for40: Abigail Disney (2014)

Abigail E. Disney is an American documentary filmmaker, philanthropist, and social activist. She produced the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, and is the executive producer, writer, and director of The Armor of Light, which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary.

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#Muse40for40: Ruby Dee (1997)

Actor and activist Ruby Dee and her husband Ossie Davis fought for civil rights from Washington, DC to Hollywood. In 1965, Dee starred in King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew, becoming the first black woman to appear in major roles at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, CT.

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#Muse40for40: Patricia Clarkson (2015)

Patricia Clarkson is an Emmy Award-winning actress for her role as Sarah O'Connor in HBO’s Six Feet Under. She is also an Oscar, Academy Award, Tony, Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominee for her work in Pieces of April, The Elephant Man and High Art.

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#Muse40for40: Julie Dash (2017)

Director Julie Dash has written and directed five feature length narrative films including Love Song, Funny Valentines, Incognito, The Rosa Parks Story, Daughters of the Dust, as well as part of the Subway Stories: Tales From the Underground HBO anthology feature; television commercials and documentary films.

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#Muse40for40: Amy Emmerich (2017)

Amy Emmerich, Chief Content Officer, Refinery29, launched Refinery29’s video business, which includes the critically acclaimed series Strangers, the Webby-award winning mini-series The Skinny as well as their Shatterbox Anthology film series, which was created to cultivate and spotlight the voices of women directors, telling stories outside the narrow lens of this overwhelmingly male-dominated industry.

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